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I’ve been on a mission these last two days. Can’t really say what inspired it, perhaps the idea that I’m starting full-time work soon and I’ll have precious little time for distractions, or that over the last five years I’ve read literally thousands of blog posts, tumbls, tweets etc. and gained little from it. But anyway, this is it.
I’m done with instant information. Done with social networking. Done with multitasking. Done with Web 2.0.
What do I mean, ‘done’? Is this the end?
No. But I’ll tell you what it is:
1. Regulated information consumption:
RSS is the devil. Having my reader open all the time and reading every new post the minute it comes in, monitoring 100s of feeds — it’s not right. I’ve narrowed my daily reading to a handful of feeds and will only read them once a day.
2. Crackdown on social networking:
Same goes for facebook, tumblr and twitter. Will only read once a day and will not update status throughout the day. I’ve narrowed my twitter and tumblr follows down to less than 20 each, only actual people. No point following blogs or companies which are just going to post stuff which necessitates more fact-finding and retention of useless info (ie. that WESC have a new headphone collaboration with Ed Banger. Do I need that?).
3. Singletasking:
This is the big one. This is how I plan to run my 8+ hours in the office every day. I read this article and it just made sense. Multitasking was actually a sham invented by Generation Y to convince our bosses that the amount of procrastination and instant information grabbing we do is legitimate. They even bought it. But it’s not productive. Well, certainly not in my industry.
And it also works in social interaction as well. Don’t chat with 5 people on Gtalk — meet with one or two and hang out. You’ll feel better after too.
4. Blogging:
I should point out I still hold blogging in high regard. I just think that reading too many blogs in the endless pursuit of instant information is addictive and counter-productive. I’ll still read blogs written by people whose opinions I value. Like those in the sidebar here (->). But I won’t read blogs written by instant information sources just so I can have the latest ‘buzz’ knowledge. While it might feel good for a second, it’s slowly depriving me of my ability to concentrate and retain information I really need.
Will all of this mean I probably won’t have an iPod full of the latest downloaded songs, know everything all my friends and people I don’t even know are doing or be uptodate on the latest Gawker Stalker sightings?
Yes.
But if I really think about it, I don’t care.
There is a phrase we’ve had thrown at us in my workplace a few times this last year, and that phrase is “sharpening the saw” – my job is by no means rocket science or law, but it is made more insular by the corporate environment – so much so, social networking is the outside distraction I need to keep me sane, functional and productive
I only hope you don’t find yourself in the same situation, because I admire your decision to choose quality over quantity
yo albert,
congratulations on quitting the internet and thx for putting my link in your favourites! i just realised. i’ll follow suit and put yours on mine.
peace!
I’m hearing you. I plan to single task at work no matter how mundane the task and use my out of work hours to “sharpen the saw”. I just think for me, the idea that I can productively mix the two all the time has gone too far.