Great thread. My wife tells me the single most impactful thing I can do is to be non reactive to stimulus from interacting with other people as they may be manipulating you in either a good or bad way. Simply try to not react and and act In a manner that has come from your own self. I tend to put credence on her thoughts as she was a professor in psychology at the grand old age of 27 from Cambridge university. Anyway thanks Gurwinder for your thoughts
I'm feeling like Gurwinder's teacher's pet after reading this because the last thing I wrote yesterday was a response to a question asking, "Do smart people actually learn anything from all that reading they do?" In a nutshell, I said, no, not unless they engage the material intellectually and write about it. You have to care enough about what you're reading to find the motivation to write about it. Maya Angelou was once asked what she thought about a breaking event concerning a social justice issue and she responded with a comment that went something like this: "I don't know what I think about most things until I write about it, so it has to be something meaningful to me. I'll let you know after I've written something" That happened in the 1980s and it hit my brain and became lodged forever. I could never be at peace with reading thereafter unless it was subject matter I intended to spend time with intellectually. I note that the person who asked the question as to whether "people actually learn anything from all that reading", well, he NEVER engaged ANYONE in conversation about it. Just posted the question in some kind of smug "Don't I look like an intellectual for asking this question?" way, and then abandoned the ENTIRE conversation. He didn't care about the question he was asking. He just want to appear "smart" for asking. My standard reaction when I notice people doing that is to NEVER engage them again. They're junk dealers.
May 18, 2022·edited May 19, 2022Liked by Gurwinder
Great piece again!
The best way to avoid consuming junk food is to not have it in your house to begin with, rather than relying on your willpower; so the best way to avoid consuming junk information too is to not have it on your device.
Personally, I am not willing to let go of Twitter even though I realize I am inadvertently consuming a lot of junk, so I have to rely on other mental gymnastics. But if nothing else works, get rid of whichever app it is.
People who have done digital detox have spoken well of the experience. You can also do "intermittent fasting" of information!
I like the term intellectual obesity. In the prescriptions section, you missed the most obvious and easiest solution to over-consuming junk: don’t just consume. This is not the same as “just don’t consume”, the road a lot of deliberate or high agency people go down, which is abstaining yourself. The abstention can vary in intensity, from a vague sense of shame after scrolling too much, to a highly rigorous system of disciplined screen limitations. I’ve tried this is varying forms, but I never liked it because it feels like I’m fighting a losing fight against nature.
What I’ve found far more effective is bringing up the baseline of consumption from *just* consuming into something more active. The simplest examples of that are commenting on it, or putting it in a playlist. I think anyone who thinks they scroll too much would benefit from trying for a day to comment something, anything, underneath everything they read (practicing what I preach here). Or, if it’s something like music, to curate it into a list of similar things.
I like the obesity metaphor. Although there's a missed opportunity here to extend the metaphor to include "chewing". Part of what makes junk food bad is not just its addictive nature or lack of nutrient-value, but also that there's less chewing involved in these ultra-processed foods (which then forgoes a host of positive biochemical pathways triggered by taking our time to chew).
Similarly, a quick-fix intellectual diet eschews (excuse the pun) the kind of time and reflective work required to think through, and develop one's own thoughts on, the information that one is exposed to.
Absolutely brilliant writing... i am def going to close my insta, scary how social media works as clickbait in itself and the amount of manipulation is staggering..and if you want to close your acc, you HAVE to use the desktop. They even know with instant gratification psychology which is normal by now, we are even to lazy to use the desktop to close social media accounts..and don't forget when meta tells you to go and follow other people who follow you etc etc. Social media is almost like soft mk ultra in how they gradually push for people's minds to change
May 17, 2022·edited May 17, 2022Liked by Gurwinder
Anger and hatred are indeed very passionate emotions, as passionate as joy and zest yet far easier to invoke and much harder to exhaust. Unsurprisingly, they're often the lifeblood of social media. As you pointed out, headlines are designed to flame bait readers from all factions, consumers of info put out by such journos often espouse a very inciteful and dangerously misinformed outlook on a matter, sparking an equally furious reaction, setting into motion an endless stream of dominoes.
And its precisely for this reason that, when taken to its logical extreme, an unregulated free speech framework morphs into an orthodoxy of ideas guarded by aggressive cancel culture to phase out the cultural dissidents. Much like how an unregulated free market could segue into an exploitative monopoly and neutralise competition in a given industry. Going forward, it'll be interesting how future historians evaluate the current age. An exchange between two guys in an office break room about Reagan during the waning of his Presidency is lost to the nether. But political discussions these days tend to happen in text which has fortified visibility and survivability, ergo should a forgotten exchange between two Twitterati about Trump resurface in say, 2070, merely assessing the transition would be an odd experience, in my opinion.
People used to see the social media metaverse as something alluring and viable largely because it had not had enough time to manifest an end state: it was all about dreams and hopes, potentials and what-ifs, not long term, sober results. Now, we've already entered a period where there has been enough time lapse to broadcast, publish and post not only the "journey," the young-and-hopeful side, but the actual results. And the picture in front of us is not looking very good.
Alors moi là je vais continuer mon livre de Yasha Mounk
Merci de mettre précisément les bons mots sur mes pensées, elles étaient en vrac dans ma tête, et j’ai presque failli me faire prendre par ce réflexe de regarder quelques tweets à la con
It is the first time in history that human beings are so connected (so close), and I think that people feel insecure and afraid, people are anxious to know what is happening out there, every minute; and Social Networks give them that possibility. Many people are afraid, they look at Social Networks to find out if they have become a trend or if something they care about has become a trend, so they consume information only for the purpose of seeking to feel sure that nothing is wrong (as for what their own little world) is happening.
What I am trying to say is that one of the possible reasons why people consume garbage information is because the world today is so connected and that makes people feel that they are part of everything that happens. This made me think (and remind) of the Mercerismo religion boxes (from the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), the people linked in these boxes share the suffering of others.
This is why I get my news for newsletters with sneek peaks (you only click if you find it interesting), you save so much time than scrolling on social media or news apps. I find this substack because of a newsletter that recommends other newsletters!
Thank you for your insight on this and your resent Tic Toc article. I have encountered snippets of such information via different platforms that was unfortunately/hypocritically written as more of a sound bite without much substance. Please keep up the good work!
Very well written,thought provoking article, agree absolutely with u there. My belief is like people are now realising the ill effects of junk food ,one day they will open their eyes too to the disastrous effect of lapping up everything thrown at them under the garb of news.But it might be too late by then.
can factually correction but non-actionable information be included in junk media? I find my twitter timeline to be great but it is very different from my job with potentially little chance of inter-mingling. maybe reading something would trigger me to write a blog one day but its very indirect.
abstaining from it would be huge loss of novelty in my life but would free up time for more interesting projects. shall I get off this twitter feed and shift to one with more focus on backend programming?
Great thread. My wife tells me the single most impactful thing I can do is to be non reactive to stimulus from interacting with other people as they may be manipulating you in either a good or bad way. Simply try to not react and and act In a manner that has come from your own self. I tend to put credence on her thoughts as she was a professor in psychology at the grand old age of 27 from Cambridge university. Anyway thanks Gurwinder for your thoughts
I'm feeling like Gurwinder's teacher's pet after reading this because the last thing I wrote yesterday was a response to a question asking, "Do smart people actually learn anything from all that reading they do?" In a nutshell, I said, no, not unless they engage the material intellectually and write about it. You have to care enough about what you're reading to find the motivation to write about it. Maya Angelou was once asked what she thought about a breaking event concerning a social justice issue and she responded with a comment that went something like this: "I don't know what I think about most things until I write about it, so it has to be something meaningful to me. I'll let you know after I've written something" That happened in the 1980s and it hit my brain and became lodged forever. I could never be at peace with reading thereafter unless it was subject matter I intended to spend time with intellectually. I note that the person who asked the question as to whether "people actually learn anything from all that reading", well, he NEVER engaged ANYONE in conversation about it. Just posted the question in some kind of smug "Don't I look like an intellectual for asking this question?" way, and then abandoned the ENTIRE conversation. He didn't care about the question he was asking. He just want to appear "smart" for asking. My standard reaction when I notice people doing that is to NEVER engage them again. They're junk dealers.
Great piece again!
The best way to avoid consuming junk food is to not have it in your house to begin with, rather than relying on your willpower; so the best way to avoid consuming junk information too is to not have it on your device.
Personally, I am not willing to let go of Twitter even though I realize I am inadvertently consuming a lot of junk, so I have to rely on other mental gymnastics. But if nothing else works, get rid of whichever app it is.
People who have done digital detox have spoken well of the experience. You can also do "intermittent fasting" of information!
I like the term intellectual obesity. In the prescriptions section, you missed the most obvious and easiest solution to over-consuming junk: don’t just consume. This is not the same as “just don’t consume”, the road a lot of deliberate or high agency people go down, which is abstaining yourself. The abstention can vary in intensity, from a vague sense of shame after scrolling too much, to a highly rigorous system of disciplined screen limitations. I’ve tried this is varying forms, but I never liked it because it feels like I’m fighting a losing fight against nature.
What I’ve found far more effective is bringing up the baseline of consumption from *just* consuming into something more active. The simplest examples of that are commenting on it, or putting it in a playlist. I think anyone who thinks they scroll too much would benefit from trying for a day to comment something, anything, underneath everything they read (practicing what I preach here). Or, if it’s something like music, to curate it into a list of similar things.
I like the obesity metaphor. Although there's a missed opportunity here to extend the metaphor to include "chewing". Part of what makes junk food bad is not just its addictive nature or lack of nutrient-value, but also that there's less chewing involved in these ultra-processed foods (which then forgoes a host of positive biochemical pathways triggered by taking our time to chew).
Similarly, a quick-fix intellectual diet eschews (excuse the pun) the kind of time and reflective work required to think through, and develop one's own thoughts on, the information that one is exposed to.
Absolutely brilliant writing... i am def going to close my insta, scary how social media works as clickbait in itself and the amount of manipulation is staggering..and if you want to close your acc, you HAVE to use the desktop. They even know with instant gratification psychology which is normal by now, we are even to lazy to use the desktop to close social media accounts..and don't forget when meta tells you to go and follow other people who follow you etc etc. Social media is almost like soft mk ultra in how they gradually push for people's minds to change
Anger and hatred are indeed very passionate emotions, as passionate as joy and zest yet far easier to invoke and much harder to exhaust. Unsurprisingly, they're often the lifeblood of social media. As you pointed out, headlines are designed to flame bait readers from all factions, consumers of info put out by such journos often espouse a very inciteful and dangerously misinformed outlook on a matter, sparking an equally furious reaction, setting into motion an endless stream of dominoes.
And its precisely for this reason that, when taken to its logical extreme, an unregulated free speech framework morphs into an orthodoxy of ideas guarded by aggressive cancel culture to phase out the cultural dissidents. Much like how an unregulated free market could segue into an exploitative monopoly and neutralise competition in a given industry. Going forward, it'll be interesting how future historians evaluate the current age. An exchange between two guys in an office break room about Reagan during the waning of his Presidency is lost to the nether. But political discussions these days tend to happen in text which has fortified visibility and survivability, ergo should a forgotten exchange between two Twitterati about Trump resurface in say, 2070, merely assessing the transition would be an odd experience, in my opinion.
People used to see the social media metaverse as something alluring and viable largely because it had not had enough time to manifest an end state: it was all about dreams and hopes, potentials and what-ifs, not long term, sober results. Now, we've already entered a period where there has been enough time lapse to broadcast, publish and post not only the "journey," the young-and-hopeful side, but the actual results. And the picture in front of us is not looking very good.
Alors moi là je vais continuer mon livre de Yasha Mounk
Merci de mettre précisément les bons mots sur mes pensées, elles étaient en vrac dans ma tête, et j’ai presque failli me faire prendre par ce réflexe de regarder quelques tweets à la con
🙏🏼
It is the first time in history that human beings are so connected (so close), and I think that people feel insecure and afraid, people are anxious to know what is happening out there, every minute; and Social Networks give them that possibility. Many people are afraid, they look at Social Networks to find out if they have become a trend or if something they care about has become a trend, so they consume information only for the purpose of seeking to feel sure that nothing is wrong (as for what their own little world) is happening.
What I am trying to say is that one of the possible reasons why people consume garbage information is because the world today is so connected and that makes people feel that they are part of everything that happens. This made me think (and remind) of the Mercerismo religion boxes (from the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), the people linked in these boxes share the suffering of others.
This goes very well with 'learn to control your emotions or somebody else will'
This is why I get my news for newsletters with sneek peaks (you only click if you find it interesting), you save so much time than scrolling on social media or news apps. I find this substack because of a newsletter that recommends other newsletters!
Amazing article that dissects a very contemporary pressing issue 👏🏾
Thank you for your insight on this and your resent Tic Toc article. I have encountered snippets of such information via different platforms that was unfortunately/hypocritically written as more of a sound bite without much substance. Please keep up the good work!
Very well written,thought provoking article, agree absolutely with u there. My belief is like people are now realising the ill effects of junk food ,one day they will open their eyes too to the disastrous effect of lapping up everything thrown at them under the garb of news.But it might be too late by then.
Brilliant analogy. Thank you.
As a fitness consultant, I completely agree.
can factually correction but non-actionable information be included in junk media? I find my twitter timeline to be great but it is very different from my job with potentially little chance of inter-mingling. maybe reading something would trigger me to write a blog one day but its very indirect.
abstaining from it would be huge loss of novelty in my life but would free up time for more interesting projects. shall I get off this twitter feed and shift to one with more focus on backend programming?