The irony of sharing this article on a blog is not lost on me, but I think he’s pinned down the source of the unease that our always connected society should be creating in us.
The two sentences that really grabbed my heart and squeezed:
I would hazard to say that rabid Internet use is killing many potentially brilliant creators who have given in to the seduction of the instantaneous. Puttering about in a purgatorial state of multitasking is not conducive to making things.
Which most likely explains my recent frustration that I haven’t created anything meaningful in quite some time. Like a lab rat, I keep hitting the button, hoping for my little immediate dopamine reward, ignoring the greater, but delayed, reward of creation of something fun or beautiful or functional.
Or this:
If I’m writing something and stumbling over what to say, I am body-checked by the compulsive urge to minimize and check NYTimes.com or my email or some other panacea to keep my mind dully engaged without having to strain in the heat of concentration.
I can’t think sitting in front of a computer, or with an iPad in my lap. I have to push myself away from the desk , take notebook and pencil in hand, and go somewhere that I won’t be tempted give in to the wave of pleasant non-thinking distraction that the Internet tempts me with at every turn.