No Internet December

2012-11-30

Over the past decade, the most recent five or six years especially, I've noticed a dramatic shortening of my attention span, creativity and capacity for learning. I get distracted with incredible ease, and virtually never over anything important. My productivity is basically zero.

I've begun to notice this most acutely the past several months. I almost can't even read anything that hasn't been chopped into short snarky paragraphs and vetted by a mob of similarly attention-deficit individuals; I'll make it a few sentences and already my mind has wandered, only one or two of those sentences having been absorbed in any way.

Is this strictly an 'internet' problem? No, of course not. It's a few things, and indeed maybe a long list of otherwise disparate character flaws, dietary sins or behavioral bad habits that's led me to this point. However, the web is proving an ever-present temptation, an irresistible threat to my concentration that I've noticed has proven a real obstacle to getting anything done. It's also something that is, itself, a prominent contributor to my behavioral problems -- at least, I believe so.

Whatever the case, I'm going to conduct a short experiment. Throughout the month of December, I will limit my internet access to the point where, other than watching stuff with my mom using the Roku, I basically won't be using the internet at all. Exceptions will be made from time to time: My niece might want to use my parents' computer for YouTube, or I might need to access a website for a job or something. In these instances, I'll go ahead an break my fast, but otherwise -- no internet.

No Twitter, no Facebook, no Reddit, no 4chan, no email, no multiplayer games. I'll keep a short log along the way, but I wouldn't expect much from it. If it's worth posting, I'll post it in January.

That's not to say that I won't have anything to do. I've been stockpiling videos, books and games in anticipation of this event, and I may never have a moment of boredom even if I never produce a damn thing. It'll be like living in the early 90s again, except with better games.

I expect this month to suck a little. We'll see if my brain has improved at all by the end of it.


- Captain James, signing out for a month.

[Edit: See the journal here]