Linkology: The Best of the Internet for 8/26/11
I used to be able to read a big book easily, in a matter of days. I tore through The Shining in 48 hours, The Stand in a week and I would read long memoirs like Oh The Glory of It All in three nights. I used to write longhand — in pencil, no less, because that’s how Bruce Lee and Neal Stephenson did it — on college-rule paper for so long my hand would cramp and I would have to stop to let it unclench itself. My cursive even used to be pretty awesome, legible and even stylized. Cursive! Today, it looks like I write holding the pen between my lips while being dragged behind a boat. My BLOCK CAP glyphs are the only thing that proves that I did, in fact, have a formal grade school education.
I used to be able to focus a lot better on things. Long things, things that mattered, things that I couldn’t do in a few moments no matter how much I wanted to or how good I was at doing them. It was during this time I thought I would write books.
Then, one day while skating down my Career Path (TM), I decided to totally Geek Out. This was a confluence of talent and opportunity, and it was the most natural direction for me to go. Once that happened, I had no idea that committing myself to the frantic, fragmented, attention-destroying work habits (and environments) would put an end to the things I used to be able to do with ease. Economists call things like this an externality.
But it was an easy transition. Being a web worker means you reward your panting little brain with little bursts of dopamine every 30 seconds, because you continually serve all the various apps you have running to stay connected and get your job done. Did that person like my tweet! Did my link on Google+ get shared by an A-lister? What are the blog stats? What’s happening with my image ad on Google AdWords? Hey, Skype! Let’s check out some new Chrome browser extensions! Oh man I’m so gonna share my stupid vacation picture on Twitter. Just need to update Tweetdeck first! Herpty derp!
Most of my type sit in front of multiple monitors every day, with upwards of 15 apps running at any given time, and we get at once flustered and excited every time Skype, Growl, Twitter, Google+, WordPress, Gmail, Basecamp or Mailchimp announce they want our attention. We think we’re cool — we secretly love people looking at our setup and going, ‘Man, I don’t know how you manage all that stuff. I’d go crazy!’ — but the truth is we are going crazy. Just not in ways that are obvious.
So while I live behind three 24″ screens connected to a monster laptop that could probably run half of NASA, I can’t read a long book anymore without looking up every 22 seconds and noticing what some guy is ordering at the coffee bar. I’m currently reading Stephen King’s Full Dark, No Stars, and I’m having a hard time sticking to a short story, let alone the giant reading list I have tapped into Simplenote. Infinite Jest, The Pale King, A Prayer for Owen Meany, House of Leaves — seriously? These require real devotion, and I have that like I have missiles I can shoot from my fingertips.
(Bonus points to anyone who gets the Giant Robot reference.)
I’m writing this in OmmWriter, which is a distraction-free writing environment. It runs full screen, so no other applications can be seen, and it blocks all notifications from the system, so nothing can interrupt. It works. I write better stuff here. What grinds me about this, though, is that the market for distraction-free writing environments is completely manufactured. Back in my day, we used to call a thing like this a typewriter. Today, with ADHD and nerds’ tendencies to stop what they’re doing to look at things like spoons, attention issues are on the rise because of all the technology we use. We literally have to use yet another application to shut down the other applications we use to get our jobs done.
It’s like putting cinder blocks on your new Pella windows because you want some peace and quiet. Brute force, baby, but that’s what it’s come to.
I don’t know when all this happened exactly, but it did, and it’s becoming increasingly obvious that it’s a real problem. I supposed I noticed when I was trying to read a book on vacation and I seriously struggled through a thriller that I would ordinarily devour in a few hours.
So what to do? I’ll tell you what I’m going to do: finish this column so I can get back to Twitter. Can you imagine what I’m missing right now! People! Talking! About stuff!
Where are the links, you ask? Up there, in my meandering story. I’m going to spare you independent links that will launch new browser tabs that will take you away from (a) reading this, or (b) doing what you need to do so you can bounce from the office an hour or so early. Thank me later.
Oh, but first: check out all my links. You can’t resist, can you?
Welcome to my world. Take a seat — they’re going fast.
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More links:
MIPRO Consulting main website.
