Sliding Thoughts

Follow up

I got a lot of responses about my last post, in many different ways: email, chat, Twitter, Facebook, and, shockingly, real life.  I had no idea that the subject would resonate so strongly.  There were suggestions to delete/deactivate my Facebook page.  To remove “friends” from social networking sites.  To take a break.  And all of these are valid suggestions, and I’m thinking about all of them and how to apply them.

“Waste not your time in idleness and sloth. Occupy yourselves with that which profiteth yourselves and others.” -Baha’u'llah

The media has been freaking out about privacy in social networking recently, but that isn’t my main concern, OTHER than the fact that most people who use social networks don’t know much about privacy.  I try to be careful about what I share, although I am probably not careful enough!

In my quest to become more mindful of my time usage online, I discovered some things, positive & negative.  I want to reiterate that I’m not hating on the internet, I’m merely trying to be more aware of my consumption.

1. I actually use Facebook to connect people and get information that assists me in my life.  In the last week, I introduced a friend to some folks overseas, connected with a few old friends, found out about a free concert, used it to figure out if friends were still living in the cities that I thought they were in, and introduced people to each other.  In other words, I spent more time acting as a small-scale connector than surfing mindlessly.

2. The glow of the screen at night is not helping me sleep, and it actually distracts me from reading!  My former habit was to fall asleep to a good book. In the chaos of moving so much, I did not have a library card or any of my beloved books with me, and my book consumption dropped.  I am still struggling to get back on track.

3. Being able to access other people’s lives so easily makes one susceptible to gossip & jealousy. It isn’t pretty.

4. I do not like it when people pull out a smartphone or laptop at a party, dinner, or even a casual social event, and start texting, chatting, checking scores, whatever.  Stop.  I stopped getting Twitter updates on my phone because the constant distraction was driving me (and my friends) crazy.  Whatever is happening on the internet or your phone is not more important than the people in front of you.  (I am sure I am guilty of some of this, and I’m working on it!)

5. Ramin gave me a great tip the other day: change your Facebook bookmark on your browser to go straight to your profile page.  My unthinking clicking doesn’t pull me into the newsfeed.  It has worked really well.

6. My real life has been so busy that I’ve not had much of a chance to process photos.  I’m about 250 photos behind right now, which is a lot for me and I’m struggling to catch up.  Honestly, it does not feel like a burden, which tells me that this is one of those parts of my technological life that makes me happy. I just wish I had more technical know-how!

Last night I rode my bike, went to the antique shop and chatted with the owner, got some books at the library, and spent the rest of the evening baking cookies and reading.  I highly recommend this sort of evening once in a while.

What is my action plan now? I’ve reduced consumption of Facebook and Twitter newsfeeds.  I try not to have my computer open in the evening.  Things are not usually so urgent that I can’t leave it for a little while.  My emails are being horribly neglected, but I am attempting a systematic response system.  There is only so much time in a day.  I would rather concentrate my energies on better things.

“Ours is the duty to fix our gaze with undeviating attention on the duties and responsibilities confronting us at this present hour, to concentrate our resources, both material and spiritual, on the tasks that lie immediately ahead, to insure that no time is wasted, that no opportunity is missed, that no obligation is evaded, that no task is halfheartedly performed, that no decision is procrastinated. The task summoning us to a challenge, unprecedented in its gravity and force, is too vast and sacred, the time too short, the hour too perilous, the workers too few, the call too insistent, the resources too inadequate, for us to allow these precious and fleeting hours to slip from our grasp, and to suffer the prizes within our reach to be endangered or forfeited.”  -Shoghi Effendi, Messages to America, p. 101

Too much information

Facebook makes me unhappy.

Let me explain that.  In the last few months, I realized that the time I spend on the internet is split into two different categories.  The first is social networking like Facebook & Twitter, random entertainment sites, and things of that nature.  The second area is blogs, Flickr, educational sources, and the news.

It is the first area that really gets me, that makes me angry.  I do not feel good when I am spending time on sites in the first category.  Every day I feel more inclined to disengage.

Now, I’ve been bumming around the internet since I got my first AOL screen name in 1997 or so. I’m not against the internet, it is marvelous.

However, there is a subtle drag on my spirit when I read the Facebook news feed.  As a friend put it today, “I just want to live in the moment!”  I am living other people’s moments, over and over, in a stream of information that just doesn’t stop.  I don’t have my own stories anymore, and the stories that I DO have are uninteresting, banal, and incredibly lame.  I feel this insatiable need to know, but I don’t really need to know!

The second category makes me happy.  I like the creative side, I love the tools and education I come across on the internet.  There are so many positive things that have come about because of the development of the web.

A mechanism of world inter-communication will be devised, embracing the whole planet, freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with marvellous swiftness and perfect regularity.
(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha’u'llah, 1938)

The internet is a tool, a piece of human creativity and knowledge, but it is becoming life for some.  We reference the collective as if it is alive, as if we are somehow obligated to keep feeding this machine simply because it exists.

I highly recommend Jaron Lanier’s You Are Not A Gadget, it is a fascinating read and a wonderful encouragement to think about the history and modern-day trends of the Internet.

“[You are Not a Gadget] delivers a powerful reminder of the limits of the Web’s capacity to meet our needs-and its power to shape us to its will . . .” -Matthew Battles, The Barnes & Noble Review

I still have not figured out where my frustration is taking me.  I have friends who limit or delete their Facebook profiles, who refuse to even get an account.  I am stuck, in a way.  I use FB to inform, advertise, keep in touch with friends, and keep track of events.  Twitter has enabled me to communicate with friends that I wouldn’t normally have time to contact.  I am so entangled that deleting profiles is almost unthinkable.  Now I must take steps each day to reduce consumption, to slowly wean myself off the flow, and to live my life away from a computer as much as possible.

Stories are not created by sitting by myself in front of screen.  Real thought and contemplation does not happen in status updates and fleeting moments.

I am utterly overwhelmed and consumed by information.

Quite frankly, I’m exhausted.

O friend, the heart is the dwelling of eternal mysteries, make it not the home of fleeting fancies; waste not the treasure of thy precious life in employment with this swiftly passing world. Thou comest from the world of holiness – bind not thine heart to the earth; thou art a dweller in the court of nearness – choose not the homeland of the dust.
(Baha’u'llah, The Seven Valleys, p. 34)

Peace, Peace

WHENEVER the faithful hear the verses of this Book being recited, their eyes will overflow with tears and their hearts will be deeply touched by Him Who is the Most Great Remembrance for the love they cherish for God, the All-Praised. He is God, the All-Knowing, the Eternal. They are indeed the inmates of the all-highest Paradise wherein they will abide for ever. Verily they will see naught therein save that which hath proceeded from God, nothing that will lie beyond the compass of their understanding. There they will meet the believers in Paradise, who will address them with the words ‘Peace, Peace’ lingering on their lips…

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 62)

Revival, the movie

I have some friends who are really talented.  And they made this great short film called Revival that I think that you should see.  So many of my friends are in this little movie!  I’ve embedded both parts here.  Tell your friends about it!