Noise

I was mindlessly scrolling through Instagram the other day and realized that every time there was a quote that was longer than a sentence, I would read about 4 words, then scroll on. I notice that this has become a habit. I find myself binging on quantity as pictures and quotes, and stories rhythmically parade upwards across my screen, but I no longer pause to reflect on quality. Don’t get me wrong! Some of the pages I follow have very high-quality content. That’s why I follow them. My favorites are Michelle Obama, NPR, Nat Geo, Joe Dispenza, Onecommune, and many more ranging from yoga and spirituality to education and science. But there is SO MUCH information. So much information that I end up neglecting the quality of any of it.

Everything is like this, isn’t it? We eat while driving, scroll while eating, watch movies while scrolling, rarely if ever being present during any of it. What do we think about when someone is talking to us? Are we engaged in what they are saying, or are we somewhere else? When is the last time you were fully present in just eating and chewing and tasting and experiencing a meal? When have you really become quiet and closed your eyes to listen to the melody and harmonies, and instruments, and notes of a song?

When we are always scrolling, always multi-tasking, always somewhere else in our minds, we live in a world of static. Noise.

And when there is so much to see, and hear, and do, we never really appreciate any of it. We just try to gobble as much of it up that we can.

When I was a kid my parents used to take us to all-you-can-eat buffets. I had a strategy where I would put one scoop of everything on my plate because I wanted to try everything. It was okay, but it wasn’t good. Everything got mixed together and without a pallet cleanser, it all became a blended mess of flavors that wasn’t really appetizing at all.

This is what scrolling and multi-tasking remind me of. Taking spoonfuls of everything and not really appreciating any of it.

Another source of “noise” is the amount of information on a similar topic. As someone who loves to research, I can get lost in the weeds, meander down rabbit trails, sometimes even forgetting what I was looking for in the first place. As a teacher, the multitude of teaching resources can leave you with a spinning head, and unfinished lesson plans. With social media, when we aren’t really even looking for anything at all, it’s like indulging in mindless junk food.

Level Up

Ok, so how do we step out of the static, and leave the all-you-can-consume information buffet? Here are a few strategies that work for me.

1. Set a timer and focus. I have a 15-minute timer that I’ve set on Instagram Settings. I will either a) carefully read and focus on one post at a time, or b) scroll to a post that catches my attention and focus on that particular one. This way I’m spending quality time on fewer posts and limiting the time I spend on social media altogether. It keeps me from getting sucked into the mindless scrolling trap.
2. Spend more time reading to help with your attention span. I often let my scrolling habit rob my reading time. When I do, I find my attention span becomes shorter and “anxious for the next thing”. When I read, however, I find my attention span is more regulated and somewhat under my control. This is just what I noticed, personally. Try it and pay attention to your own attention span. See if you notice a difference.
3. Single-tasking instead of multi-tasking. See if you can focus on doing one thing at a time. If you are talking to someone, actively listen. If you are eating, just eat and do so mindfully. If you are driving, just drive. This is mindfulness. It helps bring you into the present moment, not to mention all the other benefits of mindfulness like regulating stress, increasing awareness and focus.
4. Choose a only few. When looking for a resource, whether it’s health-related, education, cooking, or whatever your interest, find two or three high-quality ones as your “go-to” resources. Take yoga as an example. I’m always looking to improve my practice, but the yoga resources on social-media and book stores, and even in-town studios are saturated. After spending some time looking around, I have 3 excellent yoga pages I follow on Social Media, and 2 studios in town that are my go-to’s. Once in a while, I branch out to keep things fresh. With my teaching resources, I have two go-to’s that I know will provide high-quality, engaging, standards-based resources for my students. And again, I will branch out enough to see what is out there from time to time but keep it simple.

These are just a few ideas to cut through the noise and bring yourself back into focusing on high-quality time, resources, and care, rather than a fire-hose of mindless static.