Monk Mode, Where It Gets Dangerous?
Another tip from Eric Kim to significantly increase our productivity is a very simple thing: disconnect.
He meant it quite literally; hide your smartphone away; turn off the internet connection; ignore the calls. It worked best for them whose job doesn’t involve much interaction with the mass, such as artists, writers, researchers, et cetera. But a CEO could get his company torn into shreds if he put this advice into action. A president could bring his country into a war if he just work with no communication.
Eh, but Chris Bailey, the writer of The Productivity Project, also limited his time on his phone to as little as an hour day, divided into four chunks of 15 minutes sessions. Oh right, he was a writer, wasn’t he. He still is, the last time I checked. He’s in a field where he himself holds all the control. So does Eric Kim, coz he’s a photographer after all.
Now, imagine there’s a line that shows the intensity of social interaction needed on a job. Artist and fiction book writer are on the left end, businessman and reporter are on the other, and all jobs in the world are between them.
Now where are we students in that line?
Regardless of your major, at which point we should be?
Some says, college is where you build your spider web of useful contacts. Some says, it’s the only place left to explore yourself until the deepest nooks. Some says, we’re right in the middle, because, it’s not like we can survive two weeks with no cell — what if the lecturer suddenly decides it’s time for quiz at 6pm? — but we don’t really need to be ready on call 24/7.
Actually, after giving it some thoughts, Chris Bailey’s one-hour-a-day rule works just fine for us students. Remember, that only counts for checking emails, messages, important calls, Instagram feeds, Facebook updates, anything you do to socialize and connect. If you use useful apps on your smartphone that actually increase your productivity, such as Duolingo or Medium or 30 Days Challenge, I think it’s okay to add more minutes to the regular one hour. Spend more time on Instagram if you sell stuffs through the platform is good either. Well, you get the gist. One hour online-living a day.
But, you see, it’s difficult to abide by a rule precisely. Me personally, tend to slide right to the extreme. On whichever side of the chart.
Most days, just like common people, I checked on my messenger apps every 15 minutes. Even worse, five freaking minutes. And each time I turn on the phone, it take at least two minutes. The most? One hour. You see why people could easily lose their time this way.
And I still dare to consider studying for 54 hours a week is ineffective. Reflecting on how I usually throw my days away, it sounds like a giant leap.
At some points, when I feel too fed up by people’s life I watch through these medias, when fomo kicks in too deep, I’ll shut myself in, right away.
I’ll uninstall all the messenger apps, ignore every attempts of people other than my folks to contact me, and leave the world buzzing with vibrant colors. It’s just me, flat. Oh, and my parents when the house need some checkup.
I do this a lot at holidays. Not holidays, just, when I deem social interactions aren’t worth it. I would love to keep going for the rest of the year, actually, if only I don’t have group projects.
Now, you see, the need of connecting with people increases along with holiday wearing off, and the work days creeping in. But, it doesn’t mean that, just because work starts at Monday, you could put people away until Sunday night. The graph should move smoothly, not filled with sudden big jumps.
Sometimes, because we all love to procrastinate on assignments we fear, we just start to socialize on Tuesday afternoon. We skip Monday because it’s usually just pretty chats, so we’ll check in too punctually on Tuesday, and avoid people until it’s lunch time when you can’t help but to eat in a cafeteria packed with people.
That’s where it gets dangerous.
We put it off and off and off until it slams our face. That ain’t right. If you do it that way, it’s not a healthy asocial streak anymore — if the thing is ever healthy. You’re gonna be walking on eggshells to preserve the relationships you have. You’re gonna spit mouthfuls of lies to explain where were you in the last three months, because the truth isn’t as romantic as you thought it was when you started the whole thing.
If work starts on Monday, you begin contacting people on Thursday morning in the previous week. Ask how are they doing, what grades their kids are in now, would they love some Pop-Tarts pie, anything. You sugarcoat your AWOL real nice and be the best buddy in town like you used to be — if you ever was. Anyway, start small, a few days before the deadline. It doesn’t feel good to repeat the same lies God knows how many times in just one day. So do yourself some favor and take a few days to complete the job.
When you can’t do that, when you keep postponing the social interaction you need to do, it’s past the point it gets dangerous. Quite lethal to your mind, I suppose.
If you find your brain had been supplying you with ‘logical’ reasons on why you should just stop being a social creature for far too long even in worst introverts’ measures, stop everything right away. It’s time to get some help.
