Lu-Hai Liang

On any given day my waking hours might be colonized by the time spent staring at screens. During the working week I might spend hours, in accumulation, looking at a computer screen (my Lenovo Ideapad S210 Touch laptop) or staring down at a mobile screen (my LG G3 smartphone).

It has reached a point where the habit is so routine that I wonder whether my mind is now corroded in its capacity to dwell undistractedly.

You probably know what I’m talking about.

Being a freelance writer I have perhaps more freedom than most to spend time staring. And throughout the day I’ll have my phone close to me, sometimes pausing to look at it, to see whether its tiny beacon of light is shining.

Notifications have become gratification, even when there are none…

WeChat is the app I spend the longest time with. It’s China’s version of WhatsApp, but far superior in its functions and utility. It acts as social portal and work-related messaging platform. It’s a gateway and hub for my personal and professional life.

Facebook is a reflexive distraction, where I’ll pay attention to unimportant and not really very interesting items uploaded by friends and “friends”.

I do feel more distracted.

And work doesn’t help. I don’t spend a day outside doing wholesome, outdoorsy things to compensate. My work also involves staring at screens: it might be writing emails, articles, or researching. I do use pen and paper. But a laptop is required for the business end of completing work and sending it off to clients to make a living.

And then I’ll stare at screens some more in off-work hours.

The reasons are varied for my reliance on screens: work/technology, life in a big city, geography, a freelance life, etc. And there doesn’t seem to be much I can do to be rid of the reliance. What would I do instead of staring at screens? I live in a large, highly urbanized city; I cannot go to the woods or the mountains or the sea. I could instead do more productive things like learning a language, painting, etc. Yes I could be more productive and use my time more usefully. Couldn’t we all?

I am aware of the screen and attention and distraction problem, even as companies like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube et al are increasing their sophistication in hooking and retaining my attention.

For a freelancer like me, when daily life is not structured according to the commute, office, lunch, standard working hours, what can I do?