Have you ever ever paid attention to how many tasks you give yourself ? The habits and activities that you give your attention to? As I write this post, I have 2 computers on, a song Sufjan Stevens song playing on Spotify, checking my emails and waiting for the alarm to be ready to pick up the kids from school.
That is already 6 tasks in itself.
Whenever I feel like I am overwhelmed, I first observe all the things I am paying attention to. No wonder sometimes I have anxiety because too many things happening at once.
Today, I deleted several accounts online that took too much energy out of me. Although they are helpful for their purpose, I don’t see the need for them right now. Just because many people are one major platform, doesn’t mean I have to be there as well.
Truth be told, I like to be online to get inspiration and to be on my computer to create digital creations. But I don’t like being online for the sole purpose of scrolling for hours and hours. The constant contact of emails from some platforms have even drove me unsubscribe to many providers. I even removed social media apps from my phone. Truly miss video chatting on Marco Polo with friends, but I know myself. I got used to finding distractions.
Then I got tired.
I got tired of allowing myself to be an attention whorse (keeping in PG here lol). In this attention economy, we aren’t the one’s getting too much attention; its the other way around. We are freely sharing our precious time to tech companies- for FREE! And what’s more valuable than money? Time! Something we will never get back.
So as I sit here thinking, what are some things I could do to take my time and attention back:
- delete all apps on phone (not always possible in this tech age)
- get rid of all technology (but I like using my computer)
- be antisocial (I like communicating online and via phone)
Everything can be simple (as shown above) but I can’t kid myself. I grew up with some of the first computers made (remember floppy disks?) and you can’t take that out of me.
However, I found something more helpful for each of us who want to keep technology present in our lives but also have attention boundaries.
- Pick up a mindful, hands on activity.
- Read physical books.
- Garden or take care of plants.
- Do Nothing
As a creative arts person, I am never bored with hands on activities. I like drawing, sketching, painting, embroidery and music. Things that are very mindful and take me slow amounts of time. I surround myself with as many offline activities as possible to keep my mind nimble. This is very necessary for me (and my mental health) as I get older.
Or the alternative is to do NOTHING! You don’t have to have hobbies, you don’t have to do many things, you just have to be. I honestly don’t know what nothing looks like but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t have to do with technology. lol
On another note, I’ve been away from this blog for a while. I have several blog posts drafted but never published. And now I have a YouTube channel that I took a long break from. I truly miss editing and am pumping myself to get back into it but with a different approach. You will be seeing me post a bit more on here as I want to share with you the art projects I am working on. My mind needs an outlet for all the thoughts I have as I make creation a part of my life.
If this post seemed all over the place, just know that I am not writing with AI nor am a proficient writer, but I will be writing to keep you posted on creative endeavors.
And now, it’s time for you to get back to your regular attention programming. 🙂