Just the other day, I happened to skim a blog post, “My awakening moment about how smartphones fragment our attention span.” It struck a chord, and I realized that I’m in the same boat. It’s been ages since I’ve properly read a book. Even when I have audiobooks on, I’m doing something else and hardly ever genuinely enjoy them.
I’ve got this habit too, of kicking off loads of projects and then ditching them once it’s time to roll up my sleeves and do the detailed work. Setting up a new project is a rush, but finishing something? That’s a snooze fest.
I haven’t got around to reading the books mentioned in the blog post yet. I might, but what really grabbed me was this idea of digital minimalism. I used to live that way. Apart from a bit of furniture, everything I owned could’ve been stuffed into a backpack and a small suitcase for clothes.
So, moving ahead, I’m gonna cut back on my digital footprint and social media use. I hardly ever have my phone on me at home. If I do, it’s mainly ‘cause I wanna be ready to snap photos or shoot videos of my kids. I’m thinking of making my GoPro my go-to camera.
And then there’s the whole audiobooks thing. That’s another reason I use my phone. But usually, I’m messing around with my kids while an audiobook is playing and I hardly catch a word. I might as well go all-in on time with my kids and save book reading for when I can really kick back and focus.