As someone who is often creating, reading, exploring, and working in virtual spaces, I've been thinking about ways to cut through the noise and make the most of what I come across. Today's world throws all kinds of pop-ups and challenges our way, and it's important to find creative ways to adapt.
I’m 28, so this finding may be more relevant to the younger generation, but I came across a report that found 11-17 year olds (n = 203) got anywhere from 237-5,000 notifications from their devices within a 24 hour span. It made me think of what that number would be for older demographics, and I landed on, “it’s probably also a high number.” Apps and their attention-grabbing notification systems are crafty. They enable permission, and then leave it to us cull down and tone it back.
All that is to say, screen time is a daily balance, and sometimes it’s a necessity for work. And, there are ways to adapt. We can get better at managing it, and some of us are already very good at this. The following exercise helps me to minimize distractions and reassess my consumption; it involves doing a quick inventory check.
Identifying the noise - media and content that drains you and doesn’t provide value.
Identifying the music - media and content that provides value and enjoyment to your life.
Noise vs. Music
This exercise prompts the reader to take a moment and assess the value and quality of that which is grabbing our attention. It’s about asking yourself questions like, “does this (social media page, webpage, journal, application) align with my priorities and add value to my life, or could I do without it?” If yes, keep ripping it. If no, see ya later.
With all of these devices, apps, media, and notifications, we can all benefit from freeing up some space.
Identifying the Noise vs. Music
Some ways that I’ve come up with are listed below. If you have more ideas that you’d like to contribute, leave them in the comment section below!
Turning off notifications for unused apps
Settings > scroll through the notification section and turn off notifications from the apps that are clutter. I know I myself was annoyed by random notifications for a while before I did this.
Email unsubscribe
Simple, quick, effective; boom. Email subscriptions build up fast and take up unnecessary energy. Unsubscribe from all unwanted emails.
Phone focus settings
Leverage Airplane mode, and the Do Not Disturb/Sleep/Mindfulness/Personal/Work settings.
Block off times of the day where you’re “unreachable.”
Set your own boundaries that work for you. Wemby shared an example of his recently:
Image: Bleacher Report
And, biggest of all,
Practice being mindful as you’re online
As you regularly engage and explore, ask yourself, “does this align with what I care about and with what I’m looking to feed my brain?
Bottom Line
These ideas aren’t novel. This is a reminder that I use for myself, and one that I wanted to share with my following. A reminder that your attention is valuable. What you choose to engage with matters. In this evolving and increasingly digital world, it’s important to be aware of what is adding value and what is not.
Assessing, cutting out the noise, and aligning the music with your values. It feels good. For me, exercises like these free up some mental space.
Until next month,
Mike
Hi Mike, as I am much older than you are, I’m used to live without any devices, especially my phone that I turn off at night. I think your advice are very acurate for your generation. I talk a lot about that with my 11 year old daughter at home, explaining to her that screens are passive tools and they tend to eat creative time if we don’t put them out. She’s got limited access to them for now but she turns to them immediately when she gets bored rather than try and think of a new thing to do. I’ve explained to her that it’s important to get bored from time to time because that’s what allow us to create new things, new activities and get new ideas as well. I send you lots of love, Mike.