A Better Way to Interpret "Screen Time"
When I first saw this study, I tried to develop ways to hide my phone from myself:
"The Mere Presence of Your Smartphone Reduces Brain Power"
But Lulie Tanett flipped this around on me.
Of course! Of course it's hard to do boring tasks with the option of something more interesting nearby.
The lesson, according to Lulie, is that we should be focusing on not forcing ourselves to do boring stuff. As she articulates here, relying on self discipline to force oneself to complete boring tasks is a failure, not a virtue. It is a failure to recognize why the task is valuable, which makes it fun. To do boring stuff is to be confused.
This informs the entire discussion about "screen time." We should stop thinking about screens as stealing our attention away from what matters, and instead think about screen use as an indicator of confusion. When we are staring at cat videos on our phone instead of focusing on "our work," it indicates that we are unclear why our work is important and interesting. The screen doesn't cause this confusion, it identifies it.
Lulie's conclusion is profound - "Life doesn't have to be mediocre."
Here you have this one short, precious life. The screen time scolds would have you think you're supposed to spend a lot of that time forcing yourself to do things you don't want to do. Key to this enterprise is avoiding distractions (ie things you WANT to do). But what if you spent your time exclusively on things that are amazing? Then there'd be no way to distract you because you'd be absorbed in amazingness.*
So what do you prefer, consigning yourself to boring stuff without distraction, or enjoying amazing stuff that renders you impervious to distraction? What would you recommend to a young person?
Yes, it's important to hold down a job and put food on the table. But that doesn't have to be drudgery - the opportunity to participate in a society of humans on the surface of a rocky planet with a stable atmosphere, to simply possess and experience subjectivity itself is nothing short of astonishing. The challenge of working a dull job is not forcing yourself not to get distracted, it's remembering why life is amazing.
* You might think that being absorbed in amazingness is a lazy, hedonic way out. But it's pretty hard to get truly engrossed in something for a long period of time that isn't productive. Indulging in simple pleasures quickly leads to ennui.
"The Mere Presence of Your Smartphone Reduces Brain Power"
But Lulie Tanett flipped this around on me.
Study finds that people prefer to do other things with their time than complete boring tasks:https://t.co/i8EQmuDLcc— Lulie (@reasonisfun) July 16, 2019
Of course! Of course it's hard to do boring tasks with the option of something more interesting nearby.
The lesson, according to Lulie, is that we should be focusing on not forcing ourselves to do boring stuff. As she articulates here, relying on self discipline to force oneself to complete boring tasks is a failure, not a virtue. It is a failure to recognize why the task is valuable, which makes it fun. To do boring stuff is to be confused.
This informs the entire discussion about "screen time." We should stop thinking about screens as stealing our attention away from what matters, and instead think about screen use as an indicator of confusion. When we are staring at cat videos on our phone instead of focusing on "our work," it indicates that we are unclear why our work is important and interesting. The screen doesn't cause this confusion, it identifies it.
Lulie's conclusion is profound - "Life doesn't have to be mediocre."
Here you have this one short, precious life. The screen time scolds would have you think you're supposed to spend a lot of that time forcing yourself to do things you don't want to do. Key to this enterprise is avoiding distractions (ie things you WANT to do). But what if you spent your time exclusively on things that are amazing? Then there'd be no way to distract you because you'd be absorbed in amazingness.*
So what do you prefer, consigning yourself to boring stuff without distraction, or enjoying amazing stuff that renders you impervious to distraction? What would you recommend to a young person?
Yes, it's important to hold down a job and put food on the table. But that doesn't have to be drudgery - the opportunity to participate in a society of humans on the surface of a rocky planet with a stable atmosphere, to simply possess and experience subjectivity itself is nothing short of astonishing. The challenge of working a dull job is not forcing yourself not to get distracted, it's remembering why life is amazing.
* You might think that being absorbed in amazingness is a lazy, hedonic way out. But it's pretty hard to get truly engrossed in something for a long period of time that isn't productive. Indulging in simple pleasures quickly leads to ennui.
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