Well you know I'm going to have a comment on your last section about vinyl records, having just converted back and now rebuilding my record collection for my new turntable.
Obviously all of the things that people have already said about vinyl. That it reclaims our ability to truly appreciate music presented in an album format in the way it was originally intended. That it's more tactile, more substantive, more human. It has definitely changed. The way I listen to music. Made me more thoughtful, more mindful, more appreciative. And that's from someone for whom music is my life anyway.
But the thing that I haven't seen mentioned a lot that might be interesting here is that as somebody who struggles to reclaim my focus and attention span, I've been using the need to turn the record over as a bit of the Pomodoro Technique. The length of a record side is approximately the same amount of time that it's recommended that We focus without distraction before taking a 5 minute break. The 5 minute break is just long enough to turn and clean the next side of the album or to select a new record.
The one downside to this is it is still multitasking and it is still backgrounding music that deserves to be foregrounded. But I do plenty of that too. Baby steps.
I find if I limit my distraction only to getting up when the side of the album finishes, changing it, grabbing a new cup of tea, and returning to work, it creates a beautiful, almost monastic rhythm to my work.
The treasure available to us by spinning a piece of wax around and around... True magic.
I also meant to add, the virtue of using the end of a record as the signal for a break is that it is a soft interruption. It's not a timer or an alarm. So it breaks focus in the same way that a loved one gently brushing your cheek to wake you up from a nap does. Which in turn makes it easier to return to focus after flipping the record.
That's true. When writing, my natural focus is longer than a record side but the interruption is not at all intrusive like, say, someone talking to me or Michael still awake at 10:30pm.
Are you going to make me micro read fiction???
I may put it in front of you, but I can't force you to read.
Well you know I'm going to have a comment on your last section about vinyl records, having just converted back and now rebuilding my record collection for my new turntable.
Obviously all of the things that people have already said about vinyl. That it reclaims our ability to truly appreciate music presented in an album format in the way it was originally intended. That it's more tactile, more substantive, more human. It has definitely changed. The way I listen to music. Made me more thoughtful, more mindful, more appreciative. And that's from someone for whom music is my life anyway.
But the thing that I haven't seen mentioned a lot that might be interesting here is that as somebody who struggles to reclaim my focus and attention span, I've been using the need to turn the record over as a bit of the Pomodoro Technique. The length of a record side is approximately the same amount of time that it's recommended that We focus without distraction before taking a 5 minute break. The 5 minute break is just long enough to turn and clean the next side of the album or to select a new record.
The one downside to this is it is still multitasking and it is still backgrounding music that deserves to be foregrounded. But I do plenty of that too. Baby steps.
I find if I limit my distraction only to getting up when the side of the album finishes, changing it, grabbing a new cup of tea, and returning to work, it creates a beautiful, almost monastic rhythm to my work.
The treasure available to us by spinning a piece of wax around and around... True magic.
I also meant to add, the virtue of using the end of a record as the signal for a break is that it is a soft interruption. It's not a timer or an alarm. So it breaks focus in the same way that a loved one gently brushing your cheek to wake you up from a nap does. Which in turn makes it easier to return to focus after flipping the record.
That's true. When writing, my natural focus is longer than a record side but the interruption is not at all intrusive like, say, someone talking to me or Michael still awake at 10:30pm.
Right. Which means it's easier to simply ignore it and keep working until you're ready to flip it, without focus breaking