Hang out with yourself

Or, how to get disconnected for productivity.

I'm not the first person to ever say this, but it needs to be said aloud in this house occasionally. We're all online too much (me included), looking at what's there: Youtube, news sites, social media, forums. Games, in some cases (games are a waste of processor cycles but that’s just me). Our computers are mostly for consumption or play. They're something we watch. TV with a billion channels.

And here's a heresy: this isn't what computers were for. Computers were creativity tools. Obviously, they still can be. Ads for phones, tablets and computers all show what you can do with your device: photography, video, writing, music, coding. Nobody ever advertises a tablet as something to curl up with to catch up on Instagram for three hours. But increasingly, that's what they're being used for.

I started writing this post on a pretty elderly Mac - a 2002 iBook. In between, I’ve updated it on an iPhone, a 2003 PowerBook and I'm writing these very words on an iPad 3.

Writing on the iBook and the PowerBook felt more like getting back to what computers were for originally. Doing disconnected, "distraction-free" stuff on computers can be liberating. Like writing. Watching a favourite DVD with a mug of tea and a slice of cake - and nothing else. no second screening. Listening to music while writing. I really like hanging out with myself on the computer, if you know what I mean, without needing to go online to catch up with the rest of the world. Sitting in front of a disconnected computer is like sitting in front of a sheet of blank paper with a pen. There are no real distractions. I can write something or I don't. I can play a bit of music in the background if I want. Keep looking at the screen. Say something. Write something. Do something.

That's how computers used to be, before the internet boom. It was just you and the cursor. Almost everything you did on a computer was creative in some way.

It was also often a single-tasking experience. For one, because your consumer-level computer possibly only ran one program at a time (on operating systems like CP/M and DOS) or didn't cope well with too many programs at a time (1990s versions of Windows and MacOS). If you wanted reliability, you ran 2-3 programs, max, because that was most of what you needed. You had a wordprocessing package, a spreadsheet and a few games. This was true of everything from the slowest computer you could buy to some of the fastest. People didn't know you needed twenty browser tabs. Or what browser tabs were. And software was expensive then, so you thought carefully about what you bought.

And this is an interesting thing about vintage computers. If you have one that you use regularly, say a 15-20 year old one, it's probably used for creative work of some sort, unless you're a gamer. Because they aren't up to what the web needs today. In my way, I'm often at my most reflective when I'm playing around on a vintage computer. There are few distractions (partly because I'm not a gamer, like I said).

I wouldn't go back to those days. Online tools are just too useful for everyone. Just having Wikipedia alone...  But once I'm on the web, time leaches away.

So what am I saying? Don't use the web? No. But if you're not doing anything in particular on your computer (tablet, phone....), switch off the wifi. It's that icon there, look. Switch it off, now, just for a moment.

Well done. Now, prepare to close your browser. Read to the end of this page first and follow the instructions.

When you have, open a new text editor document or a photo editor. Or an art package. A spreadsheet, even, if you're that way inclined.

You're now facing a creativity tool. Staff offline. No quick reseaching "ten top places to visit in Peru" or "How to cure writer's block". Not allowed.

Sit there.

Make something. Draw something. Design something. Stay offline.

Create.

Write a blog entry or make some notes for a script or a novel or a new business or where you want to travel to next. Review your CV/resume. Make some music. Edit some photos. Try black and white or an xpro filter. Edit that family camcorder footage and make something with it that you can show your kids' friends or partners when they come over.

Hang out with yourself for a while.

See what you're capable of, creatively.

Offline.

Okay. NOW, CLOSE ALL YOUR PROGRAMS... And create.

Bye.