SAusterity
One week in.
Report:
Some side effects:
- checking other time wasting sites a bit more, but not with the same frequency as SA
- I feel a tiny bit out of the loop on RPG news but I've also realized just how incredibly gossipy SA is.
= Finally tried to redesign my standing desk to actually work with my desk (an ongoing project, unfortunately). I may have mangled it a bit, but I think it's fixable. It was only an Ikea end table to begin with..
+ without the mostly unrewarding socializing of SA, I think I am responding to people's texts and messages more promptly and more in depth
+ reading more: mostly comic books and novels, some wikipedia articles. Still better.
+ I feel better at planning things and holing plans in my head, like there really is some space freed up
+ I feel a bit more curious. Maybe more creative, but that may just be "not wanting to write on my thesis." Increasingly I suspect that creativity is directed boredom, or a self-defense against boredom. There's a really good Satuday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic about how, as we get older, a ton of our brain space gets tied up by old arguments we're still having. It feels like turning that off.
Overall: I've pretty much wanted to fall back into that reflexive behavior every day. If that's not an indication that I should be cutting back, I don't know what is.
I realized, too, that I've been reading forums of one stripe or another since about age 12. Often the time I spent on them was limited by the activity; once I'd read everything posted that day on Nintendorks or Trinada, I'd stop. Obviously. But on the larger forums, you never have to hit that point. It is an infinite skinner box and when you're using it to avoid something else, it really can go on forever.
I'm not going to swear off ALL FORUMS FOREVER but I think I should go awhile without checking much, if at all. I still see some fun stuff on the RPPR forums, but it's much more like the old ones - a funny picture every few days, not a constant stream of discussion and arguments.
I've felt like I have more time this way, even with being unusually tired this week. I would like to keep that up, because I am going to need all the minutes I can get this summer.
Report:
Some side effects:
- checking other time wasting sites a bit more, but not with the same frequency as SA
- I feel a tiny bit out of the loop on RPG news but I've also realized just how incredibly gossipy SA is.
= Finally tried to redesign my standing desk to actually work with my desk (an ongoing project, unfortunately). I may have mangled it a bit, but I think it's fixable. It was only an Ikea end table to begin with..
+ without the mostly unrewarding socializing of SA, I think I am responding to people's texts and messages more promptly and more in depth
+ reading more: mostly comic books and novels, some wikipedia articles. Still better.
+ I feel better at planning things and holing plans in my head, like there really is some space freed up
+ I feel a bit more curious. Maybe more creative, but that may just be "not wanting to write on my thesis." Increasingly I suspect that creativity is directed boredom, or a self-defense against boredom. There's a really good Satuday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic about how, as we get older, a ton of our brain space gets tied up by old arguments we're still having. It feels like turning that off.
Overall: I've pretty much wanted to fall back into that reflexive behavior every day. If that's not an indication that I should be cutting back, I don't know what is.
I realized, too, that I've been reading forums of one stripe or another since about age 12. Often the time I spent on them was limited by the activity; once I'd read everything posted that day on Nintendorks or Trinada, I'd stop. Obviously. But on the larger forums, you never have to hit that point. It is an infinite skinner box and when you're using it to avoid something else, it really can go on forever.
I'm not going to swear off ALL FORUMS FOREVER but I think I should go awhile without checking much, if at all. I still see some fun stuff on the RPPR forums, but it's much more like the old ones - a funny picture every few days, not a constant stream of discussion and arguments.
I've felt like I have more time this way, even with being unusually tired this week. I would like to keep that up, because I am going to need all the minutes I can get this summer.