Staying Curious Without Staying Online

August 16, 2025 · 300 words · 2 min read

Finding room for tech without drowning in feeds.

This post is more for me than for anyone else.

I spend most of my day in front of a screen, that's the job. Product work, meetings, pitches, documents, roadmaps, then eight or nine hours go by, just like that. And then I get home and usually keep going. Coding, writing, reading, gaming, or just unwinding online. Some nights I barely touch my laptop, other nights I sink a few more hours into something. Ten to twelve hours of screen time is normal for me.

The thing is, I actually enjoy it! I like technology, I want to see what people are building, what's new, what problems are being solved. But somewhere along the way, "staying curious" turned into "never logging off" for me.

What an embarrassing realisation! I tried blocking sites, timers, DNS filters, the whole routine. I'd block Twitter, then scroll Reddit. Block Reddit, end up on Hacker News. Different tabs, same bullshit.

What finally helped wasn't trying to quit the internet, it was having something else I wanted to do more. Not something "good for me", just something actually interesting. Reading a paper book, taking a short walk and leaving my phone at home, just something I cared about. The missus and I started cooking meals that require actual focus a few nights a week, not meal prep, just something we have to think about and work on together.

The shift then more or less happened on its own once I had other things going on. The internet often wins when you're bored, because it can only compete with boredom. It stands no chance against things you actually want to do. When you're curious, it becomes a tool again.

I still spend plenty of time online and probably always will. But it feels intentional now! Not automatic.