Distractions continue

I thought that quitting (or pausing) social media would make me insanely productive and focused. It didn’t happen. Let’s see if I can break down the reasons behind it.

The space occupied by social media left a void. That void is naturally filled by something else. Let’s say I was spending one hour on social media. My day still has 24 hours so what happened to that hour. Where did it go? Did I make a conscious decision of how to use it or did I make a conscious decision of where to use it but not how to use it.

It was the latter.

When I stopped using social apps (Twitter, Instagram, …) it felt as if I was free. Free to chase my interests. Free to focus on projects and learning. Perhaps too free. Too unstructured.

It started slowly. Start this email course here, another course there, follow this interesting newsletter, check forums, find new ones, discover new communities. Unintentionally, I tried to stay on top of everything. FOMO kicked in hard.

All of the sudden, I was spending more time chasing this than I was previously on social media. My inboxes (yes, I have several) got flodded with information and a stream of never ending things to chase.

It’s got to stop. Need to apply some Marie Kondo philosophy and techniques to a few areas of my life. I’ll start with email.