More Thoughts on Solitude
MORE THOUGHTS ON SOLITUDE
Over at fiction writer and fellow Seattle Pacific University M.F.A graduate Ross Gale’s blog he thoughtfully discusses the writer’s need for solitude. Susan Cain’s article about the rise of Group Think published last week in the NYT piqued Ross’s interest and it is worth quoting a few of her words:
“Solitude is out of fashion. Our companies, our schools and our culture are in thrall to an idea I call the New Groupthink, which holds that creativity and achievement come from an oddly gregarious place. Most of us now work in teams, in offices without walls, for managers who prize people skills above all. Lone geniuses are out. Collaboration is in.
But there’s a problem with this view. Research strongly suggests that people are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom from interruption. And the most spectacularly creative people in many fields are often introverted, . . . ” Susan Cain
I have found solitude essential for my life as a physician, artist, and writer. (I am not unmindful that I have chosen three vocations most resistant to groupthink.) The years in the M.F.A. program taught me to value and treasure solitude and the blessings of not having to multi-task. However, in these halcyon days of near 24/7 Internet connectivity, I fear even the rare provision of solitude is not enough.
Today in his blog, James K.A. Smith correctly points out that distraction, in particular the distractions of increased Internet connectivity, requires a new iteration of virtuous habits to combat electronic “sloth.” Smith is ostensibly offering an ironic critique of the software program Freedom. For those not familiar with the program, this ten-dollar product provides the artist or writer a self-imposed time-out by restricting their personal computer’s access to the Internet. And like an errant child leaving his or her room prior to the imposed time, there are consequences for forcing the program to access the Internet before the appointed hour—the writer must reboot the computer.
Smith correctly points out an external restraint like Freedom is no substitute for internal virtue. And while I think developing moral virtue over connectivity and social media is an important good, I would caution against using the benefit of increased productivity, even imaginative artistic ends, as a sufficient reason for Internet discipline.
It is in his last paragraph Smith alludes to a more profound and I think more compelling reason for practicing Internet virtue.
“So in some ways, to call this software “Freedom” is a kind of functional, unwitting Augustinianism. But I doubt its creators–or many of its users–are interested in signing up to be consistent Augustinians (cue young enthusiasm for Ron Paul here). But their willingness to submit to constraint in order to be free might be a backhanded clue to what it takes to be human.” (James K.A. Smith)
Some of my most thoughtful and creative friends have recently restricted their previously exuberant enthusiasm for social media. This was, for most, a utilitarian decision, deciding the gain for their writing or art outweighed any loss. Shortly after making these counter-cultural changes, many friends noted—often with surprise–that opting out or decreasing the time or frequency of their computer use resulted in an increased richness in their relationships with family, friends, and spouse.
I am not a computer Luddite; I use and will continue to use Facebook and Twitter. I depended upon Freedom this last year in order to write my thesis on schedule. But Smith is right to challenge me to discipline my computer habits. I need to do this not because it is the latest new thing in order to become a better writer but because my “willingness to submit to constraint” may actually make me free and more importantly, to be more fully human, more fully the creation God intended.
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