We read yesterday about my 30-day plan to stop eating my free moments of time by cutting out Twitter and Reddit, however joyful they are. The idea was that this would help carve out larger chunks of time for myself than are available today. Yesterday, Saturday, was the first day, and this the (short) log I kept about distractions:
– Lauched both Tweetbot and Apollo a couple of times unthinkingly; realised as soon as app opened; closed right away
– Once launched Twitter app without realising, scrolled, even screenshot-ed an interesting tweet before realising I had even unlocked the phone, tapped Twitter and was in the app
– A few times today, launchsurfed through email, Whatsapp, Telegram and Messages probably looking for new message dopamine hit
I was surprised at this. Although I think it was less the craving of the sort that addicts experience than just the brain’s muscle memory expressing itself. Today, Sunday, there is little of that behaviour left, and I expect at this rate it will soon dissipate entirely.
This morning I had my coffee reading a few long-form articles and also reflecting on + bringing together, connecting things in my mind that had been floating around for a few days, and typing them out. I am quite certain this thinking would not have happened but for the isolation. So far things bode well for the rest of the trial.