The challenge: Read a book rather than a newsfeed.
Duration: 3 weeksCompendious Result: Unexpected success! Rather than stopping myself mid-refresh loop to go read a book, I found myself choosing to read more often and internet less. I also finally removed facebook from my phone.
Explanation: My goal was to read more, after taking a trip to the bay area last week and spending a fair bit of time re-familiarizing myself with the consistent fact that I love to read. Why I keep forgetting this, I don’t really know.
In supporting this goal, which stems from the desire to cultivate more play and leisurely activity in my life, expand my vocabulary and writing ability, and simply spend more time at rest.
I decided that any time I recognized that I am lingering on Facebook or Twitter, reloading social media feeds in search of new posts to entertain myself, instead, I would pick up a book. A fun book, a story book, not a self-help or save-the-world related book. Because if I am frying my brain waiting for something to happen on Facebook, it’s clear I need a break, anyway.
That happened rarely. It turned out that by deciding to do this experiment, I just spent a lot less time online in general.