Disrupting my reading habits to read more of what *I* want (Part 3)
Disrupting my reading habits to read more of what I want (Part 3) by Tracy Durnell.
Curator Hans Ulrich Oberst notes that for most of history, scarcity was the challenge; now, overproduction is. Today, the pace that new content is flung at us means that, without substantial willpower or intentionality, we’re so busy consuming we don’t have time to think. Trying to keep up means we rarely take the time to step back and think about what we’re keeping up with.
In essence, I want to replace my “mental junk food” binge habit with more thoughtful reading.
Three “rules” for attention:
- Choose what to read based on my interest, not “to be an informed person”
- Be skeptical of titles that invoke fear; be wary of articles framed to make me feel superior to others
- Prioritize information that will directly impact my life or community; pay less attention to news outside my control
Ultimately, the reason we keep gathering information is that we conflate being informed with being in control. […] Gathering information substitutes knowledge for action.
As workers’ skills are devalued, we feel pressure to constantly be learning new ones to make sure we’re still needed by the market. […] We lean on book summaries, we listen to audio books on 2x, 3x speed so we can fit in more. Unconsciously, value becomes the key heuristic for any piece of media we engage with. But it’s toxic to expect that every thing we read deliver market-ready insights, an expectation that erodes the perceived worth of any information that isn’t immediately applicable.
Chris Bailey identifies this as the accomplishment mindset, which “leads us to always want to fill our time with something — and feel guilty when we’re spending our time in a ‘nonoptimal’ way.”
We choose what we do and which cultural and knowledge works we consume in part based on the cultures we consider ourselves part of. But the internet keeps us tuned in closer with the cultural consumption of more people from different parts of our lives, building higher demands to keep up […]
On the corporate web, the growth mindset has been insinuated into activities we used to do just for fun. Turning leisure activities into obligations stole the pleasure of nonproduction from our free time.
The philosophical approach to escaping the endless information pit that is the internet: learn to accept uncertainty.
Trust yourself to make decisions with imperfect information. Stop looking for external validation, and find meaning outside of work. Believe in your skills, your value, and your ability to adapt to changing situations. Accept that some things, even important things, are out of your control.