Lozenging

(from)

And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered. But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils

And so it goes. Lozenging – about 1/2 way down.

This has become a chronic displacement activity for me – checking into twitter or facebook or the rss feeds or whatever – about once every 5 minutes. I can’t read books, I can’t even watch a movie all the way through any more without stopping it and checking I haven’t missed anything on twitter. It’s like about once every 5 minutes the question arises “ok, what can I do next that is more interesting than this?” and bang – it’s twitter… and there goes 5-minutes, 10 minutes… etc.

“Displacement Activity” is a Desmond Morrisism… it’s what people do when they’re socially uncomfortable. They rummage through their bags. They light a cigarette… this was back in the 60s. Now the ultimate displacement activity is checking your cellphone…. but it’s like “displacement activity” has expanded to not only cover social discomfort, but the slightest whiff of boredom as well. We don’t allow ourselves a single second of boredom any more.

And I think boredom might be important – it gives us space to self-reflect… forces us to change down a gear, relieving us from the tyranny of rooftop-chatter. It gives us space to perceive (a landscape, the sun on your face). And I think we need to perceive. The internet (and computers generally) are relentlessly left-brain. Very yang. You can overdo yang.

So. Something I’ve been doing for about a week now, is banning myself from social apps on even-numbered days.

It’s been one of the best things I’ve done in ages. It allows consciousness of the addiction… to feel, and see from the outside how I’m being with it. And it frees time. It is incredible how much time it frees up. Instead of it being frustrating, it actually feels like a massive relief.

—

I like being in touch – I think there are benefits to it – individually maybe, societally definitely. People are talking among themselves, and when people start to talk among themselves, they put up with less shit from above.

But there are costs to this, primarily to do with our brain’s relationship to time.

Be free.