I have now spent 1 week without a cell phone or social media. To recap: I had a friend lock me out of facebook and other social media by changing my password, and another friend has taken possession of my phone. I will spend 30 days this way. I have decided to amend the conditions to limit my consumption of any media content through television or computer when not working.
Christmas was 3 days ago. It was alright, I don't like spending it alone but I haven't had a chance to make friends outside my department, and most of my physics friends don't celebrate Christmas. I decided to postpone the full media blackout because EVERYTHING in Baton Rouge is closed on Christmas. I watched 3 movies and sat still the whole time, not undertaking any other activity. It was quite nice, I really enjoyed the movies for a change.
In the 2 nights since I have continued to stay up way too late, even while attempting to limit my technological interaction. The reason, as I discovered last night, is pretty simple: there is not a lot to do in the home at night without a television. I could read, and under normal circumstances I think that is a fine alternative to the boob tube, but I read for a living. I do love to read for pleasure, but the point of this exercise is partly to encourage me to partake other activities I like but don't normally do. I don't think reading fits this description.
I have no choice but to change my sleep schedule. It is intimately related to this experiment anyway, in my mind. I watched no TV last night, but one can only sit quietly for about an hour before getting bored. I gave up and surfed Reddit for a few hours before falling asleep at 5 am. The upside of this is that my social media blackout has forced me to explore other content on the web. I didn't really know anything about reddit before, but its a pretty interesting place. I also bought an electric keyboard today, as I've been meaning to learn to play for sometime.
I would like to talk now about my cognitive experience during this experiment. After all, the original intention was to increase the efficiency of my studies. I have previously been cautious of any attempt to cram more work into my already limited span of attention for fear of violating the law of diminishing returns. Even still, I always had a feeling that I wasn't as effective during the hours I was already working, but I didn't know why.
I now know why.
I think I can say unequivocally that the hyper availability, over sharing, and constant connectedness of my smart phone combined with social media caused my thinking to be so fragmented, sporradic, and stunted that I was in a constant state of panic and stress. Whenever I was working I was so inefficient that I had to devote an inhuman portion of my waking hours to work, and whenever I wasn't working I was always thinking about work I should have been doing. The peace and calm I feel since are quite amazing and I would never have predicted this level of success.
The difference I feel is more substantial than just that, and it will be hard to describe but I will give it a shot. I feel more self contained. My ideas, feelings, and emotions prior to this time felt like they were the property of the world, and I felt compelled to take some action via text, email, or facebook whenever something disturbed me. The result was that I always felt disturbed. I always felt as if I was being violated or taken advantage of in some way. It may be just my privacy that was being violated, even if I was the violator. I forgot what it was like to allow a train of thought to complete on its own, and the subsequent release. I feel as though my hopes, fears, dreams, and anxieties exist only for me, but also that they exist only in my own head.
The funny thing is I don't share personal details via facebook. I don't list my relationship status, I don't bitch about fights with friends or family, I don't post passive/aggressive complaints regarding unnamed friends, and I NEVER talk about my feelings. I only use it for politics, social issues, and to stay in touch now that I live far from my friends and loved ones. I can only imagine the intensity of this privacy violation for those that put everything out there.
No comments:
Post a Comment