Killing Distraction Potential

 So, I've decided to do an experiment.  What has spawned this experiment is an idea.  I'm frequently that person who will inevitably find himself watching YouTube as I am going to sleep.  However, I want to be clear that 90% of what is on my watch list is intrinsically informational or educational.  This is just a habit I've had with variances in intensity over the course of my adult life.

It's true, there's a lot of good information available on the internet.  There is a lot of good information on things ranging from how to cook the perfect fillet mignon and perform basic maintenance on a vehicle to video series covering a breadth of cerebral topics meticulously broken down into 10 minute easy to understand chunks.  I'm not going to be escaping the world of information any time soon.

I am going to disable the YouTube app on my phone.  I intend for this to prove something that I've been saying for years.  Namely that what seems like an insignificant action can really make a huge difference in the long game.  Disabling or removing an app, while keeping a subscription to an online service has the potential of improving what others critically say is our "relationship" with technology.

If we consider how the word relationship is used in our modern society I think it can't be used to describe our interaction with technology.  I assert that it is a lack of temperance or self control that impacts how much or little we interact with computer based systems.  This lack seems to manifest itself in the modern tendency to prefer escapism and be combined with a careless thrust of ourselves into less cerebral and purely frivolous activities.  What ever happened to occupying our "down time" with taking a walk or reading a book?

So, I am going to do three things:

1. Disable the YouTube app on my phone for the remainder of the month.
2. At times when I would watch YouTube (before bed, breaks at work, performing research) I will instead read a book or take a walk.
3. If I want to watch YouTube I will need to use a computer or the Chromecast device on my TV.

I'm not going to cut YouTube completely out of my life.  What I'm doing is better directing where I watch YouTube.  My hypothesis is that if I'm already in bed, why would I pull myself out of bed, walk to my office, boot up my computer, and launch my web browser?  I already know that I'll see this as a bunch of extra steps that I won't want to deal with.  So, also I'm banking on my preference to do things in the most effort and time inexpensive way.

Wish the best for me.  I'm sure this will require that I come back to write about this again.

Hello Internet? I'm Still Here

It's been a while... Again. I decided to start doing something different. As far as blog posting is concerned. I'm using the blogger app to voice record my my blogs. So far it seems pretty accurate. I don't have to do a lot of editing and it seems to capture how I am speaking with accuracy. Of course, to an extent I will have to go back and proofread, and do some editing.  And it seems to be a good method for capturing for my "thought stream".

I've also decided not to spend so much time on trying to find a picture that identifies my post. I'm not a journalist, or an influencer, or some popular person who's thoughts and opinions are the driving force behind the decisions of many individuals. So essentially I'm going for readability and as plain text as possible.

It seems anyway nowadays that the internet is less concerned with reading blog posts as it is more concerned with 10, 15, or 30 second tick tock videos (this, of course very revealing of the declining attention span that modern internet users have.)

Further, while looking at my blog post over the really the last decade, it seems that there is a mix of life events and " hot takes" , which of course are purely my personal opinion or honest thought on whatever it is I am giving a hot take on. The topics discussed on this blog essentially detail much of topics of interest that I have and I see no reason for that to change.

Sometimes, I have not had the energy, time, or inspiration to write. All of this is okay and I also understand that this probably contributes to the fact that no one really reads my blog unless they know me or somehow against their better judgment subscribe to receive updates every time I post. This too is okay.

It is interesting to note that often times I have the perception that many of my thoughts brilliant or absurd, simply go into the void. In a way that satisfies me. It seems to an extent that maybe my externalized thoughts have no affect on the external world they're evicted into. Now of course that isn't true.  I mean, my thoughts have an effect.  For one thing they're taking up server space! For another thing it might be that somewhere out there on the internet someone is reading my thoughts and maybe giving them consideration. To the effect that my thoughts (on the internet or otherwise) have influence is nothing relevant.

And yet here I am still posting. Still up keeping this blog that was started in 2009. At that time I was chronicling my time as a Catholic seminarian with the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. After my time of discernment of the priesthood, I of course attended college as a meteorology student - which unfortunately ended abruptly. Nonetheless, I married my best friend soon after I left my university campus, and now I'm working in the IT field which was my backup career. Of note it is not so different from my second major which was computer science.

As it pertains to the present, I have, after a few years of being absent from a couple of my habits that I had well developed and established over the years, resumed reading books at a fairly good pace. I finally read and completed Frank Herbert's Dune I'm proud to say. At the moment am reading through the fourth book of the "Star Carrier" series by Ian Douglas, which if you haven't read it is a military hard science fiction in a similar vein as Battlestar Galactica. There are nine books in that series, so I've got some reading ahead of me.

If someone had told me 5 years ago that juggling a family life full-time job and several hobbies including astronomy, meteorology, and computer programming would be difficult - I might find myself to be of agreement. However, I found that with a little bit of time management, discipline, and denying myself binge watching YouTube one can indeed find time for just about anything. I think that is a crucial lesson that I have learned in the last 5 years that has been the hardest lesson not in understanding, but in application. Especially with my responsibilities as an on-call technician I have had to learn to deal with one of my personal irritations, that is, being interrupted. And despite this, despite the distractions and interruptions that work and family life often brings to my attention I am still able to find time to read and to pursue my interests and hobbies.

I don't always get to do everything I want to do when I want to do it. That's okay! In fact, in a lot of ways, I'm better for it. In case a lot of people do not know when you are In a technical support role for a tech company. At some point you get used to jumping from task to task to task. You even get used to having days where the frustration level and the chaos of the situation is such that you wonder how and why your company hired you. I think this is what people mean when they refer to Impostor Syndrome - that self-perception that your skills are absolute rubbish. But the most satisfying part of every day is going to bed knowing that I've done my best and more importantly, there's only 24 hours in one day. Again, time management is a skill and a good one to learn at that.

Family Day

Now that I have a family some things have become more important - specifically spending time with my wife and daughter in a non distracting environment.  I say non distracting, because it would seem that in the world that I'm raising my daughter in is not lacking in distractions.  If it's not concerns with work and what immediately lies ahead on the daily agenda, then it's technology.  Interestingly, those who know me would be confused at this point.  Technology?  Really?  The self described technophile is concerned that technology is a distraction?  Well c'mon, I'm not naive!  As much as I enjoy working with and learning about and using current tech trends I'm also equivocally vigilant about how much of my life is spent basking in the warm, inviting glow of my phone, tablet, or laptop.  (As an aside, I make every effort not to abuse tech, however that's a discussion for a later time.)

I'm finding myself increasingly aware of the fact that it would be the best thing for my family if I'm not constantly checking social media, reading the news, drafting a new blog post, catching up on the latest research in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), or just aimlessly browsing until I land somewhere interesting.  After a lot of reflection on every pro and con and measuring how much time I really spend using such frivolous things as social media I've come to a simple conclusion:  It's time to set aside an entire day where I don't engage with tech - at very least keep it to a practical minimum.  Of course, in practice this can be complicated.  Look around you and it cannot be more clear: technology is used every day by every person.  This is why being practical about tech is just that much more imperative.  So, just like every goal I've ever set (I'll admit some goals I've set are more practical than others) I have to establish the ground rules, so as the Joker is quoted as saying in Batman: The Dark Knight: "So, here we go..."

1. No checking social media!  That witty response, meme, or group chat?  That can probably wait until the next day.  If it's the family group chat, that's allowed, because... it's family day.
2. The computer stays off!  My internet browser, while good at showing my email, agenda, and to-do list is also a temptation to sit for a while and stare at my social media feed (if I have nothing else to do).  That time spent staring and gawking at society's "epic fails" or shortcomings could actually be spent with family.
3. Phone calls and text messages are allowed, because it could be my boss trying to get a hold of me due to an emergency at work, or maybe a friend needs something urgent.

As I made clear the idea is to minimize my engagement with tech by taking one day out of the week and shifting my focus to something else.  I foresee actually being able to eventually sit down and a couple books that I haven't picked up in a while (books that I'd really like to dive back into!).  I could also see the time spent with family turn into breaking out a board game or even going for a walk (spring is coming soon... I hope!).  The end goal is to make a purposeful effort to give my family the time it very much deserves.  As far as what day that is?  Well, that's easy:  Sunday!

What I'd like to do is also encourage you to try the same.  (No, your family day doesn't need to be on Sunday, that's just what I've chosen.)  Don't try to just give up technology, as that would actually be impractical, and typically those who completely cut the cord with tech usually come off as conspiracy theorists who have a unfounded paranoid opinion linking the government and "Big Tech" as somehow trying to enslave the human race, or some other garbage.

What I'm encouraging here is a chance to take one day a week and do something fun that doesn't have to include technology.  All the advancements in technology are great and totally worth while, and often times extremely helpful, but we have to remember that just like a hammer, a car, or a pocket knife these are merely tools.  Sometimes, even your favorite tool is also allowed to have a day to rest from use.

Why I Love Google

Source

So, it was pointed out recently that I have an apparent "fan boy" lean towards Google.  I'll admit, I bring up Google a lot when talking about tech, and the latest trends.  Over the long haul since the day I first opened my Gmail (and before that when they were my exclusive go to for searches) I've found their products easily integrated into my day-to-day life. 

What's great is that from one email address I have so many services and options to choose, or not to choose, from.  This means that I'm not constantly creating logins for everything, which cuts down on time logging into to services that I use regularly.  This of course means that while I'm checking my email, calendar, and even blogging (yes, Blogger is part of Google!) all that time I save by logging in once is time that can now be given to productivity - getting things done!

But is that all there is for my existence on Google's servers?  There's actually quite a long list of available services to Google users.

Gmail, Contacts, Blogger, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Drive, Hangouts, Keep, Voice, YouTube, Sites, Groups, Maps, Photos, Play Music, Messages for Web, and Arts & Culture

The above list - I'm sure - is just a sliver of what's available from Google if you have a gmail.  Much more if you're a business or educational facility that uses GSuite.

Best of all the services I use on a daily basis is the Google Assistant.  Saying the hot phrase "Hey Google," followed by a command such as, "what's on my agenda today?" or "what time does Starbucks close?" yields results that make it easy to find the information you need.  Apple's Siri (yes I have an iPod and tested Siri for myself) just doesn't compare.

The focus of every product from Google is productivity.  This proved especially helpful during my time in academia.  Saving something to my Google Drive proved useful for backup if I needed to pull something up on campus and didn't have time to open my laptop and plug in my USB drive.  Best of all, since my professors required projects/assignments to be submitted in *.docx, *.xlsx, or *.pptx (MS Office formats), I could use Google Docs to

• Collaborate on a group project without needing to fish through emails looking for the current version of whatever you're working on
• Comment and suggest edits to existing projects
• Use the Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps on my phone and tablet to edit assignments and projects when away from my laptop
• Save projects as MS Office, *pdf, *.epub, or any other format you need!

That last bit really came handy as professors required MS Office formats.  I mean, really came in handy.

Google Keep has always been handy as a way to have a shopping list.  Best part is that as you're shopping you can check off what you put in your cart and it'll cross it out and move it down so you know what's left to get.  This is especially handy with to-do lists and other times you need to keep track of things and mark off when done.  My wife and I keep a shared grocery list that we add to as things get low and when it comes time to shop we both have the same list so either of us can shop and keep updated on what we need.

I could go on with every service I've used, how I've used it, and how it actually helps me, but we would be here all day.  I guess looking back over what I've written here it seems that I may be slightly fanatic about Google.  You know what?  I'm completely cool with that!  Some people may not even like Google, and may even have an absurd idea that Google is some sort of Skynet or the Matrix or the one of the omens of the apocalypse, but that's just infantile paranoia and a conspiracy fantasy.

New Goal: Wake Up Early

So, recently I saw a video on YouTube about the benefits of waking up at 5 am every day.  Now, I haven't woken up before 6:30 am since the time I was in seminary.  Most of the time I spent going to college was spent with my alarm sounding at 6:30 am and actually getting out of bed and beginning my day around 7:30.  Some days I slept in until almost 10 or 11 am, especially if I was out with friends the previous night, or needed to catch up on sleep.

A couple of moves later and living in a new state, the current work/life balance has yielded an ever changing sleep schedule.  This biorhythm has begun to introduce a chaos, stress, and fatigue into a cycle that functioned well and previously provided me with a healthy lifestyle where I was able to get things done.  At current, it seems like I don't get anything done, and my routine clothes itself in appearance of disorder and slothfulness.  Sometimes, when I begin winding down before bed I find myself thinking to myself, "I didn't get anything done today and now I have to push my tasks to the next day."  Needless to say I rarely find within myself a sense of accomplishment at the end of my day.

Well, I've decided to change that!

So beginning tomorrow morning I will be beginning an experiment to restore what was stereotype to my biorhythm.  This experiment will cover the better part of the month to resurrect the habit of a regular bed time and wake time.  The process will not yield perfection overnight.  Any sort of change in habit - especially when a bad habit has developed - takes time.  It is said that to develop a new habit takes at least 27 days, or on average one month.

It'll take some altering of a few bad habits I have developed.  Some important things that I've already been working on with some success, which have greatly helped me prepare for the experiment:

• No phone use for at least 30 minutes before bed
• Establish a procedural pre-bedtime sequence so that the body eventually learns that it's time to get to sleep.
• When the alarm sounds in the morning hitting the snooze < 5 times (still bad at this!)
• Establishing an unalterable sequential morning routine

It's been hard as a parent establishing a consistent routine for myself, but I think it needs to happen.  I remind myself that there will come a time when I will expect a routine from my daughter, and any other children I may have, thus it's important that I establish a routine so that the example is already set and ready to be imitated.

The best benefit to redeveloping a routine is that I will have more time for those things I want to do that aren't important.  Things like reading, blogging, catching up with friends will become much less difficult and more things that I just have time to do.  I think that's the ultimate and best benefit of all!