Unplugged Night was awesome again! I spent the evening brainstorming and drawing and idea-making with my friend Joriel, who was knitting. Andreas, meanwhile, had a bad day and needed to veg, so he hid in the bedroom watching movies and drinking all night. (Poor thing!)

I have floating anxietyI was also mulling over the nature of distraction, and why it’s almost a comfort to me. In some ways, I almost feel most comfortable if I’m multi-tasking, like there’s a reassurance that I’m busy and productive and doing my thang, even if in actuality I’m spending more time toggling between the things I’m doing than actually getting anything done. This lack of focus results in a weird sense of floating anxiety … that sensation that there’s always something more to do, but I’m not quite sure what it is because I’m too lazy to figure it out. I’d rather just toggle between whatever pops into my mind at the time. I think this is called Continuous Partial Attention. (Thanks to Leif for the link!)

I got a comment that made me realize I should clarify my rules for Unplugged Night.

The things that suck me in are screens and connectivity, so I am avoiding:

  • Internet
  • DVD/Movies
  • Cell phone

I am NOT avoiding:

  • Digital cameras (I don’t get sucked in to staring at my camera for hours at a time)
  • ipod (all my music is converted to m3p, so I listen to music with my ipod boombox)
  • Receiving phone calls (I’ll answer if it rings, although last night I accidentally left my phone on mute all night)

For anyone else who’s trying unplugging, I suggest you come up with your own lists, based on what triggers you to get sucked down the rabbit hole where you wake up at one point with your cell phone in your hand and are like “Whaaaa? Where have I been for the last two days?”