What Are You Staring At?

I'm not much for New Years' Resolutions.

Sure, like most people I've vowed to run more, eat less, work fewer hours and try to relax. Those stabs at virtue don't usually last much more than a week.

But self-improvement, whether or not it takes, is a natural human trait. Some five million years ago some prognathous-browed ancestor probably muttered something to himself about walking on two feet or cornering the market for obsidian. From such promises, civilization such as it is, slowly arose and more quickly eroded.

Despite my disdain for empty promises of self-improvement, for about the last six months I've become more and more annoyed by humankind's attachment--fixation, really--with their phones.

The sketch above is what most people spend two, four, six or eight hours a day staring into.

Even if you live on the seaside as I do, where there's always an avian flurry or Winslow-Homer-esque sea scene or even an eagle flying high over head having sniffed a dead something-or-other for lunch, it seems screen myopia-dystopia has taken over our brains and removed from us our independence of action.

My days since I was fired by Ogilby just about six years ago are infinitely more productive than they were when I was employed by an agency. I was just about always Ogilvy's busiest creative. And I probably created, sold and produced more work than anyone else in the entire network.

That said, I spent a stupid amount of time sitting in meetings that were convened so that a) poseurs could hold court, b) poseurs could feel important or c) poseurs could give the impression that they were busy.

I also spent a stupid amount of time creating 128-page decks that housed only about eight pages of stuff that anyone cared about. Agency decks are like Apple computers. You have to dig through a mile of packaging to get to a foot of value. 

Then there was the time worrying about being fired, or why I was kept out of a meeting, or why so and so was working on something and I wasn't. Finally, there was the time dealing with officious corporate memos about missing timesheets, international grift, or some other malfeasance video some lawyer at corporate decided he had to cover his ass and make so he could a) get a vig from the production company and b) say he made a corporate video.

Beyond all that though is the point of today's post. The amount of time you spend staring into your device.

I read this article in the Times not too long ago and I killed the color on my screen. I'm sure it's not the cure for phone distraction but it seems to help.

By the way, some years ago, I found this graphic below on how creative people spent their days. I think it's good to think about how you spend yours. How much dilly-dallying and perseveration and phone-severation you imbibe in and how much actual work.

My days look like this. At least my good ones.

PS. I work (I write and think) when I walk.