In 2013, digital media consultant Baratunde Thurston launched an experiment. He decided to disconnect from his online life for twenty-five days: no Facebook, no Twitter, not even e-mail. He needed the break.
It didn't take him long to adjust to a disconnected life. By the end of that first week, he was less stressed about not knowing new things. He enjoyed food without Twittering the experience. But the end came too soon. After the twenty-five days, he had to restore his online presence.
His experiment summarizes two important points about our relationship with social networks like Facebook and Twitter. The first point is that we increasingly recognize that these tools fragment (碎裂) our time and reduce our ability to concentrate. But the problem is especially serious if you're attempting to improve your ability to work deeply.
To fight back against these distractions, Thurston felt his only option was to quit the Internet altogether. But the problem is that no one is meant to actually follow Thurston's lead. That is to accept our current distracted state as unavoidable. This brings me to the second point summarized by Thurston's story: it didn't take him long once the experiment ended to slide back into the fragmented state where he began.
This rule proposes a third option: accepting that these tools might be vital to your success and happiness, but meanwhile accepting that most people should be using fewer such tools. I won't ask you, in other words, to quit the Internet altogether like Thurston did. There is a middle ground, and if you're to develop a deep work habit, you must fight to get there.
A. He struck up conversations with strangers.
B. It is a real problem for many different people.
C. “I was burnt out, fried, and done,” he explained.
D. This reality accounts for the remaining alternative.
E. He had to return to the online world with books to market.
F. But I'll ask you to reject the state of highly distracted connectedness.
G. Fortunately, you will break the habit of surfing the Internet gradually.
