Beware Of Unconscious Distraction !!

A couple of weekends back, I knocked off three hours of watching four episodes of a TV show on Netflix. It wasn’t in my weekend plans to watch this show. It just happened.

It was a riveting suspense thriller. Every episode left me on edge, enticing me to watch the next one unconsciously. If not for a voice in my head that kept reminding me about other important priorities that needed my attention, I would have continued for another six or eight hours.

After about three hours of binge-watching, I managed to pull myself away from the digital distraction just as the regret of wasting my time set in.

All fun activities that don’t require any effort have this characteristic. They activate the dopamine in your head and create a feeling of well-being in the moment of indulgence. However, after the distraction has passed, these no-effort fun activities create a hangover of negative emotions – guilt for wasting your time and stress over not finishing the important work you put off.

It wouldn’t have been a problem for me to spend time watching programs like this if I had planned ahead. If I had done so, the entire activity would have been conscious.

One should be wary of unconscious distraction because it takes away focus and time from valuable matters.

Unfortunately, I was guilty of unconscious distraction !!