The Life-Changing Magic of Intentional Ignorance

[Ultralight]

Thoughts on this idea?

http://www.sarahvonbargen.com/small-business-advice/intentional-ignorance/

[freshstart]

did it with FB when I became sick, could not handle the deluge of everyone needing to know "what's wrong with her?", the people who I wanted to know back then were told. If I wanted some woman in Texas I will never meet but we've been in a mommy group for 15 yrs to know, I would tell her.

but besides that, I became ignorant of the lives of everyone else. Again, my closest friends and family, I already know this stuff. I do miss updates of others I care about but not enough to go on every day and plow through. I cut my friends list in half and I go on once a month to ask how everyone is and answer the inevitable "how are you?" and that's working. 15-30 mins a month. I have two tech friends, whose every posts shows up in my email, I have an exception for them, because I learn a lot from the things they post.

i have one message board of a small group of close knit friends, I cut back on that, too. Once a month, unless I am messaged.

I thought being stuck home all the time would make me yearn for social media content, the opposite occurred and I like it that way.

I have also cut way back on news feeds and that has felt good but not sure that is a good idea for someone with memory issues, I think I should be forcing a tolerable amount of news from one trusted source (BBC or similar) daily. Working on this. This is the least politically informed I have been since the bug hit in the 6th gr.

[SteveinMN]

I've practiced this (unintentionally) for years.

The last couple of times I returned to work after a 2- or 3-week vacation, I committed "email bankruptcy" and deleted just about every email after a quick scan of the title. Gone. If one of them was important, they'd get back to me.

I've cut way back on RSS feeds and Live Bookmarks for feeds which sometimes aren't updated for weeks or months. Most blog software will let you receive an email when something new is posted; much easier to deal with that than to check the blog every couple of days wondering if something new has been posted.

I've even cut back on email sources which interest me, if they are too prolific. Unfortunately, it seems, many companies believe email has two settings: "firehose" and "unsubcribed". I do not need to hear three times a week from the company at which I just bought one cheap item. But there's rarely a setting for fewer emails. So I just cut 'em off. Don't send me anything.

Similarly, I subscribe to some forums for software products I use (tips, bugs, etc.). If I haven't had a chance to look at them for a while, I just dump the individual email threads. They're archived in the group (Yahoo Group, etc.); if I need help with something I'm working on, I know where to look.

It does help me manage time better.

[Gardenarian]

I don't watch/listen to news shows; I get my news from our friendly little local paper.
I try to keep my personal email box empty (I have a History file for emails I want to keep.) I only check my work email when I am at work, and my professional organizations all have that email address.
I don't keep an RSS feed.

Maybe it's because I'm older, but I don't feel it's necessary to know or respond to every little blip that comes along.
If something is really going to effect my life, home, family, or work, I'll probably know about it before it gets tweeted or facebooked or whatever by anyone else.

We create our own reality - though I do like to check the weather forecast now and then :)

[Williamsmith]

I don't have to be intentionally ignorant....it comes naturally. My heroes have always been those who chose to live life in the slow lane, without modern convenience or high technology. A nature writer from my home county who lived in a stone house on the mountain with his wife and hunting dog. He spent some time with his wife in Iceland living in a small cottage on the shore. It was a bleak existence but he learned a lot about himself and reliance on strangers.

Technology is is not expanding linearly, it is expanding exponetionaly. , Some day and soon our little techno machines will be able to process information and create scenarios faster than the human mind. And they will be small enough to be almost microscopic.

My sense of ignorance began when I developed a hatred of reading on kindle, iPad, nook etc. I love books. There is a natural delay built into a book between when it became relevant and when it was printed and now being read. I like that delay and in fact I like reading older books.

I also believe it is important to use all your resources to answer a problem before you go to google. But must admit, if you want to solve the problem quickly, enlist all the techno minds in the world and Google it.

There are a lot of conditions in this world that I also must admit ignorance is bliss.

[Ultralight]

My heroes have always been those who chose to live life in the slow lane, without modern convenience or high technology.

Then you chose your heroes well!

[ToomuchStuff]

It was a lot different then I figured it was going to be. I figured this was about choosing to be ignorant on some subject because one wasn't emotionally ready to deal with it. That could be anything from estate work of a loved one, to religion.

To me, this is no more then the phrase, opting out.
For example, I have an email address, that is used for ANY signups, that I MIGHT be interested in. This included fliers from places I have shopped.
Doesn't mean I always check the email. Sometimes I have let it go for a while, then open it, just to delete all the unread messages, so the box doesn't fill up.
Think the hippies in the 60's has a similar thing/saying: Turn on, tune in, drop out.

[freshstart]

this thread reminds me of one of my fav John Prine songs:

We blew up our TV, threw away our paper
Went to the country, built us a home
Had a lot of children, fed 'em on peaches
They all found Jesus on their own