Solitude is a rare treat in our world. At any minute, a ping from the variety of electronic devices in our possession can wrest our attention from us. Even in a device-free room, the metronomic ticking of a clock serves as a reminder of strictly scheduled minutes slipping into the past.
I feel burdened by the demand for constant availability. Personal phones have made it so that a near-instant response is normal. Emails, which used to be something a person would check once, maybe twice a day, have weaseled their way into handheld devices. Text messages and social media apps continue to be the worst offenders, infringing on a person’s mental privacy, with their artificially generated need for urgent replies clogging the mind’s highway. Naturally, I was delighted when last week’s bomb cyclone knocked out my internet connection. The day yawned in front of me, uninterrupted by the nagging demands of my electronic devices. I found myself able to immerse myself in long projects without worrying about paying attention to the passage of time. The hours flew as I flowed from one long-neglected project to another with the savoir-faire of a seasoned conductor. Never have I ever experienced time with such silkiness, like a well-pulled shot of espresso or decadent piece of dark chocolate, dancing on the tongue with all its rich and beautiful notes.
Unfortunately, all that is good and well must end. My internet came back, and I was once again lost in the deluge of digital noise, woefully mourning my little day of peace. I found myself anxiously checking my bag to make sure my phone was there, worried that I would blissfully forget it existed and miss some important class-related message or reminder. This constant anxiety makes it very hard to fully immerse oneself in a state of uninterrupted focus. I find it hard to constructively create meaningful art, write in-depth, or conduct any activity requiring fine attention to detail with the specter of the notification hanging over my shoulder.
In his book on focus and productivity, Deep Work, professor and author Cal Newport impresses upon the importance of being able to go away into solitude for long periods of time. He states that these long periods of going away stimulate the mind’s ability to work on big-picture projects. While we might think that artists and inventors are struck by creative ideas, these big breaks are actually the result of long periods of uninterrupted thought.
Unfortunately, these long periods of solitude are becoming increasingly hard to curate. There are so many ways for distractions to encroach on our personal space, yet the only way to get rid of them is to turn off the meddlesome devices. Stepping away from connection is often seen as a social faux pas, given that so much of real life happens in virtual reality. Due to the miasma of the internet becoming entrenched into life, it is simply not feasible to throw one’s phone into the ocean and walk away a happier person. As for solutions to this veritable quicksand, we find ourselves in, I have none. I can only hope to one day become self-sufficient enough to devote entire weeks, months, and years to my art, undisturbed by the shrill tone of a notification.