So now I have officially gone through a week of Input Deprivation and then a week (more or less) following it. What have I learned from this experience?
1) Just like in the old days, one can get along without social media just fine.
2) Most news just depresses you. If you do not follow it, you at least do not carry that burden.
3) When you use the opportunity of Input Deprivation to delete e-mail subscriptions, it is amazing how much less time you will spend sorting and deleting e-mail.
4) When you are spending time sorting and deleting e-mail, it is amazing how much of habit doing this had become - just like checking social media a great deal. It becomes habitual - and not in a good way.
5) The thing that you miss most is following the blogs of your choice.
That said, what did I bring back into my life?
1) Blogs - Blogs of people that I read every day. I miss following the lives and thoughts of people that have become important to me.
And what did I greatly continue to reduce in my life?
1) News aggregation sites or bulletin boards - The news I do not read is the news I do not get aggravated about.
2) Facebook. My time has been greatly reduced: a quick quote posting in the morning and maybe a look in the evening.
And what have I continued to eliminate completely?
1) Twitter - Twitter, the only non-Facebook thing I used in the regard, is gone. I suspect I will not go to the trouble of deleting my name, but I am surely not posting or following anything on it
2) Talk Radio - This is largely a commute based time filler and habit. I have not completely eliminated it yet but I am trying. I am fighting back by filling my drive time with either useful things (Like language based study) or subject based podcasts.
Will anything change?
I am not sure. Facebook would be the next logical step - or least using it the way I have used it, as an actual social outlet (I maintain that for people like us that have moved away from family and friends, it is a great way to keep them updated). The down side of that is there are a great many people I interact with largely on Facebook, so I would lose regular touch with them.
News/News Aggregation sites/Bulletin boards probably as well. I have looked at a couple perhaps twice in the last week and done surprisingly well by not doing so. Little is in the news that I can impact or effect, but following websites on thoughts and projects are actionable items that can affect my life positively.
All in all, a very worthwhile experiment. I need to work to reduce the dependence on outside impact of this nature even more.
Language based study while commuting is a good idea that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteIt is, Preppy, as long as you can find the right program. Not all programs work just for audio learning - anything that relies heavily on a book as well is a bit more difficult.
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