Electronic Leash
It has been a little while since my last post but I plan on getting back on track with both the podcast and the blog. Things have gotten even busier in the last month, but I have finally got all my ducks in a row and I plan on being more consistent with posts; additionally, I have something more concrete in the works for the YouTube channel.
I have recently gotten very into "Adam Ruins Everything." I have been watching all the shorts available on YouTube while I am trying to get other work done. It's a really great show and it has caused me to reflect a lot more on the world around me but that is a topic for another post. Two episodes in particular really inspired me to get my butt back in gear to start doing the things I want to do. The first is a very Unus Annus-esque video you can find here.
The second was the impetus for this post and can be found here. I don’t know if that one is even an "Adam Ruins Everything" but it is still by Adam Conover and it really put into focus something that I had been noticing in my life. I recommend everyone watch this video before proceeding. It is a very short video but I think it puts the post more into perspective of where I am while writing this.
Hopefully, you took the time to watch the video but if not that is fine too, and in a way somewhat fitting. The video is about how hard it can be now just to sit and watch a three minute video that isn’t really about anything. I have been feeling like I can’t let myself do nothing recently. I don’t necessarily mean that I can’t relax or I can’t just stop working; I feel like I always need to be doing something. The first time this came to my attention was when I was watching a Veritasium video. I realized I can never just let myself be bored. Every moment I wasn’t doing something I found myself pulling out my phone to scroll through one social media app or another just to consume content(this ties into next week's topic so stay tuned for that) I was never allowing myself to have just a moment with my own brain and my own thoughts.
It is so bad that I feel like I have to pull out my phone while I am brushing my teeth. Any time I am not engaging my brain I have this instinctive urge to pull out my phone. The worst part is I have the muscle memory that once I pull out my phone I am able to pull up Reddit or Facebook without even thinking about it. I am not trying to bash on social media, they are great tools that keep people connected and allow us to share ideas. I am just concerned about my own inability to just let myself be bored.
I think this has also impacted my attention span. I have such quick access to gratification in the form of social media and that causes that tug to pull my phone out when I am doing other things. I am having trouble fully engrossing myself in other things because of it. I think I need to tackle this before I really embark on this journey because I think it will be a better experience to go through this without that nagging feeling to check the most recent post or the newest controversy. I want to be able to more readily just live in the moment. I want to be able to just be bored.
Have any of you felt the same way? If you have and there is something you’d like to suggest leave a comment below because I really don’t know the best way to fix this. I will be back next week and I am actually going to finally talk about Bo Burnham’s Inside so keep an eye out for that and have a great week!
