I'll be writing more focused academic posts shortly, but I wanted to take a moment to think about both the plans I had for watching General Conference, what they turned in to, and what we talked about in our last class period.
My Original Plan
I was excited because I was finally feeling like there was going to be a conference weekend where I wasn't stressed out about all the things I needed to do and I could really just focus and listen. Because as we all know, although conference only takes up about 4 hours a day, it really somehow takes up the entire day. Don't ask me how.
The Altered Plan
As the week led up to this conference weekend, I started to realize that I was going to be a lot more busy that I thought, as usual. I have some projects for work that I need to finish, and I have plenty of homework that I didn't realize existed (for all of my classes). I was annoyed. Because I was going to feel the Spirit, danggit! (Great attitude, I know.)
The Class That Gave Me a Difference Perspective on the Plan
Then in class we talked about all of the different things people do with technology during conference weekend. Some people tweet fairly constantly; some people take online collaborative notes. While at first it may seem as though all of this is distracting, I don't think it has to be. It's easy to get lost in eight hours of talks . . . or fall asleep (Sunday afternoon session, I'm looking at you). I've found that sometimes I actually get more out of talks by multi-tasking: I don't think I've ever looked at my conference notes after conference. They're more just something for my hands to do so that my mind can focus on the words.
So today I'll be listening to conference while baking rolls and designing some things for work with the help of my good friend, Adobe InDesign. And you know what? I think I'll actually get more out of it than if I sat on the comfortable couch with my fuzzy blanket and eyes on the TV screen.
I have also noticed that it's easier for me to focus on things when I am multitasking. I sometimes do Sudoku puzzles in the bigger, auditorium classes. They actually help me to focus better on the lecture and prevent my mind from wandering. I can't, however, look at things on the internet and still pay attention. That's the wrong kind of distraction, I guess. :)
ReplyDeleteI think for me it's the opposite. I can focus while I'm multitasking if I have to, but when I care about paying attention to something, I like to give it my full attention.
ReplyDeleteThis actually goes along with what I was thinking of posting about today. I was looking at the hashtag feed for #ldsconf and I've never done that before. Usually I'm just sitting there and taking notes. But I realized that I could catch quotes from people's tweets that maybe didn't catch my attention right away. Seeing a quote got be focused again. To each his own, I guess. I can see though how good types of multitasking can help instead of distract.
ReplyDeletePersonally, it depends on my time of life! Before my mission, I HAD to have a jigsaw puzzle as well as notes or else I'd be desperately bored. During my mission, I learned to treat conference like church, sitting in a pew with ears peeled for anything from the Lord for me and/or the people I was working with. Since, I find the puzzle somewhat distracting. Today I was drenched in the content - more about that in the blog post I'm about to write - but it was still a little much. I'm still trying to find a best way to watch conference post-mission. :)
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