Wednesday
Mar172010
Internet is my distraction
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 8:19AM
As many of you may have guessed, my experiment with Digital Fasting was relatively short lived. I lasted 5 days before I broke, but I learned a fair bit.
by Wesley Fryer
To being with, I took the Digital Fasting thing a bit too far. I didn't allow for the few cases where the information is sufficiently thought-provoking to justify consumption. Lecture podcasts come to mind as an example here. And ideas don't just appear, inspiration comes from outside yourself, so it's important to seek out this sort of input.
That said I also realized I'm essentially addicted to absorbing content.
by mandiberg
There were many many times that I would get my phone out of my pocket, unlocked, and be reaching for the Echofon icon before I even realized what I was doing. Clicking on Firefox and then my Google Reader bookmark every time I'm bored is completely automatic to the point that I wouldn't realize I was doing it until the page was loaded. StumbleUpon is a subconscious compulsion.
Previous to this little experiment I'd have my headphones in my ears from the moment I left the house in the morning, to the moment I went to bed at night. Podcasts, music, radio, constantly.
by simongreenuk
The thing is, easily 95% of this content is completely unnecessary noise that did nothing but keep my senses occupied and my brain vacant. In 5 days of avoiding most digital content I didn't miss anything of consequence. In fact, when I gave in and began checking things again I noticed how mundane everything really was. All these things that I thought of as somewhat important, or at least interesting, really weren't either of those things. They were just distracting time-fillers.
And distracting time-fillers are not in and of themselves a bad thing. If you have time to fill, and distraction is required or appropriate. But that's rarely the case for me. Not only could I be doing better things with my time, but I usually should be. Like, at my job.
by ste3ve (Not my actual workplace, but mine is just as exciting)
Most of the time I'm dedicating my attention to this simple, mindless content specifically to avoid doing something useful with myself. Avoiding blogging, reading, learning, cleaning, cooking, working, etc. Basically dodging anything that takes longer than 10 seconds to process in favour of an infinite supply of minor novelties. Despite being entertaining for the moment, when I look back on the things I produced and the things I learned that day, I'm usually disappointed.
That changed during the last 5 days. Allowing my brain some time to do it's own thing, as well a little forced productivity made me feel better about what I'm doing with my life. So despite allowing myself back online, I'm still cutting back. This doesn't mean everyone should avoid entire forms of technology, just that I was sorely lacking for moderation and self-discipline.
by ►bEbO
by Wesley Fryer
To being with, I took the Digital Fasting thing a bit too far. I didn't allow for the few cases where the information is sufficiently thought-provoking to justify consumption. Lecture podcasts come to mind as an example here. And ideas don't just appear, inspiration comes from outside yourself, so it's important to seek out this sort of input.
That said I also realized I'm essentially addicted to absorbing content.
by mandiberg
There were many many times that I would get my phone out of my pocket, unlocked, and be reaching for the Echofon icon before I even realized what I was doing. Clicking on Firefox and then my Google Reader bookmark every time I'm bored is completely automatic to the point that I wouldn't realize I was doing it until the page was loaded. StumbleUpon is a subconscious compulsion.
Previous to this little experiment I'd have my headphones in my ears from the moment I left the house in the morning, to the moment I went to bed at night. Podcasts, music, radio, constantly.
by simongreenuk
The thing is, easily 95% of this content is completely unnecessary noise that did nothing but keep my senses occupied and my brain vacant. In 5 days of avoiding most digital content I didn't miss anything of consequence. In fact, when I gave in and began checking things again I noticed how mundane everything really was. All these things that I thought of as somewhat important, or at least interesting, really weren't either of those things. They were just distracting time-fillers.
And distracting time-fillers are not in and of themselves a bad thing. If you have time to fill, and distraction is required or appropriate. But that's rarely the case for me. Not only could I be doing better things with my time, but I usually should be. Like, at my job.
by ste3ve (Not my actual workplace, but mine is just as exciting)
Most of the time I'm dedicating my attention to this simple, mindless content specifically to avoid doing something useful with myself. Avoiding blogging, reading, learning, cleaning, cooking, working, etc. Basically dodging anything that takes longer than 10 seconds to process in favour of an infinite supply of minor novelties. Despite being entertaining for the moment, when I look back on the things I produced and the things I learned that day, I'm usually disappointed.
That changed during the last 5 days. Allowing my brain some time to do it's own thing, as well a little forced productivity made me feel better about what I'm doing with my life. So despite allowing myself back online, I'm still cutting back. This doesn't mean everyone should avoid entire forms of technology, just that I was sorely lacking for moderation and self-discipline.
by ►bEbO
tagged creativity, digital fasting, internet distraction, moderation, noise, work in Rant
creativity, digital fasting, internet distraction, moderation, noise, work in Rant 
Reader Comments (2)
I propose you take another 5 days off from digital consumption and learn grammar. :)
Also, kind of ironic you're blogging your digital fasting, non?
We're quickly reaching mass consumption, however, and I foresee a huge trend in the coming years of people cutting back on their digital consumption and returning to a life with less distractions. It's all noise vs signal and we're going to see the signal becoming more and more important to the public. They will seek out ways to filter their lives, to reduce the amount of information that attacks them everyday, etc. Should be interesting.
Emma, when you criticize Eric's spelling/grammar after every post, it makes you look pedantic and petty, even if you're joking.
But I really relate to what you've said in the third paragraph of your comment. Dialing it back has been a natural progression for me. I used to go online for hours every day. That novelty has worn off dramatically and things are once again more exciting offline. I'm sure you'd agree that it's interesting to be part of the generation that remembers a time before the internet. Maybe it's different for those a few years younger than us. Maybe they won't be able to fathom a time without it, and cutting back will be harder. I guess we'll find out!