That is so right on the money it's not even funny.
I have recently tried to only check mail twice a day, check twitter twice a day. I can't however get myself to not check HN many times a day.
We are slaves of the feed as I wrote in a post a while back. There are too much information and too little bandwidth to consume it all. We have become bottle necks, yet we suck it up and dream of a better future where information is consumed and screened just as effortlessly and critically as when we look around the room.
Accurate in some ways, an overreaction in others. What did we do while waiting in bank lines before we had cellphones? At best, we brought a dead-trees book. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not inherently better.
Checking your email while playing with your kids or cuddling with your wife is one thing. Skimming the news on the bus or in a grocery checkout line is something else entirely.
"Accurate in some ways, an overreaction in others. What did we do while waiting in bank lines before we had cellphones? At best, we brought a dead-trees book. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not inherently better."
Really? How often do you check a feed or a news site or your E-mail, and find that either there is nothing new, or mere triviality, effectively nothing? Adding up all that time, you come out with nothing. At least with a book all that time adds up to having read a book.
I have come to appreciate the easily-accessible airplane mode on most modern smartphones as much more than a setting to accommodate FAA requirements—it's an extremely valuable social tool.
With a few swipes, you can concentrate on what's around you, who you're talking with, and nothing else. When you're done, you can go back to the cloud.
I'm always surprised at how productive I am in the plane when I'm not distracted by the net. I read better, absorb info better, program faster, etc. And my thought process goes much deeper into problems when I've just got a pen and paper.
Hm, I should try airplane mode for my computer when I'm not on the airplane.
Actually, I've been kind of doing that in the past couple of weeks: I'm working on a project for which I don't really need the net (except for reference/doc sometimes) but I get distracted with Facebook, Twitter, HN, back to Facebook…
So, instead of Starbucks, I started to go to our building's TV room where I can't get Internet access. It helps a lot. In case I really need to look up something, I still have my iPhone, but EDGE speed is a good deterrent.
What makes that better? "Scheduled downtime" such as meditation or a walk in the park is wonderful, but waiting in line at the grocery store is hardly conducive to inner tranquility.
Being able to quietly reflect on your own thoughts in the line at the grocery store is a kind of inner tranquility. If you can't do that, what hope do you have of meditating?
I'm worried that I'm no good at it any more, either. checks email
Perhaps not in the bank line, but on the bus, waiting for your lunch, in line at the grocery store... these are times to interact with your fellow human beings.
I went a whole month a short while back where I refused to put on earphones while commuting. Had many an interesting conversation that month, and met a number of interesting people. In our field of work it tends to be culturally somewhat homogenous, I personally really enjoy these opportunities to branch out.
I've been slipping back into the habit of earbuds everywhere I go - it's easier to shut the world out, but knowing what I'm missing I'm still kicking myself.
I will forever remember the prophetic warning in the preface of Zen and the Art of the Internet:
"One warning is perhaps in order -- this territory we are entering can become a fantastic time-sink. Hours can slip by, people can come and go, and you'll be locked into Cyberspace. Remember to do your work!"
I had this idea for a "swear jar" for the internet. Every time you go to a site like news.ycombinator.com or click your gmail tab, it puts 50c in the "swear jar". And you get the money back at the end of the month.
Users would be able to choose the list of sites, and the disincentive (50c, $1, $2 etc) for each one. The aim would be to subtly change your thinking patterns from: "I'm bored, check x" to "Maybe I should use this time for constructive thinking".
I'd like to build a company based on this idea...the company makes a profit from investing the money in users' swear jars.
Not much of a penalty if you get the money back. Have it donate to an organisation or political party you cannot stand instead - you'll have a stronger incentive to minimise the damage if every dollar goes to the enemy.
However, if done right, it's feasible that users could end up having $50 or thereabouts perpetually in the swear jar...which (at least for me) would be a big disincentive.
If the penalty is immediate, obvious and doesn't explicitly remind you that you will get your money back, then I contend the brain's instinct is to cringe.
Maybe you get the money back in 3 months rather than 1 month: you see a browser plugin displaying how much you've already spent on HN and you think "ouch...I'm not getting that back for a while".
For people who weren't necessarily good at saving money, it might prove to be an effective savings technique ("Oh $50, just in time to pay the water bill!') rather than a disincentive. You need to lose the money, even if it's just to your wife to spend on shoes.
Have heard of it before so I suspect it's already been done at some level though I think it related to longer-term goals (e.g., quit smoking by date x or lose your 'bond' to some nutbag political org).
Say what you will, the majority of us can totally relate to at least one of his paragraphs.
The more access I have to information, the more I find myself thirsting and craving for it. As with anything, it requires serious discipline to control it. But these little data and information pushing devices are exactly what makes it so difficult!
"I went from being the Tony Montana who came to Miami with nothing and worked his way to the top through a combination of sheer will, toughness and a knack for avoiding chainsaws, to being the Tony Montana who was unconsciously fantasizing about his sister and yelling obscenities to an empty room while soaking neck-deep in a cocaine-fueled bubble bath."
I grew up hearing my mother say, "My cell phone is for my convenience, not yours," and "If it's important, they can leave a message." Do not let constant connection tyrannize your attention. Do not let trivia distract you from important things. Let it ring. If you're doing something cool, they'll understand.
Also, your mental appetites are like your physical appetites: you crave what you eat. If you eat a lot of chocolate, you'll crave chocolate; soda and soda; tomatoes and tomatoes. The more you check your Facebook, the more you'll want to. Do it hourly and you'll follow every link, tag every photo, reply to every comment. Go without it for a couple days, and when you return your visit will be quick and non-compulsive, skimming the good stuff and going back to other things.
I wish you well and hope you become whatever you think is 'better'. People make fun of me because I talk to random strangers when in lines or waiting for someone at dinner. Yet the people with me are doing the same thing, just on their phones through text messages and super pokes. One of them made a comment today while waiting in line to order for lunch, "it is ok, most of my friends I really only talk to through IM anyways." We were discussing how difficult it was (not very apparently) to live out of your country. How awesome is that?
I think the last few lines in the correct order should read:
You gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the iPhone. Then you get the power.
Then when you get the power, then you get the women.
I have recently tried to only check mail twice a day, check twitter twice a day. I can't however get myself to not check HN many times a day.
We are slaves of the feed as I wrote in a post a while back. There are too much information and too little bandwidth to consume it all. We have become bottle necks, yet we suck it up and dream of a better future where information is consumed and screened just as effortlessly and critically as when we look around the room.
This is not the real time we've been looking for.