sorry if you've already answered this 700 times, in which case totally feel free to ignore. but how do you lengthen your attention span? is it as simple as watching/reading progressively longer things?
First of, I am by no means an expert, but I'm happy to help as much as I can! There are a lot of great articles, books, and podcasts on the topic if you want any further info.
The most important thing to realize is why are attention spans are getting worse:
Information overload and distractions make it difficult to focus. (Ex. social media and text notification going off while you are doing other tasks)
Intentional multitasking gets your brain used to doing more than one thing at once so it becomes very difficult to make it do only one thing (Ex. having the tv on in the background while doing other tasks)
Consuming a lot of media focused on having minimal downtime and immediate gratification decreases our patience and ability to do slower tasks (Ex. watching a lot of action packed movies and short TikToks)
Getting constant small hits of dopamine from social media decreases our ability to do tasks that don't give us dopamine hits (Ex. getting likes from a post or messages from friends)
The solutions to most of these come down to two things: (1) Do only one thing at a time (2) Limit distractions from that task (3) Reduce immediate gratification
So some example of ways to do that would be:
Read a book without your phone being on hand to distract you.
Watch TV without multitasking.
Reduce time on social media, especially social media focused on short videos.
Spend a day or part of a day without technology.
Spend time with friends without looking at your phone.
Watch slow-form content like unedited lecture or panel videos where people are just speaking at their normal pace without cutting pauses.
Listen to music albums all the way through instead of shuffling and skipping.
Eat meals without multitasking (ie mindful eating)
Make yourself a cup of tea and sit on a park bench or by the window and watch some birds.
People-watch at the coffee shop.
Write long emails or letters to friends and family instead of short texts.
Call and have a conversation with a loved one without multitasking.
Meditate.
Take a walk and enjoy nature.
Don't scroll through your phone while waiting in a line.
Read long posts when you come across them on your dashboard.
Have an ebook on your phone to read whenever you would normally scroll through social media.
Don't go on your phone/online for a certain amount of time before bed.
If you are having trouble doing these things, try to do one tasks but increase the stimuli of that task. For example, read a book while listening to the audiobook at the same time. Or listen to music while watching a lyric video. These are great baby steps!
Another great baby step is (like you said in your question) doing things for progressively longer amounts of time! Set a timer for a certain number of minutes and then read without distraction for that amount of time. That way it won't feel like it is never ending and you can track your progress.
Obviously not all of these will be for everyone and some of these are too hard for people with ADHD or serious attention issues, but they are a good place to start!
I hope that helps đź’•
Seems like the silliest question ever but every idea I have seems so unoriginal. Do you tips or exercises to get the creativity going?
I do! I have plenty of pep-talks and resources for this sort of thing, so I’ve organized them here by method (prompts/playlists/advice/inspiration/etc)
Articles
Coming Up With Scene Ideas
Coming Up With “Original” Ideas
How To Turn A Good Idea Into A Good Story
How To Motivate Yourself To Write
Reasons To Improve Your Lifestyle
Tips & Advice for Aspiring Authors, Writers, and Poets
Healthy Forms of Motivation
How To Have A Productive Mindset
How To Fall In Love With Writing
Writing Through Mental Health Struggles
Why “Burnout” Is Oay - The Creative Cycle
How To Actually Get Writing Done
Playlists
Things To Listen To When You’re Working
Classical & Instrumental
Ambient
Sad Scenes
Chase Scenes
Epic Scenes
Fight Scenes
Angst Scenes
Fun Montage Scenes
Climax Scenes
Calm Scenes
Resolution Scenes
Romantic Scenes
Action Scenes
Science Fiction
Our Day Will Come
Contemporary Poetry
MORE
Prompts, Prompt Lists, & Writing Challenges
Dark Quotes & Prompts
Challenges For Different Types of Writers | Part II
Angst Prompts
31 Days of Prompts : January 2018 Writing Challenge
20 Sentence Story Prompt
Dramatic Prompts
Suspenseful Prompts
Sad Prompts
Romantic Prompts
31 Days of Horror : October 2019 Writing Challenge
31 Days of Fantasy - December 2020 Writing Challenge
Fake Relationship Alternate Universe Prompts
Assassin Alternate Universe Prompts
Soulmates Alternate Universe Prompts
Advice & Pep-Talks
Restarting Your Writing Passion
On Hating Your Old Stuff
Depression As An Inhibitor
Dear Writers Who Are Hesitant To Start Writing
“All First Drafts Are Crap” – My Thoughts
Getting Back To Writing After A Long Hiatus
Wanting To Finish A Story You’ve Fallen Out of Love With
Getting Motivated To Write
Getting Burnt Out Near The Finish Line
–
Masterlist | WIP Blog
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Ever since I took a class on material culture and the significance of things and objects in our lives, I’ve started taking note of relevant readings I come across. For those interested, below is a partial list:
Objects of Despair: Inspired by Roland Barthes, Meghan O’Gieblyn’s monthly column examines contemporary artifacts and the mythologies we have built around them.
Fake Meat | Mirrors | Mars | Drones | The 10,000-Year Clock
Concrete: The Most Destructive Material on Earth (more on The Guardian’s “Concrete Week”)
The Unfortunate Fate of Childhood Dolls by Rainer Maria Rilke
AirPods Are a Tragedy
Thinging the Real: On Bill Brown’s “Other Things”
Sum Effects: “Personal or real, tangible or intangible, durable, hard, soft, consumable, or perishable: my grandmother owned none of it. Goldyne Alter died with no possessions.”
A janitor rescued migrants’ possessions from a border facility’s trash. Now they’re art.
Evocative Objects: Things We Think With, ed. by Sherry Turkle
Friendly Floatees
Great Pacific garbage patch
Plastic: an autobiography by Allison Cobb
Curating the Anthropocene: “Imagine a future archeologist on a dig in what was once downtown Los Angeles, excavating, exposing layers of history, like the paleontologists at the La Brea Tar Pits are doing today, finding bones of saber-toothed cats, mammoth, and dire wolves. What does the archeologist of the future find?”
anyone can make a zine, regardless of skill level or access to materials or design programs. all you need is paper, scissors and drawing utensils (although many people enjoy collaging!) web search "8 page 1 sheet zine how to".
everyone SHOULD make a zine too, you will feel so good about it ♡ it's about putting the power of production into the hands of the people! also you don't have to sell it or anything, you can just make one for yourself or trade/give some to friends!
i really love julia grofrer's guide to analogue self publishing aka making zines on 8.5x11 paper
and jaydragon/jdragsky's thread on staple's self serve print centres (if you're area does not have a local print shop, they probably have a staples or fedex print centre)
if you can't draw, here is twitter thread for public domain art and also a mini summary of when thing enter creative commons (generally 70 years after artist death in the US and CAD)
i also have a DIY zine page on my art blog that i am dedicated to updating as i find more resources! (not accessible through tumblr mobile app, mobile friendly, just open the link in a browser)
go make some zines!!!
Even if you're not the target demographic, please share for any of your friends who may be.
And if you or someone you know would like to be added to the list, there's a place for that!
hey, generally speaking i am pro-pirating but there is post going around with a free version of Maus by Art Spiegelman on a google doc and i am genuinely asking you all to not reblog it. Art Spiegelman is still alive. he still makes money off of Maus. and what is being monetized is his generational trauma as the son of a holocaust survivor. please either buy Maus or get it from the library (libraries also benefit the author and when more people request or check out a book it communicates to the library that they need more copies). pirating Maus is very different than pirating a marvel movie or reading a google doc of a book no longer in print. please use critical thinking.
some PDFs you might find useful:
- The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
- Coping with Trauma-Related Dissociation by Suzette Boon
- Trauma and Recovery by Judith L. Herman
- Toxic Parents by Susan Forward
- Depressed and Anxious by Thomas Marra
- You Can’t Just Snap Out Of It: The Real Path to Recovery From Psychological Trauma by J. Douglas Bremner
- Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson
- The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook by G lenn R. Schiraldi, Ph.D.
- Why Does He Do That by Lundy Bancroft
disclaimer: I have not necessarily read all of these or agree with everything within them I’m just making them available. What I find useful is not always what you will find useful. Take your time when reading because healing is not something you can rush.
wake tf up right now. arent you sick of not feeling how you want to feel??? not looking how you want to look??? not being who you want to be? WAKE UP. stop complaining, stop complaining about not seeing movement about things not going your way etc. its okay to be in unfavourable circumstances, that's not your fault. but you have control. you have the power to change them in an instant. so get up and start acting like the most powerful person in the universe yk why? because YOU ARE. stop being like "oh nooo i'll wait till a full moon i'll do it tomorrow" shut your goofy ass up time isnt an excuse to not have your dream life. so youre here now and you're thinking, "what do i do?" what have you learnt??? AFFIRM AND PERSIST. do what makes you feel fulfilled and trust that you're doing everything right. even if youre doubtful keep persisting.
loass sayings that make it click for me
your subconscious doesn't have eyes.
the 3d is a mirror. your thoughts must move in order for the 3d to move.
manifesting is instant. the moment you decide that it's yours, it is. the 3d has no choice but to conform to your desires.
the only thing stopping you is you.
if you want it, you can have it.
what are you waiting for? start acting like you have everything you want. no limitations!