“why are you not using facebook anymore ?”
Past
My friends used to tell me the same thing over and over and yes, I kept blowing those words away like a wind of shit. Yes, I was a facebook’s active user : not because it gave me some serious #money or job or some kinds of awesome stuffs that only I had access to; but I was ADDICTED to.
The thing is, I had developed an OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) of polling the my facebook timeline in an interval; willing to sacrifice some of my important tasks just to do stuffs like trolling, status (ing) , commenting, debating in various groups (most of them were physics and mathematics).
My whole internet session used to be just those kinds of facebook shit. In a nutshell, my daily routine was like those straight lines you could never draw straight :
- wake up (along with some washroom shit)
- open facebook
- start doing the usual tasks I mentioned earlier (of course there used to be some important notifications from our college’s group)
- goto college
- return home
- do (2) and (3)
- goto bed around mid night
Yes, the most important disorder I had developed was the #unhealthy (i call it unhealthy because i call it :D) sleep cycle I had. Going to bed around mid night and waking up rarely by alarm clock during late morning was my worst habit I was addicted to. (even those freaking alarm is a no brainer for the urge to sleep, sleep and sleep).
Most of the time in college during those past years, I couldn’t feel quite refreshing because those sleep inducing hormones/enzymes (whatever you may call) were persistent and I couldn’t even think which I thought I was thinking. :P
Hence, my productivity fell exponentially (although never quite reaching the asymptote of my mind). And then there was me saying:
I quit this shit
(well in usual Nepali)
Two Freaking Years
And, so there was me without facebook and the things i used to do. And, I made my mind clear that I would use my time in internet solely to raise my productivity. (clear as a crystal in a sand)
Let me make you clear that my productivity level had decreased drastically because my research habits, coding time, problem solving, all went to NULL. I couldn’t even code properly because of symbiotic relation I had with laziness. In class/college, some of the pro guyz used to talk about latest problems in optmization, graph theory, algorithms, technology,etc (on which I had deep interest but had zero information).
Although, I had been keeping up with my study on Quantum Physics.
And there was me not giving a damn on college usual notifications like labs, assignments, etc.
First thing’s first
Reddit is what made me the person I am today. Every hours of internet I spent onwards was browsing through the subreddits on which I had interest like programming, python, algorithm, android, technology, quantum physics, artificial intelligence, data science, some embedded system, science, etc.
Most of the time I was (am) passive in reddit because I developed a habit of reading some great articles and stuffs on the things I mentioned earlier. Honestly, I didnt even skip the portion of those articles. I had my mind on understanding algorithms for solving certain problems. Various articles from
- hackernews
- stackoverflow
- techcrunch
- mashable
- google blog
- some python blog
- android authority
made my hours quite productive. I used to do timepass problem-solving coding shit and quite grew into that. Although, I am still a #noob and still lack major understanding on many things.
Hey! At least I grew productive. And I can whine about it.
Some of the subreddits (/r/) I would like to share (in just some pseudo random order from my python script, or may not be :P) are:
- programming
- python
- learnpython
- android
- InternetIsBeautiful
- math
- artificial
- AskScience
- AskReddit
- coolgithubprojects
- documentaries (yup I am a documentary guy)
- unixporn
- todayilearned
- dataisbeautiful
- creativecoding
- quantum
I am a youtube watcher too (I don’t know what you call a person that is addicted to youtube). Various, channels I have subscribed to (some I had discovered, some I had seen from articles I read) are awesome and post great stuffs.
Some of the channels, not in particular order :
- coldfusion
- vsauce
- minutephysics
- numberphile
- computerphile
- veritasium
- TED-ed
- CGP grey
- Looking Glass Universe
- The Verge
- MKBHD
- android authority
- Vox
- crash course
- coding math
- in a nutshell
- testtube news
- D news
- Khan Academy
- Art of The Problem
- ASAPScience
- The RSA
- The School of Life
- Piled Higher and Deeper (PHD Comics)
- The Film Theorists
- Watchmojo
- How Stuff Works
There are many in my list which I would like to share, but on reaching this line, you are probably bored now. Well, what can be done. You might have thought you could get productive by just reading this article. All you need is an #urge to quit some stuffs you are addicted that is dragging you down.
Twitter Feeds
By this time, you are reading this line, you are probably seeing too much of #hashtags (now this is quite calming meta :P) . Well, that is due to more productive time in twitter. It’s surprising that how two social networking platforms Twitter and Facebook are way different. From, the very day I started to be official on twitter I had quite grown productive. This may be due to those 140 characters limit in tweets which makes people think more on the precise amount of information to put into a single #tweet.
Just as I have subscribed to various subreddits and youtube channels, I have followed those people in twitter too. I get great stuffs in my twitter feeds that I like to read when I wake up early in the morning. There are awesome people in twitter who are active and inspiring.
I have developed a habit of sharing links i.e. I am a #Shareaholic. I don’t care if the links I share is read (at least opened by others), but I am sure I don’t spam and troll now.
Mediation
Above all, a good old meditation is one of the deadliest medicine you can get. Just listen to pulsating low frequency (bass notes) that can resonate with your brain waves. There are many platforms, on which you can listen to calm sounds (make sure you plug in your headphone,earphone, or any phone :D)
Final battle
Now, we are at the end of a journey (that might be just a poop for nothing, because honestly I don’t even deserve wonderful readers that wished to get something out of this article, but in vain).
Facebook’s use is good for certain time in your usual daily works. But, developing a deep intertwined addiction is a serious sign of some crazy psychological, biological, physical, and whatever breakdown you might get.
Yes, too much of twitter may be bad. But twitter’s sole purpose of providing straightforward information is what wins in a battle of Twitter vs Facebook.
Final Showdown, perhaps
Instead of being an anti-social workhorse just do these:
- go outside
- watch sky
- have discussions with friends
- take pictures of those flowers you have in your home using your smartphone
- just sit on the roof, under the sun and relax
- do meditation
- be social (i had always been an anti-social guy, but I am improving on my social behaviour)
- watch great movies
- watch documentaries
- at least make habit of doing some timepass coding/programming stuffs. This way, you can greatly improve your skills on programming (if you do one)
- and …
At the time of writing this article, I (am/was) in final year of my B.E. Computer Engineering stuffs. Since, I had 2 years of voidness in my social life due to the lack of comprehension for facebook, I am again starting to use facebook with my new account. And this time it is quite different.
I am not the person I used to be.
Now, my perception is quite different on social platforms. With true information sharing platform comes a great change.
Afterall,
change is inevitable
