When I changed jobs most recently (back in 2017, dang) I vowed to myself that I wouldn't use my work computer for social media or personal email. This was partially because my new employer was *very* intelligent about these things and I didn't want them to have that level of access to my personal life, but it was also a deliberate behavior management decision. By deciding "I only use this computer for work", I successfully Xed out huge swathes of Other Stuff I Could Be Doing, with corresponding impact on my productivity.
Fast forward to 2020 and this decision started affecting me in an unexpected way. For years, I'd owned a personal laptop, but only as a supplement to my personal desktop, where that was my *real* computer. It had two monitors and a really nice office chair and all the comforts of, well, the office. But when I started working exclusively from home... whenever I sat down at that desk, I got the environmental experience of "I am in my workspace". Which didn't work at all for being at home and off the clock. And since then, with the exception of video games that really want to be played in full *large* screen (for me, including Baldur's Gate and Votre Prince), my personal device has become my laptop and my personal device location has become the couch. The years of working from home mostly "stole" an entire room of my house. It's a very odd feeling.
...you're not alone. If I weren't in edits, I would be going back to a manual typewriter or writer deck/dedicated word processor or longhand with a fountain pen for drafting, because if I also remove other devices from reach, that kills internet distractions flat dead. I got stuck on devices during a period of long illness when it was the only thing, sometimes, that was a distraction from the symptoms. But right now the devices are increasing my stress, so it's time to step away.
I have ADHD so what's more useful for me right now is removing triggers rather than relying on my flawed and finite willpower. I've largely switched to a minimalist phone, or playing music on limited use/non-internet-browsing devices (or CDs on a cheap boom box). Even if I don't stick to this forever, having it in my repertoire of ways to limit distractions/stressors is useful. My other issue (hi, ADHD!) is that *any* method flatlines for me after a couple months, so I have to constantly rotate among them anyway.
(Sorry I missed you this past weekend! We're back home safely and doing better.)
Excellent post! I have, in fact, found myself in this situation and two things have worked for me, one of which I think bears some explaining.
1. Scheduling. This one is pretty self-explanatory, and also doesn't work for most people. If I actually give myself so many tasks that I feel are important that it fills up the day, I will have less time to respond to triggers. Plain old Google Tasks (or whatever tool you prefer) popping up triggers on my calendar that are not urgent but do remind me that, hey, I wanted to work out today, play the piano, water the plants, etc. do work. But I don't want to spend too much time on this point as it feels very high handed to be like: "have you tried being More Busy?" And also, I think over-scheduling is a real issue that leads to burnout and not being able to enjoy life. So...
2. Letting things be. I know, this is extremely absurdly cliché. But I do think it is worth mentioning. Another way to put it is, "realizing most triggers are not important," but I think that misses the point. Intellectually, I know most triggers like Insert Dem Party Email or Social Media Notification Here are not important. I'm talking about something more profound.
The best example for me is, the Russia Ukraine war. It is an actual war. Hundreds of thousands of people have died. Catastrophes are unfolding daily in multiple dimensions. The first few weeks I spent glued to every source of triggers I could find to get all of the information about it.
And then, life continued. It's horrible to say, but life continued, and it became patently obvious that the war would not end overnight. I learned to live with the knowledge that part of my culture is currently invading, murdering, and destroying another part of my culture, and that I can't stop it, not all of it, not by myself. The war is no less horrible, but ultimately I realized that part of the horribleness will continue existing for a while, and I can't fix that. And triggers are fundamentally incompatible with letting things be. The unread notification, the unseen post are so easy to fix that some of us become addicted to fixing things. Unfortunately, that addiction does not always serve us well in the rest of the world.
Once I got through that, other triggers became less of an issue. Once you know that it won't end the war to read that Telegram channel update about the latest Russian atrocity, it becomes a lot easier to ignore Instagram updates about APoGPRtyI doing whatever.
Of course, this advice is not panacea either. Accept too many things and you become jaded, cynical. Totally checking out of world events, or updates from your friends, or the thousands of other parts of life that triggers remind us of is probably not a good idea either. But maybe a little acceptance is good for us, as a treat. Good for me, at least.
When I changed jobs most recently (back in 2017, dang) I vowed to myself that I wouldn't use my work computer for social media or personal email. This was partially because my new employer was *very* intelligent about these things and I didn't want them to have that level of access to my personal life, but it was also a deliberate behavior management decision. By deciding "I only use this computer for work", I successfully Xed out huge swathes of Other Stuff I Could Be Doing, with corresponding impact on my productivity.
Fast forward to 2020 and this decision started affecting me in an unexpected way. For years, I'd owned a personal laptop, but only as a supplement to my personal desktop, where that was my *real* computer. It had two monitors and a really nice office chair and all the comforts of, well, the office. But when I started working exclusively from home... whenever I sat down at that desk, I got the environmental experience of "I am in my workspace". Which didn't work at all for being at home and off the clock. And since then, with the exception of video games that really want to be played in full *large* screen (for me, including Baldur's Gate and Votre Prince), my personal device has become my laptop and my personal device location has become the couch. The years of working from home mostly "stole" an entire room of my house. It's a very odd feeling.
Blue Prince, not Votre Prince. (I can't see a way to edit my comment on Substack, drat.)
...you're not alone. If I weren't in edits, I would be going back to a manual typewriter or writer deck/dedicated word processor or longhand with a fountain pen for drafting, because if I also remove other devices from reach, that kills internet distractions flat dead. I got stuck on devices during a period of long illness when it was the only thing, sometimes, that was a distraction from the symptoms. But right now the devices are increasing my stress, so it's time to step away.
I have ADHD so what's more useful for me right now is removing triggers rather than relying on my flawed and finite willpower. I've largely switched to a minimalist phone, or playing music on limited use/non-internet-browsing devices (or CDs on a cheap boom box). Even if I don't stick to this forever, having it in my repertoire of ways to limit distractions/stressors is useful. My other issue (hi, ADHD!) is that *any* method flatlines for me after a couple months, so I have to constantly rotate among them anyway.
(Sorry I missed you this past weekend! We're back home safely and doing better.)
Excellent post! I have, in fact, found myself in this situation and two things have worked for me, one of which I think bears some explaining.
1. Scheduling. This one is pretty self-explanatory, and also doesn't work for most people. If I actually give myself so many tasks that I feel are important that it fills up the day, I will have less time to respond to triggers. Plain old Google Tasks (or whatever tool you prefer) popping up triggers on my calendar that are not urgent but do remind me that, hey, I wanted to work out today, play the piano, water the plants, etc. do work. But I don't want to spend too much time on this point as it feels very high handed to be like: "have you tried being More Busy?" And also, I think over-scheduling is a real issue that leads to burnout and not being able to enjoy life. So...
2. Letting things be. I know, this is extremely absurdly cliché. But I do think it is worth mentioning. Another way to put it is, "realizing most triggers are not important," but I think that misses the point. Intellectually, I know most triggers like Insert Dem Party Email or Social Media Notification Here are not important. I'm talking about something more profound.
The best example for me is, the Russia Ukraine war. It is an actual war. Hundreds of thousands of people have died. Catastrophes are unfolding daily in multiple dimensions. The first few weeks I spent glued to every source of triggers I could find to get all of the information about it.
And then, life continued. It's horrible to say, but life continued, and it became patently obvious that the war would not end overnight. I learned to live with the knowledge that part of my culture is currently invading, murdering, and destroying another part of my culture, and that I can't stop it, not all of it, not by myself. The war is no less horrible, but ultimately I realized that part of the horribleness will continue existing for a while, and I can't fix that. And triggers are fundamentally incompatible with letting things be. The unread notification, the unseen post are so easy to fix that some of us become addicted to fixing things. Unfortunately, that addiction does not always serve us well in the rest of the world.
Once I got through that, other triggers became less of an issue. Once you know that it won't end the war to read that Telegram channel update about the latest Russian atrocity, it becomes a lot easier to ignore Instagram updates about APoGPRtyI doing whatever.
Of course, this advice is not panacea either. Accept too many things and you become jaded, cynical. Totally checking out of world events, or updates from your friends, or the thousands of other parts of life that triggers remind us of is probably not a good idea either. But maybe a little acceptance is good for us, as a treat. Good for me, at least.