I probably shouldn’t admit this, being a “digital native,” social media blogger, and self-proclaimed geeky girl. But here goes:
I didn’t tune in for, live-stream, or even remotely follow #WWDC and I couldn’t tell you why I want the new iPhone other than the fact that I heard about that front-facing camera, and THAT is cool.
Yeah. I know. Don’t worry, I’ll catch up later – on my own time.
Information overload
I didn’t think about why at the time, but I made a deliberate choice this week to not tune in for the conference and all the unveiling and announcements, not to follow the hashtag, not to click on the links, not the be the first one in-the-know about Steve Jobs and his latest toy. At the moment, I simply didn’t have the mental capacity to process any new information. I was busy at work, it was Monday, I’d taken Friday off, there was catching up – personal and professional x2 – to do. New iPhone deets? Not on my radar. No room anywhere near my radar.
In retrospect, it made sense. I’ve been trying to pare down the amount of information I take in lately so I can really hone in on the good stuff. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bookmarked something as “that thing I want to come back to because it requires action or thinking on my part,” because right now? No time for thinking or action other than what it takes to get things accomplished – and while I’m accomplishing fun things, that’s still stuff and things in general that are taking up space in my head. If I were Nico, I might use some analogy here about how I’m running out of hard drive space. Or memory. Or both.
Too many choices
I read something over the weekend in Real Simple magazine (while I was getting a manicure – WIN) that reminded me that we have this plethora of information – of choices – and that’s not necessarily a good thing. Too many choices mean we have tough times making decisions. Too many choices means more stress because there’s a higher volume of information to consider in general.
How much easier is it to make a decision when you have two choices vs. ten choices? I’d rather simply have two.
We have so much coming at us, so many possibilities, so many self-imposed “commitments” of things to read, resources to be familiar with, people to interact with. The quality of information digested and relationships pursued has the potential to suffer, because in essence – we spread ourselves too thin.
Alone time
I’m a social butterfly with a busy work and personal schedule that includes time with friends and a boyfriend more often than it means solo time. When solo time magically shows up at my doorstep is carefully carved out for me on any given evening, I begin the evening making mental lists of all of the things I can and should do: laundry, clean, read a book, write an article, wireframe a new website (I’m addicted), sit on the deck with a bottle of wine, do nothing, do everything. The choices are daunting.
I found myself facing that dilemma earlier this week as I sat at my laptop with my article-writing resources in front of me. And Google Reader in front of me. And my Inbox in front of me. And my laundry downstairs, my cat at my feet, and a bookshelf full of partially-started books. I considered which task might be most beneficial, which I felt as though I had to do first.
And then I grabbed my wine, walked outside, and perched myself up on the railing of my balcony porch, where I simply just sat still. Sat with my back to the parking lot, facing the patio, alone. Where I took deep breaths and noticed how cool the air felt, where I could smell my neighbors cooking savory and flavorful dishes. Where I enjoyed my wine, sip after tiny little sip, until it was time to go back inside.
It’s not the least bit shocking that my mind and body simply wanted rest, when I had the space and free time to do whatsoever I chose. No surprise, right? When we’re so inundated daily with so much information – do this, write this, read that, keep up with this person, outline that project, daydream a little, make choices after choices after choices, daydream a lot, plan world domination. Lather, rinse, repeat.
It’s beautiful… and crucial
.To pause, to breathe, to just sit and just be.
.To not worry about catching up or keeping up, but simply taking a moment to take in your surroundings without worrying about having to remember or absorb any of it.
I was only outside for 10 minutes or so, but it set me back straight and in that time I was able to remember – I want certain things and I have my priorities. It’s imperative then, that my life is surrounded mostly by things that serve me, things that support those intentions.
This means paring down the information overload. It means simplifying everything about my life.
I'm Doniree. I live in Portland, Oregon where I practice yoga, obsess about the local farmers' markets and vineyards, and work from home or one of my many favorite coffee shops. I also 
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Good post. I give a lot of thought to mental bandwidth, human RAM – and how the plethora of information isn't necessarily all we've dreamt it would be in our lives.
Lately, I've been overwhelmed by information (an innocent swipe at Google Reader – ha! – can eat two hours) and have been defaulting to a notion that failures in an ability to "keep up" are somehow age-related. The thing is, I love drinking from a firehose of information. One one level, it hugs my brain. On the other, it leaves me unable to pull away and think: what are my goals and how does this lack of focus pull me away from my direction. Your post is a reminder of how precious the "time out" is for bringing clarity back into those critical questions we must ask of ourselves often.
The very device whose lovefest you missed out upon is likely the root cause of some of these feelings. It seems no longer adequate to be able to disperse a forgotten fact or movie quote in a social setting – pull out the iPhone and look it up! TMIS. (too much information stimuli) Twitter can become a minefield if one lets it. It's just way too easy for infophiles to be whisked away, 140 chars at a time.
I most definitely sitting in the Cup during WWDC, streaming, tweeting, and trying to get 1,023 other things done for Client A, personal life, and all else.
Becoming a neo-luddite isn't a solution, but balance helps.
Thanks, Brian! I love the way you write, by the way. And I almost specifically called out Reader and Twitter because those are obviously two places that throw a lot of information at us – I've been paring down my reader to the things I really want to focus on and asking myself questions about the others before I keep them – Am I really engaged in this or am I reading/subscribing/following because I'm afraid I'll miss something or out of an obligation? If I can't determine that I'm following something because it provides a value to me and serves my priorities, I'm learning to cut the cord. Tough choices, though
Balance IS key.
I think part of it is the conditioning that anything simple is not WORTH our time. Like if it was too easy it wasn't an accomplishment and success must involve loads of blood/sweat/tears/sanity.
If anything I hope that the definining characteristic of our generation is a more minimalist lifestyle. The loss of the rat race and always taking the hardest route instead of appreciating the calm that comes from *just* 10 minutes on a railing somewhere.
Now…what do I have to do to make that happen?
You're SO right about that, and I'm becoming more and more in the camp of allowing things to happen, rather than forcing them. Then, it becomes more about simplicity and less about "work" – but we do have to redefine our entire paradigms and ideas about "accomplishment" and "success."
To me, success is happiness, simplicity, love, learning, and travel. So, my questions to myself become – is what I'm choosing to absorb, learn, and focus on serving that? I agree – I hope that a minimalist lifestyle DOES become our generation's legacy. I know a lot of us are moving in that direction.
I loved this post for so many reasons… mainly, because you expressed so eloquently what I feel so often: overwhelmed by too many choices.
When I am doing things that I can't avoid (like, being at work), I keep thinking about the things that I have to do, should do, and want to do when I get home.
If I make a a tangible plan before I get home, I met get some things done… if I don't, I find myself more often than not undecisive about what to do first and then get upset if I don't get to the "want to do" part of my list.
Simplifying seems like a good plan.
And if you're anything like me – when you find yourself in that position at work (mentally listing all the things you need/want/have to do later) you end up accomplishing so much less than if you'd just focus on one thing at a time. That's my weakness. Deer in the headlights look at my tasks in front of me because it's overwhelming. My goal today? One thing at a time
I know exactly what you mean. My favorite 'stop and enjoy' moment was two summers ago (obviously I need to make this a priority again!) when things seemed too crazy I grabbed a glass of wine, my book and walked out of my apartment complex to a small bench overlooking lake Washington. I ended up staying there for over two hours, and when I returned I felt like I'd shed a second skin.
Is is wrong to schedule moments like these into our lives? Or is that simply adding another item to your 'to-do' list?
I've had that moment! In fact, I journaled about it a couple of years ago myself because it was so momentous, and perspective-shifting for me. I think that these kinds of moments SHOULD be prioritized, whether that means it's on your to-do list or it's just front and center in your mind. Good point, though – if it becomes a chore, then we're in trouble.
I need to practice these chill out guidelines more, definitely.
Simple is good – and you really do appreciate it more when you’re constantly DOING. That 10 minutes sounds like the perfect time out!
I've always said that I'd rather be busy than bored, but lately – having the luxury of free time is something I'm making more time for
Learning to schedule time to just BE – great thoughts Doniree
OMG can I just print this out and carry it with me forever and ever? Seriously, this is exactly how I feel. This is exactly why every time some new gadget (or worse!) some new way to communicate digitally, comes out, I freak out and ignore it. I simply cannot keep up with one more way to keep tabs on people. I was so late to the Twitter Party because my brain wasn't ready to process more new information. I have to filter out some stuff, otherwise I get overwhelmed.
And girl. Oh girl… Last weekend I had all to myself. No real commitments. No projects to work on. And what did I do? I wrote out a weekend wish list of things to do. Things like run, make pancakes, do my laundry, watch a movie, drink wine, bake something. Only now am I realizing how that was kind of silly. Granted, it gave me something to reference when I felt like I wanted to be DOING something, so I had productive tasks spelled out for me. However, I suck so hard at simply sitting still and just being. Clearly, we need one of those spa vacations where the only thing we are supposed to do is get facials, mani/pedis, and massages. Oh, and to drink lots of champagne.
My new thing is to just sit and do nothing.
The problem is that I don't own a robot.
Don't tell my mom.
Your secret’s safe with me.
Sometimes, girlfriend, you just HAVE to stop and smell the roses. (and it does become easier with age….one of those 'wisdom' things, I think.)
With age, comes wisdom.
Unplug.Tune in. Relax. Repeat.
<3 you, mama. You're such a great example of that balance too – wish you were here to have some limes at my house!
I 100% identify with this. As do others, I know. I've had a post in my Draft folder for weeks about taking an Internet hiatus, but I just decided to back off on the Internet life without advertising it. I have been very overwhelmed by moving, working, traveling, blogging, social networking, exercising, eating well, spending time with friends and family and finishing the thesis. I made the decision two weeks ago to only open Twitter or Google Reader if I am OK with how productive I was that day. I unsubscribed to TONS of blogs and I will miss reading them, but I just can't. It isn't that I don't want to hear about everyone's lives. It's just that I'm going to be a PhD student and I'm not getting what I need to get done by spending so much time on the Internet. My free time must be spent in ways I value more. My first priority is myself (sanity, health, etc.), next is friends/family and then grad school. Like I said in my Vegas post, I am spending more time strengthening ties offline. I can't surf the web to have Dr. before my name.
I wish I could. So this summer I'm unplugging quite a bit. Just had to realign my priorities. Take that time for yourself because it is priceless.
I firmly believe that too many choices is a big part of why I'm so ridiculously crazy. Like, AH. TOO MUCH.
Yeah, and to be honest – you may or may not have crossed my mind while I wrote this and was thinking about that part
Ever considered adopting a "minimalist" lifestyle? It's not something you have to apply to every single aspect of your life but just to the parts where it seems like it's always on overload.
Absolutely! I’ve been working towards that for a year now and own considerably less STUFF than I used to. Step 1, right? Step 2, which I hadn’t considered until recently, is culling down the amount of INFORMATION I consume. Stuff is one thing, info is another beast altogether – any tips? I’d LOVE some tricks from someone who knows
Warning: Information Sickness can occur from frequent exposure to information overload. While symptoms occur less in digital natives, it does not mean they are entirely immune.
Information Sickness can be treated with due organization and prioritization, but the most effective method is to exercise a discerning eye for priority while at the same as utilizing an idle state.
Use as directed.
I was just thinking about this yesterday, about how I have too many things that need to get done and way too many choices. It comes down to balance and trying to relax and not stress myself out over choosing what to do next. Thanks for this post, I think I needed it right about now
Oh I crave alone time. It's different when you're living with someone as well because you're constantly with someone else. Which can totally be great, don't get me wrong, but there are those days where I am handing him money saying "Please go play golf" just so I can get that time to myself. To be utterly girly if I want, to be lazy, to think, to have the FREEDOM to be selfish and take care of myself. <3 You're so right though, we have so many options and to-do's that enjoying our alone time without making another task list is hard.
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