No More Wasted Time

[Cotswold]

I have decided that no longer will I read online newspapers, or any news online for that matter. (Except maybe for some sport.)

By not doing so I won't waste way over an hour every day. I have never been involved in what is called social media. Which would be better described as Stasi Media, or the online KGB. Emails and the odd text I will do but reluctantly. It is always quicker to telephone someone than to send an email. But I understand that often you cannot always telephone. Or it is convienient to send a text or email in certain cases. So I will do that. I'm still using a 2G phone, so not a sad phone addict gazing into their screens every hour of the day.

Some other things that waste the time I have left on this planet are as follows:
Religion, drinking, driving on a Bank Holiday, shopping or visiting places at weekends, going on holiday during school holidays.

All of the above I've totally avoided for years anyway. And all the better for doing so.

There we are. I now feel much better getting that off my chest. On this warm and sunny day, I already feel a new start coming on

 

[ebs17]

I now feel much better getting that off my chest.

Among other things, you forgot TV and conversations with stupid people.

Yes, slowing down and disconnecting from unnecessary things is good for the soul.

 

[Jon]

I have decided that no longer will I read online newspapers, or any news online for that matter. (Except maybe for some sport.)

I am also guilty of spending too much time reading the news. Everything you do has an opportunity cost.

Some successful people classify reading into two categories:
1. Expiring information - e.g. news since it tends to only be relevant to that point in time. It has a short shelf life.
2. Long term information - e.g. great books, educational material. This material can have a long term payback.

It is rather reminiscent of eating habits. Junk food tastes nice in the moment, but long term its effects do not contribute to your health.

I'm always trying to shift my time towards #2 and away from #1, but frequently fail!

 

[Cotswold]

Among other things, you forgot TV .

We seem to spend more time trying to find something to watch on TV than actually watching.

I remember in the 1970s someone came back from the USA and said they had 70 channels and nothing to watch over there. I thought at the time that there must have been something. Now we have 156 Freeview channels and nothing to watch.

 

[Cotswold]

I am also guilty of spending too much time reading the news. .

The other day I was just casually looking at the newpapers online. When I looked at the clock 2 hours had dissapeared. Not only that I couldn't remember what I was looking at an hour ago. So that was a totally pointless two hours. Something had to change.

 

[ebs17]

Now we have 156 Freeview channels and nothing to watch.

It is documented in Germany: originally there were two public broadcasters. In these, advertising times for products were very tightly regulated and not very extensive.

Based on the urging of the advertising industry, the establishment and approval of further, then private, broadcasters began. Everyone can judge for themselves how good the "gap fillers" between advertising blocks are.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

As to cutting back on TV, the USA will find itself involuntarily cutting back more of their TV hours because of the simultaneous writer's union being on strike and the actor's guild members also on strike. There goes a bunch of made-for-TV productions. But that may also affect theaters since they will also be limited in what productions they can book. And it becomes more ridiculous when you consider the "Indie" productions that use non-union labor. Some of the productions are SO bad that they make Plan 9 from Outer Space look good. And that particular movie was once voted as the worst movie of all time.

 

[pbaldy]

It is always quicker to telephone someone than to send an email.

I would amend "always quicker" to "may be quicker". If they don't answer, you've got a game of phone tag on your hands that will likely add up to more time. I also think it can be more respectful to email others. If I call you, I'm demanding your attention "right now". If I email you, I'm saying "when you get a chance".

Personally I prefer to get emails than phone calls (work related anyway). A call can break up the flow of what I'm doing and kill productivity. If I'm coding I often don't look at email for a while, so it doesn't interrupt me. This may be relevant, coincidentally from an Access developer:

Getting Work Done - The Cone of Silence - J Street Technology

As I sit, working on a few blog posts, I can't help but think how much I appreciate working while surrounded by the glorious "Cone of Silence." What is

jstreettech.com

 

[Isaac]

I have decided that no longer will I read online newspapers, or any news online for that matter. (Except maybe for some sport.)

By not doing so I won't waste way over an hour every day. I have never been involved in what is called social media. Which would be better described as Stasi Media, or the online KGB. Emails and the odd text I will do but reluctantly. It is always quicker to telephone someone than to send an email. But I understand that often you cannot always telephone. Or it is convienient to send a text or email in certain cases. So I will do that. I'm still using a 2G phone, so not a sad phone addict gazing into their screens every hour of the day.

Some other things that waste the time I have left on this planet are as follows:
Religion, drinking, driving on a Bank Holiday, shopping or visiting places at weekends, going on holiday during school holidays.

All of the above I've totally avoided for years anyway. And all the better for doing so.

There we are. I now feel much better getting that off my chest. On this warm and sunny day, I already feel a new start coming on

I love it !!! I found it to be very helpful for me too. In recent weeks/(months?) I've cut out most of AWF too but occasionally troll in to see what's about - but quickly notice the drag that online crap has on my soul and get back out quickly.

Enjoy your newfound peace and extra time! It's well worth it.

 

[Isaac]

I would amend "always quicker" to "may be quicker". If they don't answer, you've got a game of phone tag on your hands that will likely add up to more time. I also think it can be more respectful to email others. If I call you, I'm demanding your attention "right now". If I email you, I'm saying "when you get a chance".

Personally I prefer to get emails than phone calls (work related anyway). A call can break up the flow of what I'm doing and kill productivity. If I'm coding I often don't look at email for a while, so it doesn't interrupt me. This may be relevant, coincidentally from an Access developer:

Getting Work Done - The Cone of Silence - J Street Technology

As I sit, working on a few blog posts, I can't help but think how much I appreciate working while surrounded by the glorious "Cone of Silence." What is

jstreettech.com

email is usually more efficient for me - not "faster", but more EFFICIENT - because if someone forces me to talk to them on the phone, invariably
1) I forget most of what they said
2) I don't have all my questions ready for them

I tend to come up with questions for people a little here, a little there, over time. So the email back-and-forth suits that situation much better than constant phone calls, which also tend to require a whole protocol of conversational type.

But I can also see the perspective of people who watch us "writers" tend to over-do it and there is definitely a time to just pick up the phone already! I have to be reminded of that on occasion

 

[Pat Hartman]

I rarely email friends and relatives unless I need to include information like an appointment date. For work, I usually start with an email since it helps to track a conversation but when there needs to be discussion of any kind, phone or these days video calls are required

AWF is my only social media outlet. I don't do twitter or FB, etc. However, I can get lost for hours in the YouTube world. Usually it is history or computer stuff I am drawn to. But funny cat videos are hysterical (at least to a cat person). Someone here posted a link a while back that led me to a funny squirrel video. It was awesome. Some guy had gotten tired of squirrels stealing bird feed and so made this obstacle course to get to the bird feeder. Those squirrels were pretty smart little devils. And persistent too. They just kept going back and trying again if they failed.

 

[Isaac]

I rarely email friends and relatives unless I need to include information like an appointment date. For work, I usually start with an email since it helps to track a conversation but when there needs to be discussion of any kind, phone or these days video calls are required

AWF is my only social media outlet. I don't do twitter or FB, etc. However, I can get lost for hours in the YouTube world. Usually it is history or computer stuff I am drawn to. But funny cat videos are hysterical (at least to a cat person). Someone here posted a link a while back that led me to a funny squirrel video. It was awesome. Some guy had gotten tired of squirrels stealing bird feed and so made this obstacle course to get to the bird feeder. Those squirrels were pretty smart little devils. And persistent too. They just kept going back and trying again if they failed.

My parents in Wisconsin deal with many bird feeder issues. If I recall correctly, they have caught about 3-4 different animals including deer checking it out .. and sometimes doing more than checking it out.

I suppose it makes sense; if I was starving and someone hung out a feeder of essentially a tasty Trail Mix from Sprouts, I'd probably go up there and start eating it too!

 

[The_Doc_Man]

By government office advice, we usually took care of e-mail only at specific times of day, but because the system administrators were automatically "Help Desk Tier III" responders, we ALWAYS answered phone calls.