Maintaining a clear headspace is crucial for me to be productive and avoid additional stress. To achieve this, I adopt an ivory tower mentality, which I refer to as my “shields-up procedure” or “harsh editor protocol.” The latter name comes from my language teacher, who was a pro at cutting unintentional content from my school works and had a significant impact on the way I think and write.
In terms of my online and computing habits, I practice strict ad-blocking for both my sanity and security reasons. I use Safari as my browser and have several extensions installed, including Hush, Super Agent, Vinegar, and Wipr. Additionally, I use a self-hosted VPN with Wireguard and deploy it with a network-based ad-blocker. For this, I use PiHole in the LXC container.
I have a self-hosted music library, but I also use Spotify for discovery. I pay for the ad-free version as the ads can be very obtrusive and listening to the same ad repeatedly drives me crazy. I rarely watch TV but have noticed that the bombardment of ads makes it an unpleasant experience. I choose to cut out the ads by paying for the ad-free version and avoid TV when possible. Last few years I in general do not watch too much of movies and shows so TV is really obsolete for me.
To avoid mindless browsing on social media and news platforms, I focus on the tasks at hand and make a conscious effort to engage in activities I enjoy, such as snowboarding, skateboarding, reading, going for walks, visiting coffee shops, cooking, gardening, and simply looking at the wall.
For news consumption, I use RSS feeds, and Twitter’s RSS feature through Nitter (https://nitter.net/$USERNAME/rss). I also prefer to consume curated news rather than focus on developing situations that don’t directly affect me. For example, I use the Current Events portal on Wikipedia instead of local “infotainment news.” If you struggle with muscle memory typing (e.g. typing news portal automatically I suggest blocking domain on PiHole or via /etc/hosts). It worked for me.
I try not to pick up my phone as soon as I wake up in the morning. Instead, I take a few minutes to make coffee, go to the bathroom, and think about what’s ahead of me. I also focus on doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t, which can be surprisingly difficult.
While it is challenging to avoid ads in real life, such as billboards and posters, I choose to ignore them. Growing up in Eastern Europe in the 90s exposed me to numerous billboards, making me effectively blind to on-street ads.
Regarding society, I’m not particularly interested in other people’s work lives unless they are passionate about it or work on something interesting. I prefer to ask about their hobbies and pastimes instead of their job.
Toxic environments like Facebook conspiracies and crazy people, Instagram i know I am not supermodel, and TikTok hell no can be draining, so I avoid them. Instead, I use curated Twitter, Mastodon, and specific subreddits related to my interests in Dev/IT/security. Over time, I’ve joined various group chats and left as many. I have at least few cybersecurity-related group chats, some for development, few with close friends, and a some related to skateboarding. I find this approach more beneficial than hunting for information on social media and being at the mercy of random algorithms designed to feed me more ads.
When it comes to personal relationships, I edit my friends and family ruthlessly. People come and go, and our lives take different paths. If a relationship exhausts me, I take the time to re-evaluate and consider moving on. I am getting to forties and my time is limited. I have circa 25 active years and with some luck another forty years on this rock.
Lastly, I periodically evaluate my surroundings to determine if I’m content. I have a simple note where I actively write about my location, the activities I’m doing, the people I’m meeting, and other aspects of my life. I grab coffee or tea and evaluate what’s happening around me. If I am unhappy with work I am doing for longer time I improve situation or move on. Also it is interesting to observe how perception changes over the time.
Finally, I try not to get caught up in the hype around side hustles, FIRE, cryptocurrency, and other trending topics. I give zero fucks about the opinions of “thread-bois” and “crypto-bros” who are just trying to sell their dreams and make money off subscriptions. Instead, I stay focused on what matters to me and help people I care about. That is living in Ivory Tower for me.
