Writing in a World of Distractions
Perhaps you’ve noticed that the world we live in today is full of distractions. At every moment of every day, our phones, laptops, watches, smart home devices, smart televisions, smart appliances, etc. are begging for our attention. They send us notifications… most of which we don’t care about, but the apps sending them are banking that we’ll eventually be tempted by one of the pings and click on it.
Take this a step further and you’ll realize that our modern devices are not just plagued by third-party notifications, but are designed to be distraction machines. The beautiful displays with super high refresh rates and modern design language are all made to draw us in constantly. This is why most Americans pick their phones up over two hundred times a day!
We are addicted to the things that used to be used for specific jobs and nothing else. Go back 30 years and phones were just something you used to call others. That’s all they did. Computers were used for typing up documents, playing some lightweight games (hello, Oregon Trail), or running programs specific to work or school.
Even 20 years ago, our cell phones were still mainly used for texting and calling others. Sure, we had games like snake, Tetris, chess, or solitaire, but those weren’t notifying us all the time. The only time our phones buzzed or made noise was when our friends or family were calling or texting us.
If you wanted to listen to music, you used a dedicated music device (iPod, cd player, etc). If you wanted to watch videos, you had TV mostly, though YouTube and other web platforms were gaining traction in the early 2000s before smartphones were invented.
Those of us who had a BlackBerry phone were able to email, do some rudimentary web searching, and take some notes on the device in addition to calls and texting. It was the precursor to a true smart phone and felt like it was mostly for work - and even then for business people. They were also ridiculously expensive (as smartphones are today).
In 2007 Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone. They had already been killing the market with iPod sales for years. I remember how badly I wanted an iPod 5 back then, but couldn’t afford one, so I settled on a cheaper iPod mini color. Regardless, the pitch for the iPhone was initially a phone and an iPod smooshed into one device. No longer did we need to carry two devices around all day.
Oh, if he only knew how much that little piece of metal and glass would’ve changed the world. He was actually quite against third party apps in the beginning. The App Store didn’t come around for a while. He wanted full control of the applications being developed on the device… but it was inevitable that a tiny computer in your pocket would eventually have a way to produce applications for specific tasks.
In addition to the development of the smartphone, the social media boom also contributed to our distracted society. I was a MySpace user (weren’t those the days?) and an early adopter of Facebook. When I was a freshman in college, Facebook was in its infancy and still only for college students. You had to have a .edu email address to even be able to sign up.
Yet, like all things, capitalism won out in the end. Not only did Zuck open Facebook up to the world, but the design of the app itself was more and more targeted to keep you hooked. Make a post and get notifications of how many people liked it. A little red bubble with a number immediately tapped into our dopamine circuits and sucked us back in. I remember how addicting it was to give a quick status update and see people react to it in nearly real-time. I would check my account dozens of times a day to see how many likes or comments I had gotten.
That was before Instagram, TikTok, and the flood of other social media platforms that compete for our attention each day. They all are built on the same principles of trying to keep you addicted and on the app. The longer you scroll, the more ads they can serve you. The more ads they serve you, the more money they make. The more you use the platform, the more likely you are to invite others and suddenly they have those people to keep addicted and make money from.
It’s a never-ending money grab. The app is free for you, but there’s an important rule in life:
If the product you receive is free… you are the product.
Breaking Free
Two years ago or so I read Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. I had already been frustrated by how much time I spent on my phone each day and was looking for a way to break free. That book opened my eyes to so many reasons why I needed to make that happen right away.
Before I finished reading it, I quit social media. I had deleted Instagram a long time before this and have never been on TikTok or other similar platforms. I really only had Facebook, but I deleted the app and stopped using it altogether. It would take a little over a year for me to completely delete my account, but I eventually did.
Then I tried to set up some sensible rules about using my phone. I also deleted a bunch of apps I didn’t need. I turned my screen to monochrome mode and turned off all notifications.
This worked for a while, but eventually I would give in and use my phone more, turn off monochrome mode, and be hooked. I’d find myself a few weeks later realizing my screen time was much higher than I wanted and start the process over again.
I wish I could say that I’m an expert at this. An undistracted digital ninja who only uses my devices for what they’re intended for. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case.
As hard as I try, I’m still susceptible to the endless barrage of distractions that target me each day. I’m on my laptop for work basically all day. I use my personal laptop to do research, write, watch YouTube videos, and code. My phone is always on me and as much as I try to avoid touching it during down moments, I still fall into its elusive traps.
Yet, the idea… the dream of an analog life, completely free of distractions calls to me. I would even go so far as to say that I yearn for it. I’ve spent a long time trying to find ways to get there and had some success, but still have work to do.
One such area that I’m trying to be better is with my writing. I have been a writer my whole life (since the 3rd grade). I absolutely love it. It fuels me… gives me energy, unlike many other tasks I have to do each day. My dream job, I’ve recently come to realize, is becoming a full-time author. The chances of that happening are probably slim, but either way, I am going to write for my personal growth and because it’s my ikigai.
I write daily.
Sometimes it’s for this blog, others it’s for a story I’m working on, while others are simply private journaling. Most of the time that writing takes place on my MacBook or iPad. I use Obsidian currently, though I’ve used a dozen writing platforms over the years. The trouble I run into is the temptation of knowing that the entirety of the internet is a click away. This is truly problematic for the writing process, which requires concentration and (ideally) flow. The other problem is that oftentimes as a writer you get stuck on what words or line should come next. You pause to allow your brain to think and the next thing you know, you’re watching a YouTube video or shopping for that thing you’ve been thinking about for ages… and the flow state is broken, the words never come.
I’ve struggled with this for a long time. I have been writing fiction since I was sixteen years old, on and off, but seriously since about 2017. I am embarrassed to say that I’ve started a dozen or more books and never finished them (save for one). I’ve written well over a million words of fiction, yet never been able to show anything for it.
Let me be clear: distraction is not the only reason for this, but it certainly is a major factor. I often get stuck in a story or disappointed with a turn that it took and then as I’m trying to fix it, my distracted brain says “let’s just move on to something else.” And wouldn’t you know it, right then and there something else is available for the taking.
It sucks. I hate it. I’ve longed for a way to avoid those issues for many years, yet haven’t found anything that has been perfect. Airplane mode will only carry you so far, my friends and I have pretty decent discipline in most areas of my life…
I’ve also tried writing stories longhand like some of my author heroes, but I just can’t do it. As much as I love stationery, I can’t write a story that way. My brain moves too fast and I get frustrated. Yes, I know I could lean into that and force myself to slow down. I’ve tried. It wasn’t working for me.
So, what’s one to do?
Around five years ago now, I think, I first saw an ad for the Freewrite Smart Typewriter. It’s a digital typewriter with an e-ink screen. It’s so freaking cool and stunningly beautiful - but it’s also so expensive.
I fell in love the first time I saw it and their marketing nailed my problem. They present it as an intentionally distraction-free writing device.
Bingo.
That’s what I need, right? Well, I have certainly wrestled with that idea since then.
Two years ago I tried solving it with a ReMarkable 2 and keypad folio, which I absolutely loved. It was the first device I’ve ever used that instantly put me into flow. At first I loved every second of using it, but eventually I found myself frustrated by the workflow I had to have while using it.
There’s no word count. There’s no easy way to export the text file in a formatted manner. I had to email the raw and unformatted text to myself, then copy and paste that into a word processor and edit the formatting significantly just to get it in a usable first draft state. While that may sound like a small issue to have, when you’re writing 2000 words at a time, it becomes quite a lot of extra work.
So, eventually I moved on and sold it. I tried several other brands of e-ink tablets (Boox and Supernote among the top options). They all had their pros and cons, but ultimately, none were perfect for my workflow.
So, I’ve spent the last year or so just trying to manage my distraction level while writing on my laptop or iPad. I’ve had good days and bad ones, but most of the time I found myself getting distracted.
I recently had a friend send me a link to Freewrite and ask if I’d ever seen those before. Boy, have I. I had somewhat forgotten about them, but it sparked the desire within me to have a distraction-free writing device again. It gripped me, actually. I just can’t justify the price of a Freewrite… can I?
Well, through some Google and YouTube investigation I came across an alternative from the early 2000’s. A device that was originally created for children to learn to type in school.
Enter the AlphaSmart Neo. It’s a (quite nice) keyboard with an old-school reflective LCD screen (calculator-style) and that’s it. No internet. No cloud storage. No distractions.
The trouble is, they stopped making them back in 2013 or so, which means you have to find a used one on eBay. The other issue is that, like me, many other writers feel the pain of distractions while writing and the secondhand market has taken off for these wonderful devices.
I spent a few weeks looking for a great deal on a Neo and finally found one. The price was low enough for me to justify buying it and testing whether it would work for my specific workflow.
Thus far, it’s working pretty great. Sure, it has its quirks, just like any “dumb” device, but I’ve written this post on it (over 2000 words) in one sitting and had zero urges to go elsewhere and look at shiny objects.
That, my friends, is a win in my book.
If I have to complain about anything, I’ll be honest and say that the LCD screen isn’t great. It’s not backlit and the angle it’s set at is too low to see well in my lap or even on my desk. I have to prop it up a bit to get a better viewing angle. That’s a small issue, in the grand scheme of things, but an issue nonetheless.
I also found another device called a BYOK that I found a great deal on and ordered to try as well. It should be here next week and I’ll compare it to the Neo. Whichever one has the best experience will be what I keep.
Regardless, I’m excited to be able to write in a truly distraction-free environment. It motivates me to finally go and finish one of my books (whether that’s a new work or one I’ve been tinkering with, time will tell).
If you actually read this whole post, you’re a legend. Thank you. I know I rambled on a bit, but the context I shared was important in my mind and to be honest was therapeutic to get it out.