inspiration overload
Thursday, July 1, 2010 at 08:52AM If attention is a finite resource, we need to be careful how we allot it.
If you have ever gotten caught on tumblr or flickr browsing 800 images of home offices, gardens, or kid spaces, you know what inspiration overload is. Especially when you find yourself addicted to looking at other people’s art projects and art studios but you haven’t touched a pencil yourself in ages.
The problem with too much input is, it leads to too little output. What is the point of endlessly gathering new information if we never do anything with it?
We can’t inundate kids with experiences and not give them time to create some meaningful work out of their processing, their questions, and their own ideas.
We need to concentrate on spending the majority of our time doing something real. We want to be something other than an appreciator of other people’s ideas, other people’s work, and other people’s lives.
Money, as the saying goes, isn’t the root of all evil — love of money is the root of all evil. In the same vein, inspiration isn’t evil — neither are great experiences and fun activities. But overconsumption of these things weakens us as makers, doers, thinkers, producers, idea-havers. The slice of time we spend taking things in gets bigger, while the slice of time we spend creating gets smaller.
Our children need to spend the majority of their time chewing over ideas and experiences, then making them into something new — adding their own ideas, their own spin, their own questions, their own connections.
We don’t want our children to see each new experience, activity, or idea as one in an endless string, soon to be replaced with another. We don’t want them to become passive consumers of life, craving novelty, trained to have a short attention span because things change so often. “Give me something new to do! I’m bored — give me something else new to do!”
We want our children to react to a new experience, activity, or idea by seeing it as a starting point. We want them to immediately see the possibilities — to recognize what they can do with this new information. We want them to be active producers of life, makers and doers.
To do this, we need to model a life of active engagement rather than passive reaction. And we need to keep giving them adequate time to ponder and work with new ideas rather than overwhelming them with a constant supply of new information.
The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do. — Sarah Ban Breathnach
Reader Comments (33)
I found I was spending too much time online gathering information and...never using it OR completely forgetting I had bookmarked it!
I found this post at exactly the right time. :)
The internet (especially) is monopolizing my time and attention--I'm finding it difficult to really focus on anything long enough to feel I've mastered it. I bookmark a dozen articles on one topic but never actually sit down to read them, let alone use any of the information found within. Or, I buy five books on a topic but never spend enough time reading and processing the information to make them effective. I'm wasting a lot of time and too much money!
I need to be careful I do not model the same methods of "internet browsing disguised as research" with my son. I don't want him to think you simply bookmark links, reserve 30 books from the library or browse YouTube for an hour when you wish to pursue a topic...I want to model the same methods I used in graduate school--effective methods. And, I want to him to always feel he has ample time and the know-how to pursue *any* topic. With or without my help!
I'm babbling. But, hopefully you got my point: I'm grateful for this post! :)
there's nothing inherently wrong with the internet (or, say, tv) -- it's just so darn *compelling*. it's such an intellectual candy store. and unfortunately we all know what happens when we eat candy all day.
i think you are on the right track. we have to actively make a life for ourselves that has a certain-size slot open for taking in inspiration and new ideas, a certain amount of time allotted to browsing the internet. but that purposeful, designed life has to focus on being something and making something real, on doing real things.
It takes a conscious effort to not be on the computer, and I am not a very good model for my son at the moment. He's waiting for me to finish this up so he can watch a movie on the computer. So yes this is a timely conversation.
I always appreciate your wisdom :)
stacey, lucky you to get to start over with new e-mail. :^)
i think this is just a recurring problem, one that we never fully solve. (like organizing? or maybe that's just me...)
taking things in is *easier* .. and inspiration feels good. there is a hump to get over when you start doing ..
mm, this reminds me of exercising, too. ;^)
thank you, teri. ;^)
chris, thank you so much — that means a lot to me!
theresa, lol, i mean them to be soft little punches on the arm. :D
this is a trap i'm very familiar with from falling into it and climbing out again, over and over — so i can empathize!
part of why i think journaling is such a strong tool is because it tends to bring these things to light even before you realize they're happening. things tip to the inspired/appreciating side and you see that you haven't *done* anything in awhile .. you're telling someone else's story instead of your own.
thank you, kristen! i think you have a lot of company on that train. and it definitely looks like one of those cute old-timey trains that chugs around the zoo. ;^)
allie, oh, thank you so much! :^)
mm, paris, so lovely.
the thing about inspiration is, it's only *inspiring* if you actually make something out of it .. otherwise it's just putting you into a pleasant drowsy state.
if only we could carry around a field bag of finite size with us when we wander the internet .. then when it got full, we'd know it was time to go home and play with our treasures!
line, thank you so much for commenting. it encourages me to keep blogging. :^) feel free to e-mail me any time as well!
So glad you're back; I can't wait to see your book! xoxo
and i’m glad i made the cut! :^)
we have to keep our plan flexible so we can accommodate those powerful interests that get us immersed. if we don’t plan for *that*, we sacrifice depth for coverage. excellent example. :^)
During our move I spent a whole lot of time away from the computer and things around here were much better. I got more sleep... which in and of itself makes me a better mom... and read a whole lot more... which is a much better thing to model in my life with an early reader... I was more creative with the kids and not preoccupied with "checking my e-mail" or posting a picture "real quick" to Flickr.
It is funny that I find the more stressed I am the more I turn to the computer... which in turn causes more stress... and less productivity! Yikes!
Thanks Lori! Time to get it back in check.
thank you, dawn! :^) oh, more sleep is key for me, too! as everyone around here knows. ;^)
you are so right about stress/interwebs .. it's a downward spiral. the internet seems to be one of those things that in small doses is energizing but in large doses becomes a depressant!
thank you, kate! :^)
Thanks for expressing so clearly what I have been thinking about but haven't been able to express myself.
oh, i like it when my silent followers speak up! :^)
you raise a great point — the more hats one wears, the more time they can spend looking for ideas & inspiration .. for all their different interests.
of course, it's all about balance — but it's always tricky/surprising when the thing that throws us off balance is something that seems so innocuous .. or fun .. or positive (like inspiration).
you were writing recently on your site about journaling. journals are a powerful tool for reminding ourselves of what we want our lives to be about. we can use them (private or public) to frame our existence and tell our story. and, as i said up above, they can help us see when we're telling someone else's story more than our own.
thank you for speaking up! ;^)