Sunday, August 1, 2021

Dabbling or Commitment in a time of browsing

All my life I’ve been a novice of many things -- at this point, I’m kind of like a master novice.

That statement, while actually quite true, was simply a quip I posted on social media recently. And the amusing thing about my thought was that while I was acknowledging and commenting on the pinball-like nature of my interests over the years I was, at the same time, reading a book about the contrary idea of commitment and dedication.

Pete Davis is a civic advocate who recently published with Simon & Schuster his first book Dedicated: the Case for Commitment in an age of Infinite Browsing. Davis has researched and is now commenting on the flitty nature of contemporary society which has been channel surfing for a few decades, and now spends endless hours scrolling. And, full disclosure, I sort of skimmed Pete's book .... because I had about three other books I was reading concurrently. 

I know. I know.

Pete may be onto something with his case for being more dedicated to fewer things with our attention spans. I know that I would like to commit more to my goals of playing the piano proficiently, drawing and painting adequately, re-learning my high school French competently, and a cultivating a few other lifestyle-oriented activities. So far my commitment to these activities has been a bit thin. But there's always tomorrow.

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