In the last 25 years, maybe longer, I
can count the number of months I've lived in a house with a
Television. I lived with Nic at 901 Sherman, in Denver, between
September 1996 and December 1997. I was there during the school year,
three semesters worth. During the summers, I worked in the country
far away. Nic was a TV head. He had that thing on much of the time he
was at home. He turned it off during meals, which was something I was
greatly appreciative for during our dinners together.
And there was a three or four month
period in 2006, also a roommate situation, where a TV was in my
house. This particular roommate worked in the television industry, so
the fact that the TV was on all the time was almost permissible.
When I tell people that there is no TV
in our house, I am almost without fail, envied. It has become a point
of pride for me and my wife that we are raising our son without the
TV. We do not watch reality TV, sports or political debates. In
short, we are not subjected to mind-numbing entertainment augmented
by commercials for pills, processed food and new cars. In a way, we
are lucky.
As an aside here, when I get involved
with conversations about what I do, writing, film, etc., I am always
asked: “Where do you find the time?” or “I can't imagine having
the time to do all of that.” To which I answer, “If you have a
TV, you have the time.” Now, here, 2017, I only partially believe
that statement.
I may not have a TV, but I have a
computer. I'm staring into its screen right now. I also have the
Internet piped into my home, and I'll be staring into it too. I'm
immune from the Smartphone, but I know that it's only a matter of
time before I catch that disease like so many of my fellows. I do
have a screen. It's a necessary part of life and an unfortunate part
of the life of a writer. After all, I keep this blog, I have a
magazine and I'm submitting as much work as I can to other magazines.
Then there is the LinkedIn, Facebook and all that goes with it. All
part of a life, I guess.
Then there is Youtube. I love Youtube.
I have watched tutorials from how to translate Swahili to growing
hydroponic chili peppers in to-go containers. I have watched old
movies, music videos and countless episodes of The Twilight Zone—the
1960s version, the 1980s reload and the 2000s incarnation. I'm hooked
on Youtube.
I find that Youtube as well as just
about everything on the Internet is good, if taken in small doses.
It's like the poison you take in small amounts everyday so that when
the real dose comes, you can live through it. I'm not suggesting that
videos and Wiki articles are poison, but I do think they're good in
small doses.
About this time last month, the time I
decided to be more effective, I was binge watching Youtube. A binge
for me is maybe two hours on nights off and maybe 30 minutes on work
nights two or three times a week. As I add it up, I watch less
Internet videos in a week than most people watch TV any given
evening. For me, however, I found it was still too much.
When I talk about being more effective
as a writer, I think it's not so much the desire, and it isn't even
so much the discipline. I think there are a great many writers who
have the desire to write. I think there are a great many writers out
there who have the discipline. What I'm discovering now after
thinking about it for some time is that many writers lack
effectiveness. I'm no different. I am, however, becoming more
effective.
Feeling addicted to Youtube (or Amazon,
or Netflix, or whatever) is not a good feeling. For me, it was a
specific time of day when I started to zone out to videos. That
specific time of day is late night when I'm tired, trying to stay
quiet while the family sleeps. So, here's what I decided to do: I
decided to use my Youtube hours to do low energy activities. These
low energy activities I would consider the more humdrum things a
writer should do like research possible markets, network with other
writers, and read articles to further professional development. In
short, during those late night hours, there are many small tasks that
can be done. I find I'm just as tired after a 22 minute 1980s
Twilight Zone episode as I am after reading an article on how-to
write a better third person BIO.
Effectiveness is an interesting
thought. I save my writing, revising and editing for my alert hours.
It sure would be a shame to spend those alert hours mindlessly
staring into a video. It's also a bit of a shame to spend the alert
hours updating my LinkedIn profile or reading trade secrets articles,
right?
Shun Youtube forever? Good heavens, no.
But always remember a single Youtube video, even a 22 minute Twilight
Zone episode is not harmful. All 50 episodes of it in one shot, or
nonstop, is worse than harmful, for a writer, it's fatal.
Next time:
The conclusion:
Break everything up in small easily attainable tasks
No comments:
Post a Comment