Most everyone I know is taking the self-isolation part seriously, but this is resulting in a strange situation. People are suddenly, agonizingly bored. And as a result people are starting to question what they've taken for granted. For me, I'm questioning my access to constant entertainment through the internet.
For years now, the nay-sayers (you know who they are) have said that members of the young generation can't take a day off of the internet or their phone or tv or videogames or what is generally referred to as "screentime." I can't speak for you, but for me, these criticisms have been right on the money. Taking an entire day away from those things? Sounds dreadful.
I'm 95% sure I'm not addicted to or obsessed with my phone because while it would be somewhat unpleasant to go without it, I'm fairly confident that I wouldn't have a breakdown or anything. Regardless of if I could survive the great un-plugging however, the fact remains that I've spent a significant portion of my day on a phone or some other screen, every day, for I-don't-know-how-long. And here's the thing:
I don't know if that's bad.
Yes, I understand that (as with everything) moderation is key, and that you can't write off an entire type of potentially useful and productive technology just because it also has the potential to be abused. But I have not really been keeping track of how much of my time on my devices has been abusive and unhealthy, vs how much time has been productive and useful. And if I wanted to keep track of that, I'd probably get an app to help me.
You can say that nobody really wants to be unhealthy or to abuse technology in depressive spirals that prevent them from doing the things they want to do and enjoy the things they want to enjoy. But people will do that anyway. I've done that anyway.
I have had those days where I'm feeling super down, and I've spent way to much time on my devices, and there's just so much noise, and I wish that I could take a break from it all, but for some reason, I just can't get away and it seems to be getting worse and the closest metaphor I can think to describe my state of mind in those moments is like a run-on sentence.
I know that getting away from my devices will help me, but I think the real issues behind these kinds of experiences are all about momentum.
Let's stop. Just take a breather.
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Big Inhale.
Big Exhale.
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We have to learn to navigate contradictory ideas that culture has taught us. Even good advice, when taking too literally can be harmful.
I don't know about you, but the culture I was raised in and in which I still currently abide has always taught me to never be bored. Boredom is not productive. It is neither work nor play, and therefore it is worthless. It doesn't help you, and in fact is quite unpleasant. So do something. Anything. Anything is better than being bored. Above everything else, you must keep your momentum because to be bored is to slow down and to slow down is to stop and stopping is death.
Or at least, that's how I came to understand it on a sub-conscious level. But here's the thing. Boredom is not the worst thing in the world. Some of the worst feelings I've ever had have come after an especially long, and especially unhealthy bout of "screentime."
Correlation does not equal causation though.
Some of my best feelings have come after an especially long, especially stressful period of "screentime" but the difference was that I was being outrageously productive and operating within a temporary flow where I just felt like a genius.
Most of the time though, I operate somewhere between these two extremes. I'm not feeling depressed, and I'm not feeling elated. I'm just chugging along. Chug-a Chug-a. You know like a train.
In her book, Bored and Brilliant, the journalist Manoush Zomorodi argued that she (and likely many other people) used her phone fill the gaps in her day when she didn't necessarily have something going on. On its own this is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, a harmless distraction can be just what the doctor ordered. But the distraction wasn't always harmless. Without the mental rest required to recuperate from the day, she had grown more forgetful, more tardy to appointments, less creative, and generally, less happy.
She argues that the brain needs boredom in order to come up with new ideas, to fill the space as it were. The reason we seek distraction though is because coming up with new ideas is sometimes stressful and difficult, and it takes effort. This is why a lot of people (I'm assuming here, I didn't really ask anyone) instinctively reach for their phone whenever they find a single spare moment. It doesn't take as much effort. It is the path of least resistance.
Most of the time, whenever I had those major "depressive" spirals (I don't really know if I'm using the word depression in its proper context, because I don't have the medical condition, I'm just talking about times where I've felt so bummed out about everything it's not even funny), I've also had some difficult task that I was avoiding. And most of my tasks anyway are on the computer.
So if I'm going to face a screen anyway, why shouldn't I just call the whole day a waste and do something mildly entertaining?
And that's the problem right there. Most of what is wasteful on social media or electronics in general is only mildly entertaining. After I've been on social media for a long while, I'm not even really on it anymore; I'm just searching for something funny enough that it will give me enough momentum to get off and find another thing to do. But once it comes to that point, I just don't find things as funny or as valuable anymore which then keeps me on.
It is my contention that we ought to limit our technology only to what is good for us... and for what is bad for us.
I know, I know, just let me explain myself.
The real harm here is caused when it becomes part of your lifestyle, when that mild entertainment is taking up more of your day than your actually entertaining entertainment.
It's just like a diet right? One day of gorging out on nothing but the grossest fast food is probably fine, so long as for the rest of the week you're eating healthy. But when you're consistently eating a marginally less unhealthy meal, every day for the week, your ultimate consumption of unhealthy product for that week is consistently higher than if you had just gorged out for the one day only.
I'm taking a similar stance in regards to social media and tech. Try to limit it to only productive and useful things, and things that can in no way even be considered a small harmless break.
Like, go watch all the Star Wars movies in one sitting.
Maybe I'm taking it too far though. Because even when I'm watching something as small a a ten minute animated tv show, (I've just discovered We Bare Bears, and it is awesome), I struggle to not pull my phone out and play some mindless game at the same time (ironically, my mindless game of choice is called "flow" which does not give me the genius productive flow).
I guess we're all responsible for our electronic diets, and some people are bound to have a much higher tolerance than others. And that shouldn't be ignored.
But I shouldn't pretend that I have more tolerance than I do, because I'm only going to hurt myself in the end which I'm starting to realize that I don't want. That's why boredom is so powerful. It breaks your momentum down a potentially dangerous path, and helps to give you a moment to stop and consider your actions, and determine if you want to make a change.
Oh and it also helps your creativity too.
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(PS: I swear I didn't put that big break in there to make it seem like I had written a much longer blog than I did. I just really needed a break there, and figured that somebody probably also could use one.)
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