Howard Hughes and the Culture of Distraction

[greygirlbeast]

Trying to get back into The Red Tree, I spent yesterday reading (and proofreading) Chapter Three. There's no escaping the fact (and I say this again) that this novel needs several more months. Be that as it may, I have this month to finish it. And that's all the time I have to find THE END of The Red Tree. Yesterday, mostly, I was looking for loose threads that I do not wish to remain loose. The murders of 1922-1925, for example, or Sarah's having contacted someone at URI about taking Dr. Harvey's unfinished ms. off her hands. That sort of thing. I sat in a chair in the front parlour while I read, and the sun made me very, very sleepy, and made my eyes burn.

Later, Spooky cajoled me into getting dressed and go with her to the market on the Eastside (to get stuff for chili), then to the Dexter Training Ground to pick up our weekly CSA produce bag. It was chilly and windy out, but not unpleasant. The trees are looking more autumnal. So, yes, I left the house yesterday.

Later still, we watched Rob Minkoff's The Forbidden Kingdom, which we both found quite entirely delightful. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the film comes off a bit like a retelling of The Wizard of Oz, only instead of Oz, we get a mythic version of Medieval China. Jet Li and Jackie Chan are great. Yifei Liu (Golden Sparrow) and Bingbing Li (Ni Chang) are great and hot. Michael Angarano even managed to make a pretty good Dorothy Gale. As Spooky said, "It's a very sweet movie, and there aren't enough sweet movies these days." Indeed. Later, there was World of Warcrack, of course, and Shaharrazad made it to Lvl 14, while Mithwen struggles though the first part of Lvl 23. I am beginning to fear that WoW may actually force players to form groups, in order to advance, and that it's very, very hard to get anywhere as a loner. Which would suck.

Please have a look at the current eBay auctions, which will be ending late this afternoon. Bids are appreciated.

---

So, there's this whole revelation I've had about the Culture of Distraction, as it pertains to the life of an author. It's a very painfully obvious sort of revelation, the sort that I should have had long ago. But I can be slow about these things. We are deluged, as a society, and probably as a planet, with distraction. With the means of easy distraction, easy entertainment, and endless forms of socializing. It pours in via our computers, TVs, cellphones, PlayStations, X-Boxes, iPods, and what have you. There is easily enough here to drown anyone. As it stands, no one ever has to exist in a moment of silence. Solitude is easier to avoid than to find. That greatest of all human fears, greater even than the fear of death —— the fear of being alone —— can be avoided. Oh, everyone is still alone, at the end of the day, but the ceaseless noise is there to make it seem otherwise. There's almost an expectation that one has a duty to engage in electronic social multi-tasking every moment of the day. And how can anyone be alone when you can simultaneously talk on your cellphone, and text talk, and IM, and Twitter (gagh), and yammer on LJ and MySpace and Tribe and Facebook and Skype and what the hell ever? Can't find RL friends or lovers? Well, there's always SL, or cyber on WoW (or so I am told), and aren't surrogates better than nothing at all?

Point is, as an author, I must have solitude. Even though, mostly, it frightens me. I hate the sound of my own mind in the absence of all other sound. It is a dreadful roar. And so, especially over the last year and a half, I have fled into the arms of this plethora of services that help to dampen the noise. It's not so very different than the trouble I've had, on and off, my whole life with pills and alcohol. Something to take the sharp, gleaming edge off being alone with myself. When, in truth, being alone with myself a little more often is exactly what I need. It's what any author must have. It's no good to have a room of one's own, if you then fill it up with unending interaction with Others. Looking at it all now, it sort of horrifies me. This constant need I see for interaction, for contact, for "peer to peer" reassurance. So, I'm withdrawing from the Distraction, and yeah, that was one of many reasons that I bowed out of the Howards End sim (and SL, in general). I'll keep the LJ (and the MySpace account, which is only there to function as a mirror of this journal). I'll play genuine games, like WoW, but I will a) never forget they are only games, and b) I will play them in moderation.

For better or worse, this is what I am, a writer. And so I must sometimes —— often, really —— just sit and stare out the window at the wide carnivorous sky. Or walk along the shore and hear the sea. Or read a book. Or listen to Spooky reading to me. Or stare at the woodgrain of the floor while daydreaming. Or listen to music. Or drift for half an hour in a tub of hot water. Sometimes, I must go for days without any significant contact with other people. I must seek out friends in the "real world," when I have need of the company of friends. "Networking" is a thing I do when I cannot avoid it. I must watch people, whether I like them or not. I must unplug far more often. I must be content with the noise in my head, and stop trying to drown it with the Noise of the World.

Comments

[robyn-ma.livejournal.com]

The Forbidden Kingdom is essentially a good kids' movie, and there isn't enough of that these days either (at least not in live-action). I get the impression some fanboys wanted it to be the baddest-ass thing that ever bad-assed because Jackie Chan and Jet Li are in it, but it was just them doing something goofy and fun and all-ages. Not everything has to be bad-ass. I enjoyed it. It was kind of like watching a kid being trained by Superman and Batman, in martial-arts-movie terms.

[timesygn.livejournal.com]

The Culture of Distraction you identify is a huge problem, and one that prompted me to abandon my own blog (see "Final Entry" of June 5th, 2008).

Before resigning from teaching high-school, I noted a general degredation in the attention spans of my students. It was already bad when I started teaching in '96. But, where the proportion of "special needs" kids making up a class had been perhaps 10%, by the time I left education, it had risen to the point where perhaps 75% of my pupils had trouble focusing for longer than 2 or 3 minutes at a time, required "special" interventions, kid glove treatment, frequent parent conferences, etc. That, combined with the in-class use of laptops and cell-phones (and a tendency toward "glib" communication), made teaching them anything damn near impossible. I attribute all of this to the proliferation of the Culture of Distraction.

A nurse friend of mine noted that she didn't believe in Attention Deficit Disorder. "It's just an adaptation mechanism," she said. "The young are adjusting to a world with more stimulii than the one in which you and I were raised." Fair enough. But it leads to problems for humans accustomed to a certain level of introspection, solitude or a work environment in which Deep Thought can occur.

Booze and drugs are, I think, often an attempt to "create space" for ourselves in a crowded world via artificially-induced oblivion. There are no easy answers. You have my complete understanding and sympathy on this one.

[tactileson.livejournal.com]

On the subject of WoW, it was for that very reason that I had to abandon the game after a couple of years of playing. I played numerous characters, and my highest was a hunter that got to level 40. But I just couldn't allow myself to group with others for long periods of time, which I also fear is the only way to really level up and gain good loot. Some of my random spur of the moment groupings were very fun, others sucked, but I just could never give in to a five or six hour at a time dungeon instance. It's a beautiful and brilliant game, but I had to leave it.

On the subject of distractions, I can relate quite a bit. I unplugged a while back and it felt wonderful. I've since allowed some small things back into my life, a little televison and such, but I was able to really get my head straight and appreciate the whole world around me, and most times without me ranting about the other people who inhabit it. I've given up drinking and some other things for the very reason you stated - because I was feeling as if I was slipping into an abyss where I couldn't even stand to be alone with myself anymore without some kind of distraction. Anyway, I'm glad you've come to this revelation and I hope it brings some inner peace, good writing, and happiness.

Distractions

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

Concentration was not meant to be a difficult skill to acquire; it seems horrifying that it's become so. It seems even more horrifying that it is not a purely generational affliction. It seems universal; clerodendrum ugandense, Substance D. Either you're on it or you never tried it.

The long commutes I have to make are an important, though increasingly expensive time for me to concentrate and create space. I do a horrendous amount of composing in the car, I wish it were not so wasteful a space, but that's what I have.

[kazdreamer.livejournal.com]

I could relate to this post - the second part - so much.

Is it okay to link to it, or post a snippet? The final para is very moving.

[horrorfeminista.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're getting back to The Red Tree. My sister and I can't wait to read this book.

[stsisyphus.livejournal.com]

I am beginning to fear that WoW may actually force players to form groups, in order to advance, and that it's very, very hard to get anywhere as a loner.

I am to understand that this is very much the case after a certain point, which is the overwhelming rationale for starting and joining guilds.

After for Distraction and Contemplation, I was generally surprised that you managed to kick out all the hard work that you do on a daily basis and still had presence of mind to do any sort of RP or world building or just anything but stick your head into a bowl of mutton and groan.

But, perhaps, a writer cannot afford to sink completely inside her own world, but should rather continue to expose herself or at least keep both feet in that outside world. That, unfortunately, may be an issue of the Craft of writing.

no pun intended there, by the by.

[readingthedark.livejournal.com]

My new thing is pretending to pretend. I play video games inside my own head with no controls or gaming systems. It rocks.

More importantly, lovely thoughts in your post, quite rich with interesting details.

[mrs-ralph.livejournal.com]

The resident gamer says you probably won't need to join a group until you reach level 70 when the game starts to focus more on raid instances though your general levelling will require skill equal to your level to keep the game interesting.

I know what you mean about distraction. I don't know if it is because I am a relic of an earlier generation or what but the whole mobile phone, ipod, computer, television thing gets on my nerves occasionally. I have to go hide in the back of the flat for a while when my husband is home on the weekends to get a dose of quiet since he is one of those people who turns on the TV and the computer as soon as he gets up while I tend not to turn anything on until evening. You tend to get where you enjoy the quiet after a while.

[sovay]

I must be content with the noise in my head, and stop trying to drown it with the Noise of the World.

That is beautifully stated.

Also, that is what the sea is for.

this so spoke to me...

[whiskeychick.livejournal.com]

Point is, as an author, I must have solitude. Even though, mostly, it frightens me. I hate the sound of my own mind in the absence of all other sound. It is a dreadful roar. And so, especially over the last year and a half, I have fled into the arms of this plethora of services that help to dampen the noise. It's not so very different than the trouble I've had, on and off, my whole life with pills and alcohol. Something to take the sharp, gleaming edge off being alone with myself. When, in truth, being alone with myself a little more often is exactly what I need. It's what any author must have. It's no good to have a room of one's own, if you then fill it up with unending interaction with Others. Looking at it all now, it sort of horrifies me. This constant need I see for interaction, for contact, for "peer to peer" reassurance. So, I'm withdrawing from the Distraction, and yeah, that was one of many reasons that I bowed out of the Howards End sim (and SL, in general). I'll keep the LJ (and the MySpace account, which is only there to function as a mirror of this journal). I'll play genuine games, like WoW, but I will a) never forget they are only games, and b) I will play them in moderation.

For better or worse, this is what I am, a writer. And so I must sometimes —— often, really —— just sit and stare out the window at the wide carnivorous sky. Or walk along the shore and hear the sea. Or read a book. Or listen to Spooky reading to me. Or stare at the woodgrain of the floor while daydreaming. Or listen to music. Or drift for half an hour in a tub of hot water. Sometimes, I must go for days without any significant contact with other people. I must seek out friends in the "real world," when I have need of the company of friends. "Networking" is a thing I do when I cannot avoid it. I must watch people, whether I like them or not. I must unplug far more often. I must be content with the noise in my head, and stop trying to drown it with the Noise of the World.

thank you for sharing, as always....goes off to stare at the trees in the yard.

[kalamah.livejournal.com]

WoW does require grouping to get ahead (I find it much easier to solo in Everquest 2), so why don't we -- someone reading your blog -- start an Alliance guild on Cenarion Circle? I would, but I don't have enough gold. Sigh. Hopefully, you'll find help, if you want it, with Flaming Fist.

Also, good luck with writing and unplugging. Personally, I love nothing more than sitting and staring off into space as long as time permits. Just me and the cats. Always have, always will.

[kalamah.livejournal.com]

Have you been to Stormwind yet? If not, then:

Craftsmen's Terrace, Darnassus NightElf female, Lysheana

Next, try to get everyone on your friends list (like moi) to meet and sign the charter. You'll have to pick out a tabard design too, so we can all wear one.

www.wowwiki.com/Guild#Starting_a_Guild

[kalamah.livejournal.com]

Add my friend Shadowdawnn. He's most knowledgeable.

[kalamah.livejournal.com]

Oh, and Howards End. May you rest in peace.

[quetzal.livejournal.com]

I hope you don't mind that I'm adding this to my memories. I'll take it off if you like.
What you've said about the Culture of Distraction and related is something I needed to hear, not just for me, but because it pertains to a character (who has been solitary, and is shoved back into the clamorous, unquiet world). I add it so I do not forget, but I'd rather not tread on your toes, if it bothers you. Thank you for saying it.

Forbidden Kingdom was a lovely story. It was rather like a kung-fu version of Wizard of Oz, and that thought made me smile a bit.

In my wanderings through games, I've found that Warcraft does force players to group in order to advance, especially at the higher levels. While this is great for socializing, it's also very frustrating if you end up with a pug (pick-up group) of ... well.. jerks. To be fair, I've had a few pugs that were quite enjoyable, but the potential for disaster is pretty high.
If you're ever interested in it, Warhammer Online is quite geared to the solitary adventurer, with well-done alternatives to forced-group instances. But I mention it only in case you haven't heard of it, not to persuade you to switch games.

If you'll take it, good luck in finding the end of The Red . I hope it springs upon you when you most need it, and that it gives you enough time to poke it with a stick before it's due (no pun intended).