Online Jedi
I like the ideas of Seth Godin. So I try to read his blog. For some reason I never really finished reading his blog posts, especially the longer ones. I figured it might had to do with the style of mr. Godin or reading on a laptop.
Last week I bought his book, Small is the new Big, which is almost the same text as can be found on his blog. To my amazement, I read the articles completely and could absorb the information much better than when reading online.
Last night I got it. It’s about concentration and focus. Being online you’re constantly aware of all the sites, blogs, emails, webcams and other interactions you can have. All the other new stuff, easier stuff, more instantly gratifying stuff, keeps you from finishing an article that’s longer than one paragraph and requires some actual thinking.
In hindsight, this connects with my online reading habits. I can manage BoingBoing when the articles are not too long. I love the NY times, but most of the time don’t manage to get to page two. And although I hate myself for doing it, I find myself most of the time procrastinating on – quick snack – sites like de Telegraaf (a kind of Dutch Daily mail). Basically the same with TED.com, the presentations are great, but most of the time I’m too restless to watch a ‘talk’ longer than a few minutes.
Offline blessing?
My favorite place to think and write is on a train. The scenery passing by and nothing else to do besides tapping away on your laptop. No Skype, Facebook, emails, nothing. Nothing to distract from the task at hand. I guess this basically works the same for reading. When you are not online, the ability to concentrate and absorb information drastically improves.
Just pulling the internet connection from your computer doesn’t really work. I want to be online, I want to be connected. Trying to solve this paradox I installed the program SelfControl. This program keeps you from going to websites that you have forbidden yourself to go to for a certain amount of time. Technically, it works perfectly, the only problem is, Me. It’s quite easy to find other websites to waste time on that you haven’t blocked already.
Mmmm…a self-inflicted catch 22 At this moment I just see two solutions to this riddle.
Time waste tool. Develop a program that gives you feedback about how you use your computer and spend your time online. Actually seeing how much hours you spend each day and week on work-avoiding tasks, might give you a more focused and concentrated use of your laptop and internet. I would really like a program like this.
Online Jedi. Become the ‘Online Jedi’. Which basically means, being aware of the limitless temptations the internet has to offer. Knowing that you cannot read and follow everything. Absorbing stuff is better than just scanning everything. And – old school – building and working on your online discipline. May the force of concentration and focus be with you…
Tags: information overload, Online concentration, Online reading, Seth Godin