Motivation

[kchark]

This is an overly philosophical essay, and you don't have to read it if you don't want to waste your time. It's just here for my enjoyment.

Comments

[kihanna]

TV is probably the biggest waste of time to me. There was only a few years in my life where I actually had full blown cable and actually watched it. It was... annoying. I would watch a show and then the next show would draw me in. I know not everyone is not like this, but no matter how stupid the show is, if there's some type of resolution solved at the end of it? I will and have to watch it all. And I hate that. I remember once more recently that dragged me into watching some sort of "Super Nanny" reality show and it was stupid, but I still had to watch it anyway.

Honestly I'd rather people drain away chatting with their friends on the internet rather than drain away watching trashy TV all day.

I've found the internet to be constructive for me because I'm socializing with people of my type; artists. As you know, connections are incredibly important and helpful to an artist's life. Between criticism, jobs, suggestions, socializing with fellow artists is extremely helpful. If the internet didn't exist, where the Hell would I be? I probably would have given up being an artist a long time ago honestly. As horrible as it is to admit, DA motivated me for many years.

I get super depressed if I'm not constructive. Haha.

[pandaxdoll]

^ THIS! I can completely agree with everything you just said. Dude, I can pretty much watch anything and get sucked into it too! It's so weird.. I remember some random forensic science show randomly coming on one night and I ended up watching like 4 episodes of it.

[kchark]

See, but with TV if there's something that you actually need to do, you can easily stop watching it and do in. In fact, since it's non-interactive, you could potentially do what you need to do *while* you watch that show that has drawn you in so well. With the computer, your input is required constantly, and your friends are always there waiting to distract you.

I can understand how, as an artist, the internet is useful for making connection and viewing art so that you have a better idea of what works and what doesn't. That's fine. But that doesn't change the fact that half the day (or more) can be spent just wandering around different blogs, checking news sites, or browsing through art that really isn't going to help improve your abilities all that much. But you *feel* like you're doing something productive. That's the problem, since you're discovering new material, it feels like you're being constructive, but 90% of the time you're just passively absorbing material that you have no use for. It's just like TV, but sneakier.

Also, the fact that the TV shows draw you in so well is just further proof that the entertainment industry has zeroed in on what will keep your attention. When TV was starting out they had no idea what to put on there to get people to actually watch. Now they *know*.

[kihanna]

but at the same time it's easier to tell your friends brb than pull yourself away from a television show that will not stop and you need to see the whole thing.

90% of the stuff I'm looking at has to do with art so it's helping me in one way or another. Even if it's very minor, it does. Such as mindlessly chatting with Neil over the years. We were into Viewtiful Joe together => We both enjoyed the Spider-man Movies => We both got back into comics books => The two of us changed our direction in life, art style, and way of thinking to comics. If it doesn't help my actual skills, it'll help/change my way of thinking about things.

It's obvious that TV is intentionally done that way, and it works.