Overcast, cold and damp today. Nine hours in bed, two hours sleep lost. I felt refreshed and clear headed when I got up. The unavoidable soporific light headed impact from taking the meds took longer to affect me however. When the toxic effect did arrive, it stayed for much longer, eight hours despite having plenty of physical energy. I wonder what's different from usual?
After breakfast, I habitually look at my Google news feed scanning for items of interest worth reading. There are ads to ignore, reputable news and opinion sources to check out. In recent months I've noticed an increase in the number of attention grabbing headlines on a range of issues, including science, technology, history and archaeology. The content is a rehash of stuff from other news sites.
These websites often have odd and lengthy names and links to single issue stories with eye-catching titles based on what Google algorithms decide from your search history you're interested in. Many of them are irrelevant to the home page headline, often the articles are about how celebrities look and behave.
These are click-bait stories, generating revenue for the site owner, even if you don't continue reading the content once you realise what they are. Several of these attention grabbing sites appear during the week, and I remove them immediately on finding them to hinder sites from loading that are AI generated. An algorithm which spots you've visited one of these sites, will soon start pitching additional links to similar 'interest' stories. These build up and clog your news feed, consuming more time, scanning for articles from credible sources. I make a habit of spotting these dubious website titles and dismiss them as suggestions I'm not interested in. It's like clearing weeds from a pond. Or should I say toxic algae?
Malware can so easily hide itself in this complex maze of links to sneak on to your computer or phone. Google already makes money by trawling through your search history to build a personal profile for bombarding you with profitable marketing ads. 'Data mining' as it's being called, acquires information of every kind, true or false, honest or deceitful, which AI applications process and come up with 'digital slop' to confuse, waste time and energy, adding to the world's carbon footprint. All this as we reach a tipping point in environmental stability due to global heating.
With my brain working slowly due to the meds, it was an effort to prepare next Wednesday's Morning Prayer text, ready to record and edit, which I eventually did after lunch. Many routine tasks I will do automatically and then forget what I've done. Distracted by other things I lose track, and have to check if I really did them.
I put tomorrow's twice a day pills in a special box. One at breakfast and one at supper. Checking is easy unless routine meal times are disrupted. I wear my fitbit smart watch on my right wrist but the strap is unpleasant and makes my skin sore if worn too tight or for longer than a day. Perspiration can dry on the strap and irritate the skin if I forget to clean it and sweat a lot. Then I swap the strap to my left wrist to allow the skin to recover, and forget I've done so. I habitually look for the watch on my right wrist, and when I don't see it, I'm surprised and wonder what happened to it before checking my left wrist. My brain simply doesn't work fast enough to close the gap between noticing and realising what I look at or look for. It's worse when I'm tired and feeling drugged.
It was only drizzling when I set out for a walk at three, but the rain got heavier driven by violent gusts of wind, making the trees roar unnervingly loud. I got soaked, and had to return home to change trousers shoes and socks. The rain stopped so I went out again as the crescent moon appeared above the horizon, not long after sunset, and walked for another forty minutes until it was completely dark.
I spent the evening thinking about workarounds for slow memory. It's not as if I completely forget things past or recent like Clare, it just means remembering is a fragmented process. As I've said before, it's like piecing together a jigsaw. That's why I make the effort to write up the day before heading for bed. Tonight, mental fatigue is slowing me down even more. Time to turn in for the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment