Welcome! It's a good place.
If you're interested in that kind of person as a character, as well as something that definitely requires you to focus on it, I highly recommend the book *Gnomon* by Nick Harkaway. One of my favorites!
First post and happy to have found this place! Discovered it after learning about Gemini, which I ran across because every few months I dig around to see if Gopher is making a comeback.
Which is something I do because like I suspect many of you might, I miss the internet before the advertising ruined the web. At the very least I miss what it was before Facebook, not to mention what our attention spans were like before Facebook.
Signing up here is my next step in rediscovering my ability to focus, and I hope to journal some about that process. Just yesterday I listened to an interview with the writer Fran Lebowitz, where it is revealed that she lives alone, with no cell phone, no computer, and about 10,000 books. I thought 'my hero!' but then I quickly remembered I've been a nerd and been fascinated by computers ever since I could spell "Tandy 1000". So I'm not going to emulate that.
But with that arrangement in her home, man she must be able to clear distraction and focus like a BOSS!
And that, ultimately, is the goal.
Thanks, and more to follow!
-ahx
Welcome! It's a good place.
If you're interested in that kind of person as a character, as well as something that definitely requires you to focus on it, I highly recommend the book *Gnomon* by Nick Harkaway. One of my favorites!
I wish focus were something we could flip on and off. Sometimes it seems like I should strip away everything extraneous to be able to get the most done, but often obnoxious music helps keep my brain from going off on tangents...
It's somewhat like the 'coffee shop noise' effect. If you can work remotely from a coffee shop, the background noise can hit the sweet spot between distraction and unnerving silence for many people. It's as though the brain needs *just enough* to push against....
(of course this was all pre-covid before all coffee was to-go...)
Which interview was that? I'd love to hear it. I immediately thought "life goals!"
Abbreviated transcript-
https://www.npr.org/2021/01/11/955483273/fran-lebowitzs-pretend-its-a-city-is-the-nyc-trip-you-cant-take-right-nowAnd this should be the full audio-
https://www.npr.org/player/embed/955483273/955677800I have now listened to it, great interview for sure but the initial image of sitting there with no internet and a bunch of books is still the bestā„