Inconvenience is a gift

I create a lot of obstacles for myself in order to manage my attention. The most convenient thing, after a hard day's work, is supposed to be to give into the scroll and consume endless content. But what if it wasn't?

I don't have social media on my phone. If all goes according to plan, by this time next year, I won't have social media at all.

My television is in my basement to encourage me not to watch TV. It is the only one in the house.

Any time I might be waiting for something, I bring my Kindle. Not the kind with a touchscreen, a Kindle Keyboard from 2010 that contains books and nothing else.

We all know that social media is draining our energy and eating up time that could be spent on something purposeful. Social media also poses the issue of context collapse: rapid cycles of information, devoid of context, presented in quick succession. You might watch a cute puppy video, followed by an ad for a revolutionary new kind of bikini trimmer, followed by your friend's art, followed by disturbing news about the current political climate. Did you have time to sit with your emotions about that disturbing news, or are you now watching an ad for a home security system?

Choosing the path of inconvenience is a radical act, one that allows you to reclaim your attention.

Some other ways to inconvenience yourself for a deeper experience:

• Walk, ride a bike, or take the bus instead of driving. Find a cool pinecone on the sidewalk. Try to decide if the person sitting across from you on the bus is checking you out or if you dropped a piece of lunch on your shirt.
• Go to the library in-person instead of downloading a book on Libby or the evil site. Stumble upon a book on a subject you've never studied. Open it!
• Go to the office and talk to people face-to-face instead of working from home. Or just work by yourself and know that there are other bodies present in the building.
• Call a friend instead of texting them. Leave them an unhinged voicemail.
• Get a real alarm clock. Charge your phone far out of reach of your bed.
• Make your own list of inconveniences from your own brain.

Obviously, every option on this list is not for everyone. We all have varying responsibilities and time constraints. I almost never call my friends! Especially not without scheduling a time first. But maybe that's your thing. I would welcome it if my friends called me.

Maybe you can't walk to work. But perhaps you could take the bus to the grocery store.

Maybe you can't put your tv in the basement because it's a dank hole full of spiders and doom. Put it inside a cabinet, or hang a curtain over it - anything to get that dastardly advertising box out of sight.

You also don't have to do any of these things daily. Sometimes you have to choose convenience just to get through the day, and that's okay.

We are living through an extremely difficult time, one in which many of our choices are being stripped away. Although it is challenging, we still have a million micro-opportunities each day to choose where to place our attention. Where's yours going next?