As I considered and then went through with getting rid of my teevee, a key rationale behind my decision was the sense of wasted time I had. It was clear to me, after each of my many teevee-watching sessions, that I had just wasted part of my life (often on/with some inane, worthless subject).
So now that the evil black time sink is gone, am I making awesome use of all my free time? Well, not exactly. On one hand, I actually do find myself with tons more time with which I can do whatever I want. On the other hand, I have quickly discovered many alternative ways to waste time, the foremost being surfing the Internets.
Although I have an established formula for surfing (it isn’t purely freeform) and I try to consume content efficiently, at the end of the day, what is the difference between spending two hours consuming media from computer vs. consuming it from a dumb box? Well, the interwebs are a lot more stimulating: the content I consume is often thought provoking or at the least informative about the wider world we occupy, rather than fantastical fictional drama.
Still, I see a need to put some limits on my surfing. One tactic that will help, I believe, is my list-making, which serves to focus my attention on key actions that require my time and focus, thus lessening my tendency to wander aimlessly on the series of tubes. But beyond that, it is clear that I need to have some ‘unplugged’ hours – I cannot possibly need to be online 16 hours a day, can I? No, of course not.
So I’ll be thinking about how to work this issue out, what methods might work to make the most of my time when I am plugged into The Matrix and keep some significant portion of my days productive but disengaged from my RSS feed. Any suggestions?
I think that as long you are hitting your goals with a 80% or greater accuracy that you can ease off worrying *too* much about ‘wasting time’. I think that time spent meandering can actually create compost that your goal directed achievements need to grow well. For example, at first taking pictures was a sport then a hobby and now it is part your professional repertoire. In other ways our ‘wastes’ of time can become the source of future growth.
Pingback: No time to waste | Organic Mutant