I haven't written a for-real blog post since November 2nd and that is because I have been extremely busy writing my thesis, which has sucked up all my writing power Shang Tsung style.
I guess that previous sentence implies that I'm only able to write about one thing at a time, which sucks but is sort of true. I find the more I write about a topic or write in one style, the easier it comes to me. If I've been active on IMU, then long form posts come easier than if I have force my way through my first post in month. If I've putting in shifts at the library all week, it's way easier to sit down and hammer out some good chunks of a chapter. I, like most people, wish I could just sit down and be prolific, but that just ain't true.
I like using word ain't. I guess that's weird for a kid from Scarborough? Who's not from Alabama?
I was thinking about a post on the way to my parents' house in Scarborough the other day and one of the main ideas kicking around in my head was that this blog is a distraction. This is 100% true. I use the internet to distract myself ALL THE TIME and this is definitely part of that. I'm a real big procrastinator, so if I have an assignment to do and the need isn't absolutely pressing, then I fire up the blogger tab and start tapping away here.
What I was thinking about though, is that you can definitely classify this blog as a "good distraction". Using the above example, I think there's something to be said for one of my impulses being to write on here because writing is an expression of your creativity and it involves you using your brain and thinking about new ideas and then trying to express those ideas. It sure beats the hell out of browsing pro wrestling news, which I am also guilty of, in terms of your mind actually doing something. So even if some of the posts look a lot like this, it's better than mindlessly scrolling through facebook or instagram or whatever (fangraphs, in my case). In this way, I use that as ammo for my procrastination. It's like "Well, I'm not writing that, but I am writing this". In the moment, it makes perfect sense to me.
I suppose this ties into a lot of thoughts I've had on technology over the last few years. This all started when I read the book Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart, which I recommend to people my age and younger more than pretty much any book. I kind of hate that smart phones are just a major part of everyone's life now. I completely understand why they are and I understand that many people are kind of forced to use them because everyone else does, but fuck if it sucks man. Every time I'm going somewhere and look around, every person is face down looking at their phone. I don't want to come off as too high up on my already high horse, but you know what I do on commutes since I only have a flip phone? I read. I listen to music. I write.
That is all consuming or making art in somewhere. It's doing something that is adding to my life in a positive way.
I just think that scrolling through various social media as the way you pass your time is fucking awful. It's just useless information that is interesting enough to interest you for the time you are reading it and then you forget it the second you aren't.
Now, I know this isn't a new phenomenon. Before smartphones kids my age would spend an entire night on MSN (though that was at least talking to someone) and I'm sure that there were tons of pre-2000 kids who spend an entire day in front of a TV watching shows just because they were on and not because they liked them at all. Maybe people are going to fill their mind with useless information no matter what and it's just a matter of where it comes from? That's dark.
Also, it's unfair that I act and write like I'm not a slave to technology as well. I spend a lot of time on my computer and am on it right now, publishing this post to what is consider a "social media" site, I guess. Blogs are social media right?
But like I said, if writing stuff here is my distraction, then I am cool with that.
I guess that previous sentence implies that I'm only able to write about one thing at a time, which sucks but is sort of true. I find the more I write about a topic or write in one style, the easier it comes to me. If I've been active on IMU, then long form posts come easier than if I have force my way through my first post in month. If I've putting in shifts at the library all week, it's way easier to sit down and hammer out some good chunks of a chapter. I, like most people, wish I could just sit down and be prolific, but that just ain't true.
I like using word ain't. I guess that's weird for a kid from Scarborough? Who's not from Alabama?
I was thinking about a post on the way to my parents' house in Scarborough the other day and one of the main ideas kicking around in my head was that this blog is a distraction. This is 100% true. I use the internet to distract myself ALL THE TIME and this is definitely part of that. I'm a real big procrastinator, so if I have an assignment to do and the need isn't absolutely pressing, then I fire up the blogger tab and start tapping away here.
What I was thinking about though, is that you can definitely classify this blog as a "good distraction". Using the above example, I think there's something to be said for one of my impulses being to write on here because writing is an expression of your creativity and it involves you using your brain and thinking about new ideas and then trying to express those ideas. It sure beats the hell out of browsing pro wrestling news, which I am also guilty of, in terms of your mind actually doing something. So even if some of the posts look a lot like this, it's better than mindlessly scrolling through facebook or instagram or whatever (fangraphs, in my case). In this way, I use that as ammo for my procrastination. It's like "Well, I'm not writing that, but I am writing this". In the moment, it makes perfect sense to me.
I suppose this ties into a lot of thoughts I've had on technology over the last few years. This all started when I read the book Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart, which I recommend to people my age and younger more than pretty much any book. I kind of hate that smart phones are just a major part of everyone's life now. I completely understand why they are and I understand that many people are kind of forced to use them because everyone else does, but fuck if it sucks man. Every time I'm going somewhere and look around, every person is face down looking at their phone. I don't want to come off as too high up on my already high horse, but you know what I do on commutes since I only have a flip phone? I read. I listen to music. I write.
That is all consuming or making art in somewhere. It's doing something that is adding to my life in a positive way.
I just think that scrolling through various social media as the way you pass your time is fucking awful. It's just useless information that is interesting enough to interest you for the time you are reading it and then you forget it the second you aren't.
Now, I know this isn't a new phenomenon. Before smartphones kids my age would spend an entire night on MSN (though that was at least talking to someone) and I'm sure that there were tons of pre-2000 kids who spend an entire day in front of a TV watching shows just because they were on and not because they liked them at all. Maybe people are going to fill their mind with useless information no matter what and it's just a matter of where it comes from? That's dark.
Also, it's unfair that I act and write like I'm not a slave to technology as well. I spend a lot of time on my computer and am on it right now, publishing this post to what is consider a "social media" site, I guess. Blogs are social media right?
But like I said, if writing stuff here is my distraction, then I am cool with that.
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