Linux For Poets

I have been doing a couple of weeks now of my focus challenge. It's really just an improvement in my routine, rather than a hard challenge.

I have not held exactly to the rules of my experiment. I have looked at Reddit, but not logged in, and only for very specific reasons for short lengths of time, like finding information about fountain pen nib compatibility. I am honestly fine with this. Search results often don't tell me what I'm looking for, because I tend to look for very specific, niche information, where individual user experiences are more helpful than generalized, bland search results.

Crucially, I am not posting on any social media, except for my local moms group. I hate the feeling of posting something, and then having attention stuck on that post, so that I want to look back at how people responded. It's an attention-seeking mechanism that is a waste of my energy and it feels bad to me. If I want to say something, I should journal or write a blog post or tell a friend.

I bumped up the time I can use Facebook and Mastodon combined to 40 minutes per week. That seems okay. I don't browse, I just check my facebook moms group, and get off, and do a quick scan of Mastodon. I use the "search" tool on facebook and just see if there are any new posts on my recently searched people, which works well. Having the feed blocked on Facebook is mandatory, because they serve up such absolute toxic trash in the home feed, no one needs that.

Beyond that, I am finding small ways to slow down and be more present. I am paying attention to where my mind goes and how quickly it bounces from topic to topic. I try not to hop to the computer for every stray thought I want to learn about, and every thing that I might need to buy. I try to write those things in my to do list notebook.

Knitting helps! It is soothing and grounding. So that's always good. I'm working on a new blue blanket for my toddler.