Day 25 and day 26: getting excited

Day 25 and 26 - mostly read my new book. It's good and I devour it every little minute I have. Good thing the holidays are over. I love when I find a book that keeps me so interested! The downside - too much time on the device. I tried to neutralize it by giving a break to one eye while reading with the other and switching back and forth between eyes. I could be sad for the reason of being so attached to the device and seeing this phenomena happening with so many people from toddlers to older generation, but I won't be. Sad doesn't change anything. Getting excited for the things that I want to happen seems a better strategy right now. Get excited for finding ways to be off my device and doing things I love. They need to be one way or another related to my body and nature. I'll leave it at that. But to be continued.

Day 24: interesting observation

Day 24 - last night I had this feeling that I'm approaching my experiment all wrong. It shouldn't be about banning certain sites from my use and not even about how much I can accomplish during this experiment. Even my daily descriptions of what happened are not that helpful. I know it's just an experiment and I told myself I'm not going to sweat it, I'll just roll with it, but as I was looking through a website that was not part of my experiment, I felt a bit of a guilt. I'm not being productive, I'm simply meandering through a whole bunch of articles and why can't I stop? That was my train of thoughts. This kind of thinking leads to nowhere. I'm not going to quit my experiment, but I need to refocus the lens on something else. I obviously want to be less on the iPad and be very mindful about what kind of information I'm consuming. Since I'm approaching the 30 day mark, I might take this experiment further and do another 30 days but with different means to achieve my goal. I'm not going to restrict the use of any websites, but I will try and document what exactly is grabbing my attention. What I'm curious about. Why at certain times I'm attracted to a certain kind of information. What void am I trying to fill? What can I do about it? Maybe that could be useful. No harm in trying. P.S. Later on, I felt the urge to visit a blog that I loved reading a lot, but haven't followed in a while. I had the desire to visit the blog for a couple of days and kept putting it off on account that it's not on my allowed list of websites. Finally, after reflecting this morning, I followed my urge and I'm glad that I did. I found new updates, but most importantly the sequel to a book that is simply magic in my opinion. I can't wait to get into it and enjoy every single word written! I've been waiting for this book for more than 7 years! The conclusion is this though: consuming less info works because it clears the path for the inner voice to give guidance. That alone is worth the whole experiment.

Day 23: good company= less device time

Day 23 - today was easy in terms of using the device. I had guests coming so I cleaned and cooked and entertained and most of my day was spent in reality. Given that I have only 7 days left to my experiment, it's safe to say that I won't be able to accomplish all that I put to mind. But that's o.k. I know better now what to expect for next time.

Day 22: another beautiful day

Day 22 - I started my day by deliberately ignoring the IPad and going out for a walk. We had an amazing, beautiful, warm, pleasant ( I could go on) day! I loved it so much, I convinced my family to join me and we all had a lovely time. We ended up spending 4 hours breathing fresh air and enjoying the sun and the nature. One corner had this beautiful yellow tree next to an orange tree, next to the forever green pines. The sun was hitting at such an angle that it highlighted the succession of the colors advantageously. I only wished I had the camera on me. We also cooked a meal that I've been meaning to try for a while and it was side by side with my husband and I really like moments like these where I'm not alone in the kitchen. I was tired, but happy. Of course, I simply couldn't keep my hands off the IPad. I checked my emails and helped myself with the recipes and tinkered with my post on blogger. This one isn't bringing me any joy whatsoever. Partly because I've been surrounded by people this long weekend and have not had any quiet time to think straight. The fact that I'm posting and not giving up is already a miracle. But you can tell that the posts are short and not very informative. Plus, I really don't feel like figuring out what's wrong with the blog. Yet, it bothers me that I can't have it in a layout that I like. Even on a busy day like today I managed to go over the 2 hour limit. And I'm not done yet. I want to listen to one of my allowed books for 30 min. Later on, I have a new show to look forward to thanks to my family who likes to watch TV. I think I figured out why I wanted to do this experiment to begin with. Too much information. Overload. And it doesn't matter how I do it. Email. TV. People. Screen time even if it's for a good cause. The brain needs a break to function properly. How many hours of screen time a day is o.k.? I used to work in an office when screen time was on for almost the entire 8 hour work day. But that was work. Still, I wonder.

Day 21: a good cause to break the rules

Day 21 - almost 3 hours usage. Today was all about my favorite authors. I had an impulse to write them about a few ideas how to spike up sales for their books. They are awesome, but struggling with sustaining the financial part. Then, again I had an impulse to go on Facebook to check something about the same writers only to find out they opened an YouTube channel with the possibility to donate and support. And I did. I broke my rule, but I followed my impulse and I'm glad because everything happens for a reason. There are always people with a greater need and I'm thankful that I can help even with the little that got someone who I consider valuable to society.

Day 20: where does the time go?

Day 20 - almost 4 hours usage. I have no clue on what. I listened to one of my materials for 30 min. Checked my email. Blogged. Didn't do anything extra of my usual allowed activities. Yet, here I am.

Day 19: the bad and the good

Day 19 - almost 6 hours of usage. Most of it for reading my book and taking advantage of some sales before Black Friday. It was a really cold day outside and after freezing for a good hour, it was nice to come home and thaw while curled on the couch with a device in my hands. Hence 6 hours of use. I'm definitely abusing the device, even if I'm doing what I set in mind to do. And then I broke my rules. I went on YouTube for about 15 min. How do you go about breaking your own rules? First you get a Rolling Stone in the mail and peruse through it. You come across the review of Taylor Swift's new album. You read it and get curious about listening to some samples. You listen to a couple of songs and YouTube already has some other videos of your favorite youtubers catching your eye. Before you know it, you're hooked! After the 15 min, I realized, that was an itch I really didn't need to scratch. Yes, I miss YouTube, but I was so good for the past 18 days of not checking the trigger websites. But hey, I got sense into myself after 15 min and not more.

Day 18: tired, but happy

Day 18 - 4 hours of usage. What did I do? I tinkered with pictures, sent more emails to people, made research for someone else and listened to a one of my archived materials. (Quite interesting info about the intellect!) The urge to use the iPad is stronger in the evening when I'm tired and I want a distraction for my mind. I'm so tired right now, that I' barely keeping my eyes open.

Day 17: my best self

Day 17 - I was full of lovely, positive energy. I don't know if the lengthy walk did it or simply me being in a good, thankful, playful mood. Or possibly being in an accepting mode. Or not being on the net so much and being focused only on current tasks. I connected with a lot of people in a very short time and was radiating. Some interesting ideas where coming to me. I loved myself today so, so, so much and if I knew how to access this energy at all times, I would simply be in a good mood all the time. I felt fine all the way up to the point when I was cooking and cleaning and playing with my child, but my brain was craving for some info! I so badly wanted to sit down and get lost in some interesting article! I felt that urge and had to do it, even if for 10 min.

Day 16: there's life outside the IPad

On Day 16, I tried to keep my IPad interaction to a minimum. With the exception of a few emails, reaching out to people ( which is the best way to use the internet) and looking up a few recipes, I was pretty good. The jigsaw puzzle game was successfully deleted. I wrote a bit in my journal and simply enjoyed my Sunday. Total usage was for 2 hours. Still pretty crazy. The blog is not functioning properly and now my words are getting all jumbled together. Looks pretty bad, but I don't want to spend time yet figuring out what's wrong. I'll need to do it soon though if I want a pretty looking post. Not that my posts are something out of ordinary, but at least the content is readable. But now, that's not the case. Oh, well. I'll deal with it soon enough.

Day 15: a step, maybe two back

Day 15 - I'm ashamed to admit that I spent 9 hours on my iPad playing the jigsaw puzzle. Yes, I wasn't mindlessly perusing the net, but I put a great deal of strain on my eyes. This I'll be very short in my post today, to give myself a break from the device. I could give myself all sorts of excuses for today: too cold to go outside, family visiting, a simple lazy day with nothing much to do...still, how ridiculous of me. Tomorrow is a new day and I hope I'll be able to get back on track.

Day 14: I had a scare!

Day 14 - boy, did I have a scare today! My screen went blank for a couple of minutes and I completely and quietly freaked out. As I was watching the screen, black and unresponsive, I thought to myself, hey, you were the one complaining about too much screen time and the technology heard you. Now there's going to be no screen time. What was I going to miss the most? All my writing notes and the puzzle I started and didn't finish. Yes, I'm still playing the game. You know how it is, the brain wants to finish what it already started, especially if it's something of interest. I couldn't peel myself off the game and when I finally did, I could feel my muscles in a very unpleasant way. They were stiff from being in the same position for a prolonged time. That was scary to me too, because staying in the same position for hours is not natural to the body. That's why I want more movement throughout the day. One thing is interesting to me: when playing the game, it became the most important thing for me and all other activities faded in the background. I had chores to do too, especially because I was pressed by time, but I kept delaying my chores for another couple of minutes of game playing. Didn't like that part, of course. In the end, I did my chores and everything else on time, minus a walk in the park, because I decided I was too cold. No dancing or exercising either. It's crazy that after a couple of days of good, fun movement, I tend to roll back to being sedentary. Gotta watch for that. Also, I want to bring real stats about my current total hours of usage of the screen. I'll try to remember to get my app working on that and include the info in the blog entries. For fun, or for scares. When I was able to restart my device, I was very happy and grateful for having technology. Yes, I need to monitor my usage, yes, I need to curate the content, be more specific about the result I'm seeking, but in the end, I'm glad to live with technology. I'm still glad to do my experiment because it only shows how badly I need it.

Day 13: detour

I continue my experiment of no mindless net surfing and this is day 13. I listened to my favorite radio show and played the jigsaw puzzle game. One step back for me. But my brain is happy. I can live with one day of my experiment playing the game, even though it's not what I put my mind to do. This experiment is not about following rigid rules, but more about learning smth about myself. I know if I constantly bend my rules like that, I can just end this experiment right now. But even from bending rules, there's discoveries to be made. For example, what triggered it? Why? Can it be avoided? What can be done to get back on track? In real life, we need to be flexible once in a while. I've been in situations where I had to learn to be more flexible. Learning how to be flexible and not loose sight of what you're after, constantly tweaking and correcting the course, that's the skill I'm after.

Day 12: signs

I was busy today and only had time to post my blog entry, check emails and read a few pages of my book. My child wanted to play a game and I downloaded for her an app with jigsaw puzzles. Of course, I got sucked into it too. Before I knew it, one hour went by. I like playing all sorts of games and if it would be a physical puzzle, I'd say good for me, but this one only added to my screen time, which I'm trying to limit. Plus, it makes me attached to the IPad. Later on, an article came through email about how too much information without any specific goal in mind makes us less smart. The analogy was, wait for it...that our brain is trying to make sense out of all the info we get during the day like a jigsaw puzzle. If it's too much, during sleep all of it is getting dumped away. By morning time, it's all forgotten. Is it interesting that somehow I was getting a very important message and I got a clue ahead of time? I find it fascinating. It's not the first time I get things like that, but I used to brush these coincidences off. Now, I'm trying to pay attention. This article is a good motivation to keep doing my experiment and be even more stingy with the info I pick to read. I sure could skip opening certain emails that I know are not of any importance at the moment. But I like to read them because that's my way of staying connected to what I feel is of interest to me. But is it really important or am I looking for distraction? P.S. The browser, before me even looking up anything, showed a whole list of news and a lot of interesting links to things that I like. I never saw this before. If I was thinking that it's hard to avoid going on certain websites before, how am I supposed to do it now, when it's handpicked and put right in front of me without even requesting it?

Day 11: productive

On Day 11, events went exactly as on Day 10, with a small exception. 

I had to work with someone through Facebook and it took some time to constantly check my messenger, which if repeated every day, creates a dependency. 

Luckily for me, Facebook is not my preferred method of connection, so it's easy to stay away from it. 

Otherwise, it was a pleasant, productive day. I continued reading my book for the most part of the day and shake my body by dancing to favorite tunes. Pure bliss! That's exactly what I was looking for when starting my experiment. Let's hope I'll keep up and not go back to my old ways. 

I love that my brain is not filled with bits and pieces of all sorts of information. I put a 30 minutes timer to write and went beyond that. I'm starting to enjoy the process. Playing with words and images is fun! 

Day 10 of my experiment

This post is going to be short and sweet. 

On day 10 I was back to my usual routine. The long weekend is finally over.

I chose to spend my morning time on reading a book from my archived paid courses, listening to music on Spotify and doing a quick workout. I felt so energized that I continued dancing afterwards. 

Afternoon was busy with extra cooking and other domestic chores. Can't get around them and in my case, I'm kind of glad. As much as I don't like spending my time doing chores, it gives me a nice break doing something else and not being on the iPad. Awesome! 

I'm moving slowly with my experiment, but I'm definitely off the mindless net surfing. I like it. I do miss YouTube with the new weekly video postings, but not as much as it sounds. 

Cheers! 

Project No to mindless net surfing - day 9

 I spent most of the day 9 off the iPad.

 It was a really nice break and towards the evening I felt my own thoughts surge up. 

I did a short research on the oral health topic, but gave up on it before reaching out a conclusion. 

That kind of approach to research is a major problem and this is why. 

 Once I leave a page, I need to know exactly what I intend to do with the information, instead of just saying to myself that I'll come back to it later. It means I'm doing double work and sometimes even triple if I need to come back to the same page over and over again for the same type of info. 

At this point, before leaving a page, I could: 

- save the necessary info really quick in a program like Evernote or Notes 

- bookmark the page if I need to refer to it more often and really use the bookmark, not just forget about it 

- close the page, but make a handwritten reminder in a notebook if it's really important to me 

That's all I can think about at the moment, but it's better then living all these pages open that keep my mind distracted without any tangible results in the end. 

I always remember to visit the websites that are important to me without even any notes.

Also, maybe I shouldn't be afraid to let go of some of the materials I paid for but have no desire to revisit? It's obvious I don't have any desire to do it even if they are open for days on end, because I don't rush to go back to that page. Just a thought. 

Project No to mindless net surfing - day 8

Finally, on day 8 I started reading my archived materials. That makes me very happy! 

I have a ton of good material that needs some good implementation. Just reading this book alone has put my mind on a good track. I learned that our brain gets easily distracted and the technology only fuels our natural tendencies. Want to learn to stay focused? There are special ways to do that. 

Earlier in the day, I broke the rule and researched a few things off my list. But, to my defense, I was specific and it was for my own physical benefit. Also, I kept the time spent on research as short as possible. 

Between reading, researching and checking emails, iPad was still attached to my hip. 

Later at night, I watched a movie. It was based on a true story and it picked my interest. I so wanted to learn more about the real facts. Then I realized that as long as I watch movies, I get distracted from solving my own problems.

If only my interest would get picked to the same extent for my own life! 

My experiment - day 7

Day 7 was spent on domestic chores (cleaning, laundry) and connecting with friends (playdates, time outdoors, games). Great day overall! 

I still had time to listen to a podcast and linger a bit too long on my emails. I wasn't cleaning it, but checking every couple of hours what's new. 

To get myself off the email, I ended up watching some TV till the late hours with my hubby. In the end, he fell asleep before I did, but that's only because I was way more into the show we were watching than he was. ( Better things, in case  you were wondering) 

This experiment is quickly getting boring, but it's only 30 days and I will plow though it just because I'm curious where it will take me. Just don't expect it to make a lot of good writing. 

Day 5 & 6 of my experiment

Usually, any project at its beginnings is followed easily and to the T. 

That's not the case with my experiment. 

I'm constantly rethinking the terms and finding that they are not specific enough and not helping me do my project successfully. I'm still pretty much attached to the IPad even though I'm not mindlessly surfing the net. Maybe I need to figure out a way to use the Pad at certain times and bulk my usage instead of using it every minute to take a picture or put the timer, or follow a recipe or you name it. Would that make any sense time wise? 

I'm mostly finished with the remainder of the podcasts left from my open browser windows.   

Here's what has happened on the last two days. 

Day 5: Morning was busy at looking up natural remedies for 

a sore throat and cold, online and all other sources I had available. 

My child was not well and at home with me, thus I didn't have my usual routine. I read some books to my kid and loved it, continued writing a story, watched some good, light movies, baked some muffins and simply reveled in some much needed good feelings. 

Day 6 was pretty much a repeat of day 5. Not much to report. 

Day 4 of my experiment project of 30 days sans mindless net surfing

Day 4: I caught up on a few podcasts and mostly used the iPad for cooking. I store my recipes on the iPad.

 It felt nice not to be glued so much to it, yet I didn't do anything planned. I'll call it a resting day. 

In my offline life I got to: 

- sort my child's toys and anyone with children knows that's quite a task, if you're not a minimalist. 

- play monopoly, a game that requires a good amount of time.

- go for a walk in the rain in the evening. So beautiful, refreshing and necessary. 

- get into an argument with my spouse and use my child's peace place twice to get myself back into a good mood. 

Very interesting turn of events for a resting day. 

P.S. I've noticed before that on days where I don't use the devices so much and I don't have a project to work on, I tend to turn my attention to my emotions and it's not always a positive experience. But I no longer run away from uncomfortable, no matter how much I don't like it. How I deal with it is a different story. 

Day 3: project 30 days sans mindless net surfing

On Day 3 I stayed glued to the screen for a good 4 hours, cleaning emails, listening to podcasts: important info on oral health. 

My mind was so lazy on focusing comprehending and staying with the info and there's definitely some resistance to the information. 

Something like, I've heard it all before, there's gottabe another solution to this, can I apply it to my life, will I make more damage, what can I do right now and I simply can't get around the fact that I need an income by creating and selling smth or working somewhere. 

Knitting project nr. 1 is going to be thougher then I thought. 

Today's positives: I was able to meditate for 36 minutes and enjoyed it a lot. 

Negatives: I listened to info while eating.

I'd rather eat in silence and chew my food well then sit and meditate separately only because this is a constant challenge in my life. I do not pay attention to my food. Even though I enjoyed it, I think I overate slightly and also, was too busy paying attention to the iPad. 

I'm constantly distracted by the email and want to devour that instead of focusing on what's in front of me. Almost got hooked on a new podcast, but decided to let it go. 

Day 2: project 30 days sans mindless net surfing

There is probably a term out there for my experiment and I haven't heard of it yet. Would be nice to go and research it, but that would go against my goal.

Here is day 2 ( a Sunday) and what I chose to focus on this day.

Sundays are lazy days and family time for my loved ones and me. Besides enjoying the domestic bliss as a very dear person to me calls it, I chose cleaning my email. If it takes me 30 days to get this task done, I will not be surprised. It's tedious and it requires a lot of mini decisions to make about what to keep, what to delete, what to consider worthy of dealing with later.

I could agonize over an email several times till I figure out what I want to do with it. Not fun. Yet, somehow, because I was in this mode of sorting and categorizing, two interesting ideas popped into my head. Mulling over those ideas was a nice break from my usual way of thinking.

One of them is quite exciting if I found a way to make it happen. (There must be a way?)

All day long I've been very tempted to go on other pages unrelated to my experiment and I still spent a good amount with a screen in my face, in spite of doing chores, playing games and being outdoors.

P.S. I will start writing my questions in a notebook of all things that make me want to surf the web.

Day 1: the beginning

I think I need an introductory phrase every single time I go about posting my progress on my project.

Mine will be something along the lines bellow and I will change it over time if I can think of a better version, because I went into this experiment completely unprepared. These posts alone will resemble more drafts then coherent, well thought texts. Here we go.

On day one of the project 30 days without mindless net surfing, of course I was still very much glued to my devices, the I-pad and the laptop. I decided to start the experiment with cleaning some of my unread emails and the multiple windows in my web browser.

The windows got withered to 16 and only  4 out of them are paid materials I allowed myself to read and study. I still have a few podcasts to listen to before I completely close the remaining windows and I'm hoping within the next day to have left only those 4 pages left on my browser.

One of the open pages is a free book I've been meaning to read for over two months now and given that I didn't surf anything extra from what I already had opened, I was able to finish the book. I really liked it, to the extent that I want to re-read it. Even though I finished it yesterday, I was constantly distracting myself with other things. I found it very hard to stay concentrated on the book alone.

I think it comes from the attention span getting shorter with all the info available. Almost every single time I get a new thought or idea that I want to check on, I am able to drop what I'm doing and search the new info. Getting bored with the new info, I go back to the previous link, only to get another thought that would lead me to a new search. And so on. That's how the vicious cycle is working on me.

Finishing the book was a nice bonus for day one. Even though I had a lot of screen time, I used it for something that in the long run will benefit me. The book put some of my beliefs upside down and made me think in a way I never considered before. Books like that are precious because they challenge my perspective on life and what I think I want. Emphasis not on what I really want, but what I think I want. These are in my case two completely different things.

Looking forward to tomorrow!

P.S. I did end up watching some TV as well. Although TV was not prohibited in my experiment, it's still a screen and I could easily redirect my attention by bingeing on TV watching and that's not my goal. I don't have a problem with TV like I have with the mindless net surfing, but I do have a family member that takes any time toghether spend TV watching as quality time. Based on that, I'm going to let myself watch one hour of TV with my loved ones. Can't get around that one yet.

Project 30 days sans mindless net surfing

I've had this one on my mind for quite some time and I've been waiting for the perfect time to start it. The idea was to go through some of my open windows in Google Chrome, close or bookmark them and then take a sabbatical from new information.

That would mean: no YouTube, no Instagram, no Facebook, no web surfing beyond a very specific need, which I'll be listing down later.

Of course, I've closed the said windows many times, but I always find ways to open new ones. Also, once I open them, I'm constantly moving to other windows still leaving many behind open for days on end. I want to go back to that important information later, to better apply what I find important, but that doesn't happen.

I'm getting more then annoyed with this urge to constantly consume new information without digesting well what I already learned. There is no time to digest, because in one week I forget all I read and saw before. I know that the brain craves informational food, but there has to be a more efficient way to feed the brain with info that is useful to me for a long term, not just for the 5-10 minutes I stay on a page.

I'm starting today, unprepared, because I'll never be otherwise. I'm going into this experiment because  I want to see what happens when I'm more conscious about my internet use. The goal of the experiment is not to devoid myself of all information, but to direct it for very specific needs.

I will allow myself to have access to all purchased materials that are stored online or on my bookshelves that I haven't had the time to properly study.

Some of these materials include info on:
 - how to build a website
- how to learn play guitar
- how to teach a child to have good knife skills
- how to include more and proper movement into your life
- knitting ( I had two projects in mind)

Specific info that I will allow myself to study within these 30 days that is free on the internet has to do with oral health. I have a serious decision to make on the subject and need to educate myself on the matter.

Also, I've been hoping to cut the overall time spent on the net and gear it towards writing and do some digital decluttering, like my photos and emails.

My high hopes for these 30 days is to see what I'm able to accomplish, if I'm able to stick to the desired regimen, if I enjoy the process.

The ideal experiment would be to go about not reading anything at all, but as an avid reader, I haven't been able to stick to that experiment. Let me start with baby steps and see where it takes me.

I'll be reporting my progress every day on the blog. That way, I'll have something to write about every day and keep me motivated to go on with this project. Let the fun begin!