Digital distractions
I remember the classic artist studio. My father is a painter. He who would sit and stare at his paintings for hours, looking and thinking before moving his brush. No phone, no email, just paint and canvas and empty space.
My computer is my studio. It’s not just a place for production, it’s the exhibition, a place for conversation, meetings, research, entertainment, and so on.
I’m a big internet addict, and checking Facebook-Twitter-RSS has become a reflex that is now a part of my muscle memory. Without thinking I will open tabs with social media and before you know it time flies…
I recently reinstalled Blocksite, a browser extension that blocks a list of sites you specify.
I’ve installed Blocksite before, but it turned out I would just bypass it, turn it off, and before you know it I was back in my old rhythm.
I get my best ideas when I’m bored. Sitting in a train, in the bathroom, waiting for the next band at a concert, those are usually the situations where it “happens”. I suppose this weird void of information helps me to focus.
Boredom is not a pleasant feeling. Instinctively I want see cool things all the time. The internet has provided me with more interesting information than I’ll ever be able to absorb.
Chocolate and bacon taste really good but too much of them is a bad idea. I can watch Youtube all day and not create anything, but after a few of those days I’ll start to feel bloated. A good data consumption/production ratio is important.
Boredom doesn’t happen by itself, I have to make an effort to find it.
20 minutes of Facebook per day should be enough.
