Sometimes I find myself repeatedly checking for email, other times looking for another news site to read. I got to wondering why I do this. It seems to me that it happens when I'm at a loss about what my priorities are. In other words, I'm looking for someone else to tell me what I should give my attention to. Tell me, please, what I should be thinking about.
Of course I would enjoy receiving a message from one of my friends and so it is natural to check -- every once in awhile -- whether a message has arrived. But most of my friends are exceedingly remiss at using email; only the use of paper mail, the kind with stamped envelopes and hand written addresses, is less honored among them. And I've mostly suppressed the junk messages (perhaps with the aid of reforms among the cloudy powers which be out in internet land). Checking for email more than once or twice in an hour is pointless here at my desk.
Similarly, it is legitimate to want to be informed about events in the world. I'm not embarassed to check 2 or 3 news sites in the US (after first reading my favorite comic strips) and I also have a selection of foreign outlets. Up to a point, reading stories around the world is helpful in being informed. But at some point I wonder, do I really need to read Evenimentul Zilei's take on Donald Trump's pardoning of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio? In Romanian? Or am I just begging evz.ro to distract me from deciding what to do?
When I'm really desperate, I've even been known to turn on the TV. I mean broadcast television; I won't pay for the cable or streaming varieties. It wastes my time but not both time and money. I usually run through all the channels twice before I wake to the reality that I never wanted to watch television anyway.
Here's the thing: Playing the actual reality game is hard. It is easier to pick whatever the person in front of me is having than to commit to a choice of my own. It is how we are made, and properly harassed it is an attribute which can make communities strong. The same predilection applied when we are not engaged in joint action puts us into idle mode: the engine is running, but no work is being done.
Some idleness may be beneficial to clear our minds and to regenerate our energy. But to succeed in actual reality you have to make a play.