Staying on Track

“A calm sea will not make a good sailor.” from a fortune cookie

Over the last 30 years we have made such technological leaps that it is complex to keep up with them. First computers, then the internet and now hand-sized internet computers. This is all very new so we have no clue about how these things affect us in the long term, but we can already notice some short term effects. In a way all this thriving for efficiency has made us expect things to just be fast and simple. We have become impatient. We are used to websites loading within the second, thus if it takes ever so slightly longer we will just swipe down to refresh.

This impatience can also be seen in our consumption habits. Books have been around for millennia. From the 19th century on we got movies. Then during the 20th century came along TV series, which were condensed parts of a longer story. In the 21st century we got YouTube with short videos. And since quite recently we have TikToks and Reels. With every step, the time spent on one specific subject or story becomes shorter. We are used to switching our focus from one idea to another in the span of seconds. A specific example is sitting down to watch a movie and then finding oneself scrolling through your social’s feed. It is as if the thing on TV is not volatile enough, as if we need constant change.

The question becomes, how do we survive in this overstimulated world where our focus is decreasing at speeds never seen before? The solution of “throw all your technological possessions away” is quite radical, but it gives results. I have found with most of my bad habits that going cold turkey works best. It is how I quit nicotine 9 months ago. It is not an easy way to do it, but it is the one that has best worked for me. This being said getting rid of my phone is sort of unthinkable.

It is fascinating how much our brains crave patterns. These patterns are great because they help us adapt faster. Once we get the pattern we can pretty accurately reproduce it while barely thinking about it. At one point the pattern is repeated so many times that it can be done on autopilot. This autopilot is crucial because we cannot function without it, it would be exhausting. Nevertheless, it would be great if we were in control of the autopilot button. Because there is a difference between consciously watching 2 episodes of a series and bingeing 2 seasons in a row (unless that was the intention in which case good job).

It is difficult to be self-aware. Our whole body functions with autopilot and it would be a mess without it. Just try to bring your attention to your breath for a second and feel how air flows into your lungs. Your breath is now on manual for a little bit until you forget about it and autopilot takes over once again. The longer you stay on manual the better you get at controlling the vehicle. The greatest part of this control being the power to switch the autopilot on and off. Coming back to our friendly neighbourhood Netflix: this principle is important when an episode ends and the next one is about to automatically start. It is the moment at which it is great to switch off autopilot and tell oneself either “That’s enough for today” or “I can allow myself another one”. This means being conscious about our choices and not letting the tech make the choice for us.

Every once in a while our engine needs a restart. This restart can take different forms. It can either be the product of a weekend getaway, a conversation or even a good movie. Anything that helps us change perspective is a restart. We need this restart because we can easily fall prey to our routines. Wait a minute, did we not just say that patterns are great and we need them to survive? Well yes, but there is sort of a paradox here – we crave patterns but also novelty. These two being quite contradicting means that we need to pave the way for some sort of a symbiosis. We need to have both in moderation. Novelty helps us restart the machine, to gain perspective, to reflect on deeper questions. Patterns on the other hand help us to keep going in tough times. As James Clear said: “You fall to the level of your systems.”

Okay so we have narrowed the ideas down to try to learn to use autopilot and change your perspective every once in a while. Seems pretty vague. Let’s use a metaphor to try to understand it better. Imagine a plane that has a certain direction and thus destination. In our case the direction is kept thanks to autopilot. The destination changes every once in a while when we restart the system. Once destination changes we take control, change direction and switch autopilot back on. It can be noticed that we keep moving towards a destination that keeps changing. Now for the difficult part – that's okay. In his book Four Thousand Weeks Oliver Burkeman says that accepting we will never accomplish everything is the most difficult task of all. Once accepted though it is very freeing since we can genuinely concentrate on what matters. Since we will never truly reach any destination fully, we might as well enjoy the journey!

This week's suggestions:

🎬 What Happens To Your Brain When You Mindlessly Scroll?

This great video by AsapSCIENCE explains what would happen if you quit your phone. It thus exposes the problems caused in the first place by our social media overstimulation.

📑 Infinite Scroll: The Web's Slot Machine

A concise comparison of social media to slot machines by Nir Eyal. He is also the author of a renowned book Indistractable that I am yet to read.

🎬 Ali Abdaal's short overview of Four Thousand Weeks

This video can help understand better the ideas presented in the final paragraph. It is a great resume of the book. For some extra insights there's also this podcast-interview with Burkeman which is a bit longer but gets closer to the core of the book.

P.S. Since last week’s reflection I have decided to focus on one thing at a time. Every week I will try to dissect a new thought like this one here! As illustrations I can use the week’s events but they are not the main plot of the story. This writing will be a lot more challenging because it needs more active thinking and also a certain amount of research. I feel like this is the right challenge for me right now. I am uncertain if I will be able to keep up with the weekly posting but I will try.

P.P.S. Let me know what You think of this kind of text!

Have a great day!