Attention

Listening to Cal Newport interviewed on a recent podcast, something he said resonated. I’m probably paraphrasing, but a key piece of advice was: “Delete any app that makes money off your attention.”

Seems like really good advice. A smartphone is a collection of tools embedded in a tool. Use it like a tool and not an entertainment device and you’ll be find. For a while, in an effort to pry myself loose from the psychic hold of the smartphone I went back to using some kind of old flip phone. But I realized that I went too far. So much of our communication is via text now, it was really hard to communicate. But now, though I’m back to using a smartphone, I find that I’m much more careful about what I install on it:

I have a hypothesis. The wider the scope of your attention to social media and the popular press the more material goods you consume.

Having had too many hobbies and pursuits in my own life, I’ve noticed that the more diverse my attention, the more I ended up consuming. Is it that one’s physical environment (how much stuff you buy and surround yourself with) reflects your mental environment? Or is it the other way around? Maybe it’s really both. The less focused you are on meaningful, low consumption pursuits, the more you buy; and the more you buy, the more distracted you are by all the stuff around you. A vicious circle.