I’m glad I’m not active on social media because my skeptical brain always wants to verify whatever I read, including celebrity deaths. I still get trapped because I have a smartphone with Google on it, and I’m getting alerts based on things I’ve recently read.
That used to be fun when I was online a lot researching for articles I was writing. I’m pretty sure I had Google utterly confused about my interests.
But now, I’ve been writing fiction, so less research, and I clicked one article about a situation that’s unavoidable to see, whether it’s social media, television, radio, print, or online magazines. It’s everywhere, and god forbid you click an article for curiosity’s sake! You’ll soon be inundated with other links as if Google were helping you write your own article or dissertation on the situation.
Due to my landlord drama last week, I was grateful to read about someone else’s drama. Unfortunately, that misery-loves company mentality has me avoiding my phone, as it constantly provides me with chocolate chip cookie crumbs to tease me into falling down the rabbit hole.
Thankfully, I’m back to writing this week and am not looking for distractions. So, even though chocolate chip cookies are my favourite, I’m choosing to say no because oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are my real favourites.
All jokes aside, I think it’s easier to avoid falling down the rabbit hole when we have things to do. Not to say I didn’t have things to do last week; I was in a headspace where I needed a distraction, so I allowed myself to get drawn in.
Now that I’m back on track, I swipe the notifications inviting me to take a bite and drink water instead. At least now I know that a surefire way to tell I’m not in a positive mindset is when I start reading the latest sensational headlines.