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I handle it by collecting quotes that tell me to knock it off. I've since started to focus on just the things I really care about: The purpose of knowledge is action, not knowledge. ― Aristotle Knowledge isn't free. You have to pay attention ― Richard Feynman "Information is not truth" ― Yuval Noah Harari If I were the plaything of every thought, I would be a fool, not a wise man. ― Rumi Dhamma is in your mind, not i…
“Beware the barrenness of a busy life” - Socrates
https://nicolasbouliane.com/blog/silence
It helped a lot. I spend more time outside, I read more, I watch fewer YouTube videos. I don't browse reddit as much. I check my inboxes less. I didn't really measure it, but there is an objective improvement, even in the dark days of winter.
However, it's not a magic pill. I'm here right now, am I not? I have good and bad weeks. I still reach for the internet to avoid starting a task I dread.
I would find a difficult project to work on. It should be hard enough that you have to put an effort to finish it without being too distracted. I think being distracted occurs when something is too easy so you procrastinate.
Yes, and to detach, I enforce little lifestyle changes. It's a species of declared war. Ideas to fight back:
1. No mobile or laptop, ever. I like big computers and I cannot lie...
2. Indulge when you do, disconnect otherwise. Use a smart phone like a phone; build apps, don't use them. Promise yourself to get out into nature at least once a week for several hours with no screens. While there, empty your mind, walk to walk, sit to sit. Do it every week.
3. Go back to doing things on paper with a pencil. So much to be said for this. I keep a piece of graph paper in my pocket all the time. Each different fold is like a different app. Best smartphone ever. Don't get me started on notebooks. Practice your handwriting.
4. Expand your hobbies and rotate through them when they start to bore you.
5. Fight, fight, fight.
6. Lose yourself in music more. Don't forget, "life without music is a mistake". Get a little boom box and some batteries and go outside to listen to music on that thing. Make information with your brain while you stare at the clouds. Do it every week like some kind of weird ritual.
For example:
- Getting rid of my smartphone and going back to a flip phone (lasted a year)
- Limiting my use of email to a few specific windows during the day (lasted a month or two)
- Requiring myself to write things down before looking them up on the Internet (lasted a month or two)
- Took the Facebook app off my phone (pretty much permanent)
- Periodically giving up Internet news for periods lasting from a couple of weeks to a month or two (works whenever I'm actively doing it)
Some of them have worked for a while, but I seem to eventually go back to the default.
The experiment I'm currently running is turning off the web browser on my iPhone. I started that about a week ago, and really like it so far. I don't have an email app on my phone (I use the Gmail web interface), so it really reduces the urge to pull out my phone and check email or look things up.
With every project I have an initial reluctance to start. But once I start I usually feel compelled to finish it (these are usually woodworking projects).
Just start. Choose something realistic. Make it consistent. Even just 20 minutes in the morning or evening.
And if you abandon whatever it is - maybe "it" wasn't for you, but you probably learned something. Now do something else.