January 25th, 2012
This has been brewing for some time, but I've been getting a growing urge to distance myself from the constant stream of data that is blasted from the Internet. During the release of Moments of Silence, I feel that I completely immersed myself in social media and interaction which was absolutely thrilling. I met a bunch of great new people which I've continued to keep in touch with. However I feel that it might be taking it's toll on my ingrained introversion.
To be clear, there is no specific person or people that is causing me to feel this way. I've just been realizing that I catch up on eMail, then my Twitter, then Facebook and by the time I'm done it's time to catch up on eMail again. I've become stuck in this recursive loop keeping up multitudes of conversations with my wonderful online friends and I may have lost sight of my actual day to day life.
Mainly, I want to work on music more. I am participating in the RPM Challenge next month, which is daunting, but exciting. I noticed last night that when I am at my desk working on music, I have a browser open with gMail, Facebook, Twitter, and whatever else on my other monitor constantly feeding me distractions. I honestly cannot tell if my drought of creativity the last few weeks is because I can't think up new ideas or simply because I'm not actually investing real time in the software.
Ironically, without the boon of deep social media interaction, I'm not entirely sure how I will market my upcoming albums. I am hoping I can find a balance when that time comes.
This Saturday I am going to try completely stepping away from the Internet and seeing how I feel. If I get bored I'll work on music. If I can't work on music, I'll work on fixing my house (who's list of things to do is ever growing), if I get tired of working on the house, I'll read a damn book from the pile I've been meaning to get to, but "haven't had the time". I am going to try to avoid video games as well, but we'll see how well that works.
I'm treating this more of an experiment than anything else. My brain has been steeped in this social lifestyle for so long that I may have become addicted to it and it might be ruining my ability to function creatively. I want to see if that is true.
Aside from Saturday, I will still check Facebook and Twitter but I will only do it a few times a day. I will still be in touch with everyone I care about online, but my responses may be slower. If you need me immediately, texting or eMailing are the best bet.
I will return with my findings.
To be clear, there is no specific person or people that is causing me to feel this way. I've just been realizing that I catch up on eMail, then my Twitter, then Facebook and by the time I'm done it's time to catch up on eMail again. I've become stuck in this recursive loop keeping up multitudes of conversations with my wonderful online friends and I may have lost sight of my actual day to day life.
Mainly, I want to work on music more. I am participating in the RPM Challenge next month, which is daunting, but exciting. I noticed last night that when I am at my desk working on music, I have a browser open with gMail, Facebook, Twitter, and whatever else on my other monitor constantly feeding me distractions. I honestly cannot tell if my drought of creativity the last few weeks is because I can't think up new ideas or simply because I'm not actually investing real time in the software.
Ironically, without the boon of deep social media interaction, I'm not entirely sure how I will market my upcoming albums. I am hoping I can find a balance when that time comes.
This Saturday I am going to try completely stepping away from the Internet and seeing how I feel. If I get bored I'll work on music. If I can't work on music, I'll work on fixing my house (who's list of things to do is ever growing), if I get tired of working on the house, I'll read a damn book from the pile I've been meaning to get to, but "haven't had the time". I am going to try to avoid video games as well, but we'll see how well that works.
I'm treating this more of an experiment than anything else. My brain has been steeped in this social lifestyle for so long that I may have become addicted to it and it might be ruining my ability to function creatively. I want to see if that is true.
Aside from Saturday, I will still check Facebook and Twitter but I will only do it a few times a day. I will still be in touch with everyone I care about online, but my responses may be slower. If you need me immediately, texting or eMailing are the best bet.
I will return with my findings.