Fiction Writing Update and The Social Dilemma

trainerbubble.com

Trapped once more

 I used to update my writing more often. Ah, well. I'll start by reporting that the allure of social media/YouTube is just as addictive as intended. Among other spots, I've described the cloying allure of the Web back in 2017,  in a book revue and in a post complaining about Facebook. Just the morning I woke up late and started zipping around news sites and watching old Soprano videos instead of working. I have a twelve minute grace period. After that, I vanish into the online time-suck. 

And fiction writing? 

One helpful method is to reduce the time I write. Less seems to be more. This will increase in subsequent drafts, but for now my second volume of Hallow Mass inches forward two hours at a time. Depending on the amount of dialogue, that produces between one and four pages. I finish refreshed and less tempted during difficult periods to bolt intoWeb surfing. More updates soon.

BTW:

As mentioned earlier this year, take a look at The Social Dilemma. They really nail the built-in addictive nature of social media, smart phones, etc. 

Also 2018's The Creepy Line. 

Anti Digital Heroin Hacks

StudyBreaks.co

Some people consider web surfing an Internet treat and not a horrid, greasy bug eating your time with knife and fork. I just spent yesterday off-line and feel particularly virtuous right now. 

THREE THINGS THAT WILL DAMPEN YOUR WEB SURFING

1. Clear your cookies at night. 

2. Erase your history. 

3. Pick a day of the week to shut off the computer.

"Can't do it."

"Impossible."

"Why?"

From my review of Nicholas Carr's The Shallows: "Neither luddite nor scold, Carr reasons calmly that our technologies are changing us to better adapt to their nature."

Cell phones, surely, are fine.

I reviewed Tomas Kersting's  book Disconnected where he noted that excessive screen time erodes focus, increases anxiety, and leads to social retardation.

Yesterday, I read a book old school style, sitting in a chair holding a physical object, giving my eyes and my focus time away from staring at a screen. (This after five weeks of publishing ebooks and paperbacks where I did nothing but lock eyes on a screen for hours each day.) It felt delightful.

I also recommend viewing a documentary called The Social Dilemma, in which web pioneers explain how their good intentions and technological developments led to web consumer becoming the product.  

Experiment at limiting your on-line time, if so inclined. Let me know the results.  

High Like a Rock Star on Social Media

theodysseyonline.com

"Constant novelty at a click can cause addiction."

(Unease over what to write next. Wanted to go out to the kitchen for a cinnamon roll, but didn't.)

I just saw a video explaining why I spend so much time hopscotching around social media. That's because Twitter, Reddit, etc. are designed that way. Say I'm sitting at the computer and experience a negative emotion such as anxiety. A neurochemical called dopamine is released in anticipation of surfing for a reward, such as a funny video or interesting post. The notion of finding something cool on social media will lead me to click-scroll-swipe away, often to the exclusion of doing something productive such as write-exercise-interact in person with other human beings.

Internet addiction isn't new, but this made sense to me as I recalled my cigarette smoking years. The anticipation of lighting up released the dopamine. I feel the same way when logging on. And I escape into social media whenever I've hit another writing roadblock just as I used to fire up a smoke.

On the video, the addiction portion begins around 2:15. As a side note, I watched this on Saturday afternoon. Then I turned off my computer and left it dark through Sunday. I was very uneasy all that day. But I did finish reading a book and scribbled out notes for a review. I also thought of an idea for a short story, cycled, and watched TV with my wife.

Today, I logged back in, more aware of how I feel when I experience the urge to bolt from a vexing task and surf around. Fascinating.



h/t: What I've Learned

UPDATE:

Here's a darker, more global view of where dopamine addiction can lead:


h/t: Summer Rayne Oakes