One of the outcomes of my greater and greater isolation from the mainstream of news and social media is more time alone to think.
This is not a bad development of course; almost anything worth doing is worth thinking about doing before doing it and when I am able to do so, I seem to make some reasonable progress in things.
But the media and social media habit is a hard one to break.
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If you were to ask me when this probably started being issue, I think I can pinpoint two dates. The first in is the early 2000's, when media made significant enough of a jump to the InterWeb that I could start to follow it - and, perhaps equally importantly, I could find groups that discussed it. The second is January of 2009, when I started a Book of Face account.
Like most habits, they start innocuously enough: a check here, a log-in there. Sure enough one begins posting a little bit, then a little bit more - and before you know it, you are spending huge swaths of time starting into a screen large - or small; the advent of the Computer in the Pocket did nothing but heighten that trend. Suddenly, one did not have to log in to keep up with things: one could simply reach into one's pocket and instantly "catch up".
One might point out - at least for bloggers - that we were already spending a lot of time online. That is true, of course. The difference is that in blogging, one is engaged in creative activities: writing, thinking about writing, editing, responding to comments. In the following of media and social media, one is much more a passive agent, engaging not in the creation of things but the consumption of them.
(Yes, I suppose posting on social media is a form of creation - but given that it is perhaps a few pictures and a short written stage, it is not really the same.)
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So what is it like, trying to withdraw from a media addiction?
A lot harder than you might think.
The actual separation from most forms of media was not difficult at all: I have not watched television news in at least 20 years and have not driven anywhere far enough in many years that following a radio station has been a thing. The physical use of a computer was not as difficult as I had anticipated, as one has to be a) at home; and b) turn the computer on, to use it. As a result I can limit my time pretty well to the round of blogs and the occasional site that I follow. If I have a challenge there, it is simply walking away from the computer after I have done those things instead of constantly looking for something else.
The real challenge had been the Computer in my Pocket.
Why is it so challenging? Mostly a combination of Fear Of Missing Out and convenience.
The Fear Of Missing Out (otherwise known as the dreaded FOMO) is something that was ground into me by two events: 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. 9/11, of course, because it was so shocking and life changing in so many ways; Hurricane Katrina because (as The Firm was in the process of failing at that time), I watched the whole thing in real time.
As a result of these things, I have rather addicted to the fact that I needed to know what was happening almost as soon as it happened - not that I could influence any of the outcome of course, just that I needed to know. Because somehow "knowing" something happened a country away made me more able to impact it (strangely enough, not true at all).
And the convenience - the convenience of just reaching into my pocket and being able to instantly find out that information or, with social media, how many response I had gotten to something I had posted. One could argue it was either a lack of self control or somehow showing that I could "choose" to take an action. Either way, it became a habit.
Habits are pretty hard to break.
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My "struggle" now, if it could be dignified with such a term, is simply learning to not use the Computer in my Pocket during the day.
I have done what I can to limit myself: listed a set of sites that I can go to (which, all being blogs, scarcely get updated more than once a day) and contrarywise not allowing myself to go to other sites, convincing myself that no matter how much I check my e-mail nothing else will be there, even going to the point of not carrying the phone with me to avoid the temptation of just "reaching out" and checking in.
It is a hard habit to break - but day by day, I am getting slightly better.
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Is there an ideal state? I am not sure that I know that. Never checking media or social media seems a bit too Luddite even for my taste, and given that I live in the world there are occasional things I should know, either about the world and its events or family and friends who using social media as the equivalent of a check in letter.
But even in that - carefully monitored state - there is still a habit that has to be carefully prevented from taking root again: the habit of being so in the otherwhere of media and social media and the lives of others that one completely missing the here of one's own life and the things that one can influence directly.
Well, you could always get a dumb phone, i.e. one that does talk and text only. That leaves connectedness tied to the home computer, so there's still digital access to the rest of the world. But maybe that's a bit radical?
ReplyDeleteLeigh, I have thought about that - and maybe for the next round possibly? I have to admit that I have a number of apps on my phone that makes it useful in another sense - mostly language programs, metric converter, some outstanding things like that.
DeleteOddly enough, I only now ever get calls from immediate family, one friend (Uisdean Ruadh), and people wanting me to buy something from them - the actual "phone" portion is almost unused.
I use a laptop to visit several blogs early each morning whilst making breakfast including one we both frequent TB (yay OAFS!) and that Computer in the Pocket is flip phone in my case, used for calls only and receiving texts. In regards to this technology I don't mind being a Luddite, too many of my friend/neighbors whip their Computer in a Pocket out in the middle of conversation to look something up or make a call or take a call, to me that indicates an addiction........:( But then what do I know?
ReplyDeleteNylon12 - Yay OAFS Indeed! One of my very reliable morning stops as well.
DeleteIf I had to rate my Computer in a Pocket by use, it would likely b photos and texts as with you. Or maybe "communication" instead of texts; I have some friends who only are on a particular medium and are worth it to me to keep the medium to talk to them.
"... too many of my friend/neighbors whip their Computer in a Pocket out in the middle of conversation to look something up or make a call or take a call, to me that indicates an addiction." Lack of impulse control - I say that, suffering from the same disease.
One thing I find rather frightening is the vision of a family sitting down to watch a TV programme, but all of the individuals are also using their smartphones to comment on social media at the same time, and none are talking or engaging with each other, or even really watching the programme.
ReplyDeleteAnd the phone obsessed pedestrian is a serious hazard, as they are oblivious to their surroundings.
The discipline of using the "Off" switch is one that we should take much more seriously.
Will - it is not just sitting down at television. The same happens when people are out dining or at a public event - if nothing is immediately occurring, out comes the Computer in a Pocket (I am no better, of course).
DeleteFunny how I would do almost anything else - delete programs, swear off checking certain things - rather than hit the "Off" switch. Probably says a great deal about me.
"...being so in the otherwhere of media and social media and the lives of others that one completely missing the here of one's own life and the things that one can influence directly."
ReplyDeleteThis is so very important to keep in mind! FOMO goes both ways.
Dave Rubin famously locks his phone in a safe for the month of August each year. He calls it going off the grid. When he returns to his show in September his first guest makes him guess what he has missed.
Sandi - It does go both ways.
DeleteI have friends that completely swear off social media for Lent or a month. That would likely be okay; I do not know if I could swear off it to the point of hearing nothing for a month (or not posting, of course). But I can do more than I do.
I am extremely thankful that I was apparently born without a gene that makes addiction possible, at least that I know of thus far in my life. I see phone addicts all around me on a daily basis from meetings, to restaurants, to waiting rooms. I'm not sure when I have been in any of those three situations in the last decade or more and haven't seen someone on their phone.
ReplyDeleteIn the stillness of the morning, I do make my rounds on my phone which is mainly check emails and swipe away the news alerts to see what happened overnight. Then for the most part, it remains in my pocket the rest of the day. In the evening, I generally do a quick scan of the Book of Face and check emails for a second time and then that is it. I'm guessing less than 20 minutes a day for me. I also try to avoid electronic usage on weekends. I'm not always successful at that but it helps to not feel like I have to be tethered to it or reachable by others who are tethered to theirs.
Ed, I am trying to work towards a schedule like you express. Mornings I am working to cut down, although that is often blogging time. Evenings are the bigger challenge: working there to catch up on economic news and respond to comments and that is about it.
DeleteWeekends are something else I am trying work on/struggling with. It is very much a habit of "Well, I am bored - let me see what is on-line...."