The tech vampire and embracing fulfillment
Published by on February 5th, 2009 9 Comments »
My personal 2008 was all about “less noise; more substance“. I just know that come January 1st this year, you roused from your alcoholic slumber with but one intent: find out what Neil’s 2009 is all about, right?
OK, perhaps not, but in the somewhat unlikely case you did, and have been gnawing on your knees for just over a month wondering, I though it about time to witter on about 2009.
My name is Neil and I’m having a difficult time with tech
As the real world grows increasingly entwined to the virtual world, I grow increasingly indifferent to its siren song. Once the focus of endless hours wading through page after page of dross with the shimmering hint of something worthwhile just around the corner, now a useful tool when I need to learn the etymology of “adrenaline” (discovered in 1901, in case you are interested).
It has taken me some time to isolate the technology ailment I am just starting to heal, but it boils down to interference. The web is noisy – I doubt you would argue that. As a result it has in the past become not a distraction, but simultaneously irritating and useful, but always diverting. Like a neighbour who is happy to chat over the fence with a cuppa while imparting his priceless gardening tips , who continues to mow your lawn while he’s out doing his own, yet plays Radio 2 just a tad too loud in the morning when you’re struggling to get up to full speed productivity, and parks his car sticking just a little too far out on his drive so you invariably have to reverse carefully around it.
Each year I spend less time feeling my internet activities are genuinely productive and fulfilling.
The facebook to wrench a thousand hairs
After much grumbling deliberation, I recently created an account with the dreaded facebook. From the moment of verifying my email address, the level of frustration followed by sheer exasperation at how poorly applied the site is in terms of how one is forced to use it, has taught me never to be optimistic again.
It is clearly designed to keep you logged-in whilst trying to decipher what on earth is going on, obsessing about the various activities of “friends”, and generally constantly filtering out noise – which does not end when one logs out (the infamous facebook bacn).
The facebook experience sums up my growing frustration and feeling of wasted energy with tech in general.
There is simply no time for this waste
A theoretical weekday for me – should everything run to schedule:
- 0630: Up and grabbing breakfast whilst Breakfast meanders along on the TV and I try just once to remember the weather forecast for more than 5 seconds after it has been broadcast.
- 0700: A scan through both work and personal email inboxes to establish messages requiring later attention. Inbox Zero by 0730 is the aim, and achievable most days. I also catch up with overnight twittering.
- 0730: Time to get cleaned-up (are you sure you want all my bathroom-related activities?)
- 0800: Deal with personal emails, blog posts, various other online activities such as messages, networking, commenting, reading, research, all that stuff.
- 0930 – 1900 work. Of course there are breaks for lunch and appropriately dispersed mugs of coffee.
- 1900: Dinner. Usually with a little TV as background.
- 2000-2200: Writing time (~900 words written, or a chunk of editing). TableRappers doesn’t just happen, you know.
- 2200-2300: Wind-down. Try to relax a little so that sleep is achievable at a reasonable hour.
That, at least, is the theoretical, optimum daily schedule. It rarely comes together as planned, particularly after my West Coast USA work colleagues reach their morning at around 5pm UK time. Creative time is, as you can guess, at an absolute premium. Today, as an example, dinner was not until 2030 and right now, it is 2348 and I am, for some reason, suddenly driven to complete this post.
How much creative energy is being sucked into my tech void?
More than I am prepared to continue losing, that is for sure. My non-commercial creative activities, such as drawing and painting in particular, must be shoe-horned into that schedule in the slivers of free time that opens up here and there.
What pains me the most is to have the most fulfilling, challenging, and enriching activities bullied into dusty corners by everything else.
And yet…
When managed, the internet, and technology, is a wonderful resource. Having recently rekindled an unceasing battle with creating just one satisfactory painting in watercoour, online resources have helped me to understand how to move my explorations forward.
However, I wonder how much further I might be in this creative development if I simply traded the online research time for painting and exploration.
So 2009 is about using the internet less?
In a way, perhaps. More accurately, it is about taking control, about harnessing the positive whilst pushing the negative, unproductive, and unfulfilling off a very high cliff.
I believe if I can release the grip of much of the interfering technology, it will make elements of my days far more productive, thus opening up genuine free time not only to explore mor creative activities, but perhaps also sociaising and spending time with family.
You might say in undertaking to write a novel, I am bringing the added pressure into my day to day life. Only someone who does not understand the creative urge would consider that a worthy suggestion.
2009 is about simplification, about setting aside the unproductive to enhance the productive, discarding the worthless in exchange for the fulfilling. 2009 is about change.
9 Responses to “The tech vampire and embracing fulfillment”
Well said. I’m finding myself more in the habit of checking in on web stuff than actually enjoying or needing to be there. I can’t bring myself to Facebook, though I understand that Tablerappers requires you to embrace reaching more potential readers. I am certainly less enthusiastic about the web than I was even six months ago. Finishing a first draft of a novel (finally!) certainly cleared a few things up in my mind priority-wise, but since I did it for NaNoWriMo, would I have done it so quickly without the pressure of that website? Help and hindrance; I too want change in 2009.
Forget facebook (it’s horrid). Dust off that novel and get it to second draft!
Oddly enough this exact same thing has been happening to me within the last year. I’ve gone from spending endless hours on Twitter, Facebook, Forums, Webcomics and the like, to rarely checking in on these things despite the fact that my new job requires me to be on a computer for 8-9 hours a day.
It seems like the more exposure I have to it, the less interesting it is for whatever reason. Part of me feels like enjoying ‘real life’ is more important or whatever, but I’m not sure that’s the driving force behind my feeling this way yet.
(Also, long time listener to Minor Tech, keep up the great work)
It seems to me that everything is the same. We’ve gone through a few online frontiers – new media/podcasting/ugc being the most recent perhaps – and into a phase of replication and band-wagon mentality. Originality is scarce because once someone discovers their audience, they cling desperately to them, doing a Phil Collins (regurgitating the same old stuff over and over) to retain the fan-base. I’m as guilty as the next man of repeating because it’s easier, but change starts with awareness.
I wonder where this will lead if we don’t start genuinely innovating again, taking risks, experimenting, just doing something because the passion is there, not because we thirst for pseudo celebrity. Sure there are those pushing superb stuff out, but as with most things interweb, the cream too often gets swamped by the mediocrity.
(Also, delighted to hear you continue to tune in to MT!)
So I wonder if we will need a new medium to push bold, exciting content. As you’ve stated new media, podcasting, etc is becoming more and more of the same, so do you think it will take an entirely new form of content creation to push the something genuinely new? Or is it just in our heads that it’s all been done?
I mean TV and films have been around for ages (as a content format or whatever), and the majority of people still seem to be entertained by it, even though you could argue the same formulaic shit (generally speaking) is being pumped out.
Is it the case that some people (possibly us) need something different and/or orignal?
Whether it’s me being delusional or not, it begs the question, what is the next blog, podcasting, streaming video, etc?
I think the lesson we can take from podcasting is that the medium is irrelevant, it’s the idea that matters. We all hailed podcasting as the biggest thing to hit media since, well, media. But quite rapidly it shrunk into what it really is: an accessible means of broad distribution.
I say, we must work at our passion, worrying not for the size of the potential audience, the chance of popularity, or how much we can make from it. Passion will find its audience if one can find the means to express it, and will find longevity long after the dross has been washed away.
Well said. Agreed.
[...] subject of this post is a direct descendant of the growing changes expressed in the previous one and perhaps serves to colour that one a little more. I long for the time – and energy – to spend [...]
we become addicted to such things and forget every important thing. once i lost my sleep and i could note that my health is not like before and immediately i made up my mind and changed my life style spending time for other outdoor activities too.