There’s severely diminishing returns to time spent on Facebook and other social media. I don’t entirely understand the phenomenon but this is what I’ve observed: If I’ve set out to write a vomit, or anything else really, and I get on Facebook for more than 3-5 minutes or so, my mind ‘state’ changes and I become much less likely to be able to write. I lose my ‘flow’.
Exceptions are of course when I get into a passionate discussion or argument on Facebook, but these aren’t always in line with what I want to be working on. These are the interesting detours that DO expand my mind and refine my thinking as time passes, but it isn’t necessarily the next way of doing things.
What I’m really curious about is- how exactly does this work? I’d like to test a hypothesis- if I respond to my ‘this is hard/overwhelming’ trigger with taking a walk, sitting down away from the computer or playing a little guitar, I bet that it wouldn’t mess up my focus/flow so badly. There’s something about the reactive nature of Facebook and other social media that makes it harder to focus.
I saw an article that I haven’t read about how Facebook is addictive because it’s designed (intentionally or otherwise) to get our brains off in a way that’s evolutionarily very familiar. There’s something about getting information from other people about their lives that’s highly addictive, and perhaps stems from some impulse that social creatures have. I wonder if monkeys would love to scroll through pictures of other monkeys.
But lately I’ve been experiencing a sort of Facebook fatigue- it kind of feels like when you’ve been smoking too much and your nose and throat hurt… There’s definitely an element of addiction or overuse, and I think a part of my mind is protesting- something has been keeping me from doing my best work.
I’m noticing the opposite effect with my word vomits. When I write on the train on the way to work- which I’m doing right now- I experience a certain refinement and clarity of thought. This is the opposite of what I experience with Facebook, which has a dithering, scattering, diffusing effect. Vomits are like caffeine and Facebook is like alcohol. I’m not sure if it’s possible to “over vomit”, though. I think maybe vomits are closer to exercise and Facebook is closer to masturbation. I’m not knocking on Facebook, I think it can be really useful and you can learn a lot about yourself and about others and there are all sorts of benefits but it cannot and should not distract from doing creative, productive work!
I was watching an interview yesterday, a conversation between Tim Ferriss and Neil Strauss. It was an hour long, and as with most such long videos, it’s hard if not impossible to find transcripts and good analysis/commentary online. I imagine I could get quite a lot done if I just wrote commentary on long videos. There’s a long video about the GEP in Singapore. There’s a long video about Singaporean politics by political professors, and it was filmed in some Australian university and there were barely a hundred views if I remember correctly. It’s always sad when you see a super long video with no transcript and barely any views. Same for books and blogposts. (These vomits technically fall under that category, but I write these for myself, not for public consumption, and I do plan to perhaps condense and crystalize my thoughts at a later date. This is like the first draft of a large project that I don’t even know anything about).
It’s funny again to think about the mental states- when I write things like this I find myself thinking, man, there’s so much I need to do. But this isn’t a consistent experience. It needs to be renewed everyday- and I’m doing that now with these vomits so Yay me. If my hypothesis is correct, just doing these vomits everyday should keep me a little more on track, a little more in line with my goals. We shall see.
Halfway to work. Just missed my connecting train. My body is quite nicely sore from the remedial training I had yesterday. I wonder if yesterday’s post on the way home hit my 1000 word target. I’m going to pause to clear my mind.
Got it. So the Ferriss/Strauss video again- Strauss talked about the importance of always assuming that nobody is interested in what you have to say, and that your job with each and every word, sentence and paragraph is to make them care- to earn their interest, to wrench their precious attention from them. This is incredibly hard work! It involves being really ruthless with yourself- you’ll have to kill your babies. But if you’re serious about engaging people then it’s what you’re going to have to do.
Which brings me to some fun abstract thoughts about reality and reality-distortion. Steve Jobs was described as having a reality-distortion field that allowed him to make things that didn’t previously exist. This applies to lots of founders, CEOs, entrepreneurs throughout the ages, even artists and writers and musicians- how do you seriously have faith in the value of something that does not yet exist? How do you believe in your vision for reality, for the future?
That’s a gold star question in my book. How do you make something, and before you make it, know that it will resonate with people? Consider Ford’s faster horses vs. automobile argument. How did he know he wasn’t full of shit? I’m thinking now of what somebody said- might’ve been Paul Graham- about how the best ideas (for massive success) are the good ideas that look like bad ideas.
Is massive success something that you can or should deliberately aim for? I think that idea is a distraction that appeals to the lizard brain- the lottery ticket. All we can deliberately aim for is to regularly and consistently put out great ass-kicking work. A constant refinement of self. You can’t control the world but you can control yourself.
I believe this is where Elon Musk’s First Principles come in (I have no idea what I’m talking about yet). There are many things you have no idea about- you don’t even have an idea of what you have no idea about. But if you develop a deep knowledge of the things you care about then you are in a better position, statistically, to end up doing something great. So it’s a lot like poker (though surely far more complex). You have to keep progressively getting yourself into a better and better position, with the right skillset and the right opportunities.
The large social events are typically a waste of time, in my humble opinion. Clubbing is outright lame. Small groups of conversations are where they’re at. 5-8 people. This can probably be done systematically, to great success. I don’t know. We’ll see.
Getting a little sleepy and yawn-y. I wonder why. I had pretty decent sleep last night.
On top of Facebook fatigue I’ve been developing a current affairs fatigue. I find myself turned off by the news cycle. I think I should take some time to reacquaint myself with stuff that’s more permanent and lasting, read up some Seneca and Montaigne or some of my books on my shelf.
I am not tired, I have no time to be tired. Today shall be a good day. Will calendar. (My way of ‘what gets measured gets managed’). Have not been calendaring. Hypothesis is that calendaring should improve my self-management just as much as my vomits, if not more. We shall see.
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