I/O Time, Core Time, Plug-Out Time

For many years I felt information/stimulus swamped and world-weary. Over the past few months I have discovered a solution.

I have learnt to parcel my waking hours into three kinds of time.

I/O Time is when I consume media or communicate with others.

Core Time is when I switch of all input and output channels and put myself in a ring-fenced processing mode.

Plug-Out Time is when not just all input-output channels but all processing is sought to be shut or at least minimized.

The reason why I used to feel swamped and weary, I now realize, was that by and large all my waking time used to be I/O Time. Watching, Reading, Listening, Browsing, Talking, Meeting, Presenting, Writing and so on.

Now I make sure 30% or so of my time is Core Time. And I find that not only do I now have a better angle of repose but the productivity and effectiveness of my I/O Time has measurably increased.

Plug-Out time is a state of being when you are ‘just hanging out with yourself”.

Many of us take classes to learn to meditate and then practice it hard and long. I now realize that trying is not meditating.

Trying nothing, being nothing, in other words being plugged-out is meditating. Mantras, breathing techniques, solitude etc. help but are not necessary. I know now that one can be plugged out, eyes wide open, waiting in a crowded airport lounge.

And sleep. What kind of time is that? Sleep time I cannot categorize. All I know is that I now sleep better with the three-way balance back in my waking time.

Brevity, Interactivity, 'Virality'

The enduring image of our times is the traffic jam.
However the jam is not just on our roads.
It is also in our minds.
It is not just that we are being bombarded with more and more messages.
It is also that the mainstream media all use the same few "thought-ways".
The resultant jam is why mass media and mass advertising are both going the way of the dinosaurs.
And a new paradigm of communication effectiveness is being forged.
It should not be surprising that this new paradigm is most visible in new media like Web 2.0.
The mantra of this new effectiveness is: Brevity, Interactivity and 'Virality'.
Brevity is putting the message on a nimble two-wheeler instead of a bulky truck. It avoids roadblocks and negotiates jams better.
Interactivity motivates the receiver to take the message for a drive down the open roads and side-streets of her mind. And perhaps even off the road, free-ranging the countryside and forests of her sub-conscious.
"Virality" is when the receiver likes the message so much that she introduces it to close friends that she meets on those unclogged free ways of her mind.
The new media is creating a new media structure built on the principles of "many to many" instead of "one to many".
And "one to many" will be rescued from the depredations of mass media and go back to becoming the sole preserve of genius. A Shakespeare, a Kalidas, a Mozart, a Picasso or a Fellini will communicate with mind-blowing impact, whatever the age, whatever the paradigm.