Distractions

[starseerdrgn]

Something I have been attempting as of late is to reduce the distractions around me.

I should be writing, and yet I catch myself on social media (which does little aside from ruining my good mood), distracting myself with games when I do not need to play them, and so on. I have made strides to stop this behaviour, but not much of it has stayed with me, as I still continue checking social media at the strangest times…

I have even taken the liberty of removing the Twitter and Facebook applications from my phone, requiring me to use my desktop or a mobile browser if I wish to interact with those platforms. I have also started turning my phone screen-side down, to enable the "Do Not Disturb" gesture (Windows Phone 8.1, Lumia 1020), and setting myself to some form of "Away" on XMPP to silence incoming chat requests.

The problem is very simple: habits. Habits have formed that I need to change, and as the human saying goes, "bad habits die hard." In particular, I need to stop checking social media unless I am absolutely sure I have nothing else to do.

I need to study or read during my downtime, and write when I am able to. I need to stop letting myself get distracted by what is happening in the lives of others. Above all else, I need to help myself learn and be productive, rather than constantly wasting time studying people as I used to do.

I am no longer as social as I once was, and in many respects, it has helped to quell the problem of information overload that I kept experiencing…and that I keep putting myself through with social media. My mind is no longer capable of dealing with that sort of extroversion. I have become much more of an introvert, and I need to finally accept that and adapt myself to the situation.

Perhaps by focusing myself, I can begin to regain more of my short-term memory, as due to the constant need for information that I endured for so long, my memory is very poor. In fact, while writing this, I happened to remember a load of laundry that was still in the washer from the day prior. That is how poor my memory is, and how bad the distractions have become.

---

Tonight and tomorrow night, I will make myself scarce from all social media/chat/IM/etc, and simply study, read, write, or draw. I need to pull myself away from that which draws me away while giving me nothing in return. For now, this will be my reminder.