Sharpening the Instrument

As someone who drives a lot, I wonder how I’d live without podcasts. Podcasts have fast become a primary source for entertainment, knowledge, and connection. Especially on work days, podcasts are my constant companions and they set my attitudinal compass for the day. If I wake up feeling haggard and need to laugh, I look to Joe Rogan. If I’m flying high from a week of good running, I listen to Billy Yang and marvel at stories of 100-mile races and the athletes who win them. If I’m seeking professional wisdom and strategies to enhance my life, Tim Ferris delivers every time.

In a given month, my podcast diet frames how I view the world and my place in it. Sometimes, podcast conversations hit with such impact, they change my life fundamentally. Which brings me to Roger McNamee, Tristan Harris, and Cal Newport. McNamee wrote “Zucked” about his early investment in Facebook and subsequent disillusionment with social media, Harris worked as a Google Design Ethicist and gained fame for his TED talk and “60 Minutes” interview, and Newport authored the best-selling “Deep Work” based on his career as a computer scientist. For more background than I can write here, I recommend searching available conversations with these thinkers on Apple podcasts, Overcast, or other sources. Though they come from different professions and perspectives, each man has sounded an alarm about the attention economy and our changing inner lives.

McNamee, Harris, and Newport argue while social media, smart phones, and other ubiquitous digital tools can be helpful, these tech advances have also shortened our attention spans, stifled creativity, and created a tech-addicted society. Though many news stories, research articles, and other media have echoed these ideas, McNamee, Harris, and Newport bring uniquely insider viewpoints and credibility. Their podcast conversations opened my eyes to my own tech addiction and to society’s challenging relationship with screens.

With the above concepts swirling in my head, I’ve wondered how to react. I’m not a conspiracy theorist and intellectual rabbit holes can be a serious downer. If the digital world is murky, I’d rather focus on something healthier and not get stuck in the mire. Fortunately, Cal Newport has offered a solution and a path forward.

Deep work is focused, thoughtful work, free of distraction. It’s work that proceeds uninterrupted, without checking Facebook, answering emails, or grabbing a pinging smart phone. Deep work also seems like something many of us haven’t done in quite a while.

Newport explains how we’ve “lost our way” as thinkers and creators. Before the addictiveness of smart phones and social media, people used to sit and reflect. We dealt with boredom by letting our thoughts wander until something interesting or meaningful popped up. Now, at the first sign of boredom, we reach for our phones. Once on our phones, laptops, or tablets, we toggle between websites and apps, never quite finishing an article or pausing to think or look around. As many have felt intuitively, it seems we just can’t concentrate anymore. “Deep Work” argues not only can we regain our attention through deep work, we can actually benefit creatively and professionally.

I began reading “Deep Work” and actualizing my return to focus a few weeks ago. I long ago deleted Facebook from my phone and I didn’t use Instagram or Twitter on any device. Even so, I still felt deeply distracted. So, I set a 15-minute daily Facebook limit. Some people deleted Facebook altogether, but 15-minutes/day seemed like a good start.

I recently returned to a more regular writing practice and I’m now pursuing a daily writing routine. I’ve also shifted my habits from expressing myself on social media to writing my thoughts on this blog. Long-form blogging takes time, introspection, analysis, editing, and deep work, all things I find missing on social media. Fewer people may read the conversation, but it will definitely be a richer, more fulfilling process for all involved.

As I mentioned in my first post here, I started a blog to build connections and share ideas with others. I wanted to pursue deep work, though I didn’t have a name for it, yet. I encourage everyone to seek out Roger McNamee, Tristan Harris, Cal Newport, and their podcast conversations and books, especially “Deep Work”. The dangers of our digitally-addicted world can seem daunting and frightening. Maybe we’d be happier and more connected if we visited that world less and spent more time creating the lives we want to live.