About the project
An independent reading
of the research.
What this is
Terminally Offline is an independent, non-commercial project attempting to read the research on attention, phone use, and disconnecting, and to say in plain English what it actually finds. It is deliberately small. There are a handful of essays, one monthly email, and a short set of practical suggestions grounded in the literature.
The premise is straightforward. Over the past fifteen years, a substantial body of work has accumulated on what happens to attention, sleep, memory, and mood when a large part of waking life is mediated by a screen. Much of that work reaches uncomfortable conclusions. Most of it has never reached the people it describes.
There is no shortage of commentary on this topic. Most of it is either alarmist, commercial, or both. The aim here is neither: just a careful reading of what the studies actually say, where they disagree, and what a reasonable person might do about it.
§ II — Who writes this
An independent researcher,
not a clinician.
An independent researcher based in Australia. Not a neuroscientist, not a clinician — someone who has spent a long time reading people who are, and who writes about what that literature says.
Four principles
Evidence, read plainly
Everything here is grounded in peer-reviewed research. Claims are cited. Where the evidence is weak or contested, that is said plainly, not glossed over.
No programme, no product
There is nothing to buy, nothing to sign up for beyond a monthly email. No courses, no coaching, no affiliate links. The only revenue model is that there isn't one.
Independent, not anonymous
This is a one-person project, built by an independent researcher in Australia. The work is meant to stand on its own merits, not the author's.
Minimal data, no tracking
No cookies, no third-party tracking, no pixel. Privacy-respecting analytics for basic traffic counts, and Resend for the monthly email. That is all.
Vol. 01 · One email a month
The monthly essay.
One long-form piece of writing, one short summary of the research it draws on, on the first of the month. No commentary in between. Unsubscribe in one click.