I need to change my Internet habits.
I spend a lot of time online for both work and pleasure, and the line between the two often blurs. It’s easy for that to happen on the Internet. You get on to check reviews and samples for homeschooling curricula and, before you know it, you’re watching a video of dueling cellos while ogling pictures of steampunk-themed sand castles and it’s 1 am and five hours have gone by.
So this podcast by Michael Hyatt (via Jodi Lea Stewart) came at the right time for me. Navigating the Internet is like a balancing act and I fell off a long time ago
I’m not a scientist and I can’t discuss the latest research on how the Internet is changing our brains. But I do know that it’s had a negative impact on my brain in the following ways:
First, it’s turning me into a consumer rather than a creator. Guys, there is such a LOT of cool stuff on the Internet. Thoughtful and witty and entertaining blog posts. Gorgeous photos and awesome art. Funny memes, useful how-tos, amazing facts. I could spend hours immersing myself in other people’s words and images.
And quite frequently, I do.
But the thing is, if I’m consuming then I’m not giving myself the time or space or silence to create. And if I don’t create, if I don’t bring art from within me, I feel down and depressed.
Which leads me to another aspect of the Internet: it’s shortening my attention span. Ever notice how you surf the web? You read a short blog post, follow a link to a two-minute video, move on to a series of pictures with funny captions, then tweet or change your FB status. You’re restless, constantly on the move, clicking links, opening and closing tabs.
If it doesn’t grab right away, if it’s not broken up with lots of white space and cute images, if it’s too difficult to get into, you move on.
And that’s filtering into other areas offline. Follow an argument through several pages of densely-written text? Phbbt. Reached a snag in my current story? I’ll just check my RSS feed for a few minutes. I wrote a paragraph? Hooray. Now I can go see if someone mentioned me on Twitter.
Uh. No. In order to write the kinds of stories I want to, I need to dig deep into myself. I need to burrow into my characters’ heads, wear their skins, feel the bite of the wind and the stench of sewage and the ache of muscle… and I can’t do that if I’m running off every ten minutes.
The Internet keeps me sedentary. I am my brain and my body (and my soul, but I’m not getting into that discussion right now). They feed each other. Ever notice how many ideas come to you when you’re doing a repetitive action, like washing dishes or sweeping the floor or–this is a big one for me–pacing a room? My muscles work, kickstart my brain, and boom! I unsnarl a plot point, a coy character starts talking, and I get a new story idea.
The Internet can cause unhealthy dependence on casual relationships. Online interactions are like a drug. Every comment on a blog post and every retweet can give a momentary high, leaving one craving more. My life, though, is not measured in blog subscribers, twitter followers or the opinions of perfect strangers. When those things take away from the real, important work of raising my children and investing in my close (on and offline) relationships, they’re taking a place that’s not meant for them.
And lastly, too much screen time makes me feel bad. If I spend too much time staring at the screen (and this includes TV and video games) I come away feeling jittery, anxious, sad, or down. And then it’s hard for me to reconnect with the world around me, with my family, with my own stories, with God.
And with that, it’s time for me to get off the computer and take my children outside to see what butterflies and dragonflies we can spot!
How is the Internet affecting your brain? What guidelines govern your Internet usage?
My basic guideline is as long as it increases my overall productivity, it’s good. As soon as that goes down, it’s bad. And it is a fine line. It requires being really in tune with myself and knowing that when I start feeling off I need to unplug.
The internet is my audience and almost of all of my work is online, so I need to be there, but I also need that time away. Congratulations on finding your own line. :hugs:
One thing I have learned: there is no such thing as reinventing yourself, your presence, or your life too many times. Just take a step in the right direction and don’t look back.
Exactly. The Internet is how I find my audience, so I can’t not be here. And I truly enjoy blogging and having a small, but deep community of people to talk to and learn fro,.
One thing I have learned: there is no such thing as reinventing yourself, your presence, or your life too many times. Just take a step in the right direction and don’t look back.
Lovely! I’ve spent a long time learning to be comfortable in my own skin. I don’t need to chuck all that and go looking for someone else to be. Small steps in the right direction, as you say, work better. 🙂
So many true things here! But so far, it hasn’t really shortened my attention span. Most of what I do online seems to be fairly longish (ie: watching full movies, reading blog post/essays), but I don’t have twitter and while I’m on facebook because of the anthologies I’m working on, I tend to visit it infrequently, and when I do, I check like two things and get off and move onto longer things. But I can spend quite a bit of time researching something… which often ends up morphing as it goes until suddenly I’m studying Russian butterflies when I started out looking up phases of the moon in 1945. I definitely feel guilty when I spend too much time online, but I tend to only open firefox when I need to check something specific or buy something specific. I don’t tend to just open and look around. One thing I do find, is that places like FB have reduced me to zero tolerance for anything that wastes my time. There seems to be so much inane stuff that people post, that I just can’t be bothered to even scan through it anymore. No patience whatsoever.
And (knock on wood) it hasn’t interfered (much) with my writing yet. I’m working on a new short story now, and that’s all I want to do, so the internet slips way off to the side. I’m far more apt to waste time lying on the couch listening to music plotting out stories and dreams.
Also: Liana – I love what you said: “there is no such thing as reinventing yourself, your presence, or your life too many times. Just take a step in the right direction and don’t look back.” I want that framed on my wall where I can see it daily!!
You are one of those people who can use the Internet for what it’s meant to be–a tool–and get on with your work and life. Good for you! It’s something I’m still learning to do.
Stepping away from the Internet *after* I’ve done all that I really need to is the hard part. I get so comfortable, sitting in my rocking chair or on the couch, with my feet up, that I don’t want to move. And I get there after in the middle of the day, often after a bad night (dratted insomnia) or a busy morning ferrying children, which makes it so nice to sit in one place. I have to make these conscious decisions to get up and get moving. To reach for a book or a journal or sketchpad and pencil instead. To do the dishes or play Rummy with my children. Anything to break the lulling spell the Internet casts on me.
I have an advantage, in that because I work from home, my desk holds my work computer and my home computer. I sit in the same chair, at the same keyboard, to work at either. By the time 5 pm rolls around M-F, I usually want nothing to do with that desk or EITHER computer (the disadvantage of the situation, as usually I can’t bear to sit there anymore and write, either, which is why I mostly only write on weekends). So doing things on the internet isn’t relaxing for me, it just reminds me of work, keeps me pinned to the same desk I just spent 8 hours at… I’m in the exact opposite situation of you! 😀
Yes, those circumstances do help you out in this respect! I wish I could write longhand, sometimes, so I wouldn’t have to sit at my computer to create, but I despise my own handwriting. Longhand doesn’t work for me. So the computer it is, with all its shiny distractions. 🙂
Yes. Yes. And yes. Have you read THE SHALLOWS? It’s a non-fiction book by Nicolas Carr about this exact topic. Only he gets into all this cool scientific-y stuff. I loved it! It was a very interesting, though-provoking, life-changing read. Anyway…thought I’d pop in with that recommendation… 🙂
Thanks for popping in, Valerie! I haven’t read THE SHALLOWS, though it’s been on my radar for a while. I will bump it up on my to-read list. Thanks for the rec!
That’s really thinking at an imvspsriee level
“My life, though, is not measured in blog subscribers, twitter followers or the opinions of perfect strangers. When those things take away from the real, important work of raising my children and investing in my close (on and offline) relationships, they’re taking a place that’s not meant for them.”
Honesty, I am really struggling with this same issue, with everything you’ve posted here. I need to be on-line less. I’m trying to find a balance. I’m so far from it right now. Let me know if you come up with any tricks or secrets!
No tricks, really. Just a matter of exercising one’s will and pushing away from the computer. I think it helps to have good substitutes for online activities. So instead of a vague, “I guess I will get up and go do something else”, it’s “I get to go curl up in my favorite chair and read this great book!” “Or I get to go exercise so I can not be winded when I go up a flight of stairs” or “I get to play this game with my children so we can connect and laugh and I can sneak in some math facts practice too”.
I’ve also made it a priority to check my RSS feed no more than once a day, and I’m thinking strongly of joining the slow-blogging movement., too! Hyatt has some other great ideas in his podcast, including not going online until you’ve already done the x, y, and z that feed you.
I like to think of this not as giving up online activities, but doing something more creative and productive instead. I have to look at what I’m going to do instead in a positive light.
This is so good, Rabia. So, so good. The internet is such a valuable resource (what did we do before Wikipedia and Google?) but I agree-it has the tendency to give me ADHD. It keeps my thinking shallow. It keeps me consuming. To really create, I usually need to go outside, go on a retreat without internet or phone, be with other writers, or just journal for a while. Thanks for the reminder not to get sucked in and stay there 🙂
You’re welcome, Alina. Once I’m away from the Internet I get good things done. It’s the getting away that’s the hard part!
*nods*
I’ve often thought about taking an internet break, go live in that convent they’ve converted to a writers’ retreat etc., but it is probably a matter of finding the right balance.
Sometimes we do need to be ruthless, and unplug for a while or delete a social media account or block the Internet access for certain hours of the day. Otherwise we fall back into bad Internet habits pretty quickly.
I’ve been thinking about this same issue for a long time, so this is a very timely post for me. I’m happy to say that since reading it, I’ve taken quite a bit of time off, and I’m enjoying connecting with other things again. I’m also finding that I have more patience. Now if only I can get my memory to improve once more…
That’s awesome, Miquela. I love the feeling of peace and patience and living in the moment that can come from unplugging. I’m looking forward to the start of school so I have the routine and the impetus to stay off the ‘Net and spend more time with my three!