Wednesday, February 03, 2010

This Is Not About LOST

Last week, I made a bizarre decision, in order to test a sneaking suspicion of mine: I decided to not post anything on Twitter or Facebook for a day. I wondered if possibly, the reason I've become so attached to those two social media realms is because I am such a frequent contributor.

See, I enjoy using Facebook and Twitter to give me the opportunity to perfect my "wit" if you will, and to be absolutely absurd. I love a good non-sequitor or two, but what I love more is the reaction I get. I found myself thriving off of these responses. I'd be crushed if no one would respond. It's pathetic, but such is my life.

So, in an effort to ween myself away from this attachment, I decided to cut myself off. I'd still read what people would write on Facebook, and I'd follow Twitter like I normally would, but I wouldn't post. Nothing. Nada. And it was hard. It was VERY hard.

But it was worth it. You see, I haven't been particularly productive these past few months weeks, but by dissolving my association with social media (to an extent), I was actually able to get things done. That's right. I got things done. I finally broke my new TV spec in its entirety, as well as breaking the first act of my feature. Small potatoes, sure, but a big deal for me. Since then, I've written much of that spec, and much of that first act (I'm balancing the two), and it's been wonderful. Absolute bliss.

I miss writing on Twitter and Facebook, for sure. Watching the season premiere of LOST without commenting on it was killer, but I survived. I don't plan on making this permanent. I don't want to completely dissolve the relationships I've cultivated there, but I just needed to learn something valuable: that my life can be richer without 'em. We'll see when I post again. It probably won't be significant, but it'll be good.

As for other things in my life: how about LOST? Totally called it, by the way. Not at all disappointed like I thought I would be (I expected the SPOILER ALERT rebooted story to be boring. But it looks exciting. END SPOILER ALERT). Very, very cool stuff.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

All in moderation my good man. Just limit the amount of time you spend on each every day.

Also, please at least respond to your @mentions, please!

Parker said...

See, it's not the time spent that was the problem: it's just that I need to express my creative thoughts in a more productive manner. I've still been looking at my feeds, and yet, I'm still able to say "Okay, that's enough. Now I'll go write" whereas before, I was ALWAYS wondering if people would respond to what I said, so I'd practically be obsessed with finding out. It was almost like a disease, a bit of "Look! You are funny!" sort of vindication. It was lame, and I realized that. I'm glad I did, because it was getting bad.

More importantly, this whole "fast" was just to see if I could. I don't expect it to last. But, I hope to come back from it a changed fella. This was more about disciplining myself, rather than shunning the prospect altogether. I'm not one to throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak. I'm giving it till Friday, in case you're curious. I figure a week is long enough, but we'll see. It's kinda fun to push myself like this.

Haught Fudge said...

This inspired me to go finish my script.