Dr. Cal Newport on quitting Social Media
“...if you treat your attention with respect, so you don’t fragment it, you allow it to stay whole, you preserve your ability to concentrate, when it comes time to work you can actually do one thing after another and do it with intensity. And intensity can be traded for time. ”
Ya see!? You slimy fools…you thought I was going to give up on the whole ‘oh social media is ruining lives’ rant, didn’t you?
Ok, jokes aside, I stumbled upon this old TED Talk (thanks YouTube algorithm you the real MVP). Drastic title aside, it’s just brilliant and even more fucking relevant now than when it was published 5-years ago (but seriously, who the fuck still stands with one thumb in their pocket — mate, this isn’t a rodeo convention, it’s a TED talk…)
My two main take-aways are:
Social Media is a form entertainment — it’s that simple. It’s pulling the metaphorical slot machine in your mind in search of a dopamine rush.
One of the most common objections to quitting or using less of social media is that in todays age it will harm your business. Dead wrong according to Mr. Thumb in Pants Guy. The Market (yes, capital M for mother-fucking Market) rewards things that are both rare and valuable — anything that a six-year old can do on a phone is not rare and valuable. Your ability to maintain focus and attention is whats priceless — in other words, doing deep work.
Redefining Addiction with Johann Hari and Joe Rogan
I’ve exhausted all of my creative writing energy from the previous post about Mr. Thumb in Pants Guy, so I’ll keep this compact….WOW!!!!! Just fucking wow…
Johann Hari has written a new book on addiction and how we should reconsider the consequences of drug use and the laws behind them. It’s brilliantly backed with hard science and case studies.
Main take-away: if addiction were as simple as, ‘ oh, you take Heroine NOW YOU’RE FUCKED’ then we all would be in the shutter and addicted to substances. In fact, most of us when going to the hospital have been prescribed high doses of Heroine. Why are we not addicts? Simple, we have most of our basic needs met, have a sense of community, etc etc etc. Addiction is a human condition — not a drug condition.
Let me know what you think, I really enjoyed the talk.
Quote I’m Contemplating
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”
This was actually from a previous blog post, read it here.
As always, thanks for indulging. If you enjoyed this, please subscribe to my mailing list. So much love. Have an awesome day.