Stuff that is Worth Your Time
1 awesome article, 1 amazing video, and 3 valuable podcast links to help you think, parent, and live better in the modern world.
Hello Bar-Setters! I’ve come across a few thought-provoking pieces of content over the past few weeks, which I will highlight today. Right to it.
Read this:
My year with a distraction-free iphone (and how to start your own experiment)
How am I just now stumbling on this? I’ve read so many books and tried so many little hacks to take control of my phone habits. But I’m amazed by how persistent and adaptable my compulsions are. Delete social media and then you start habitually checking your email. Delete email and then you start going to Safari to Google “Chicago Bears news.”
If we are honest with ourselves, even the best of us tend to have an unhealthy proclivity to reach for our phones every time a moment of boredom sneaks in. I’ve considered trading my iPhone in for a flip phone or a Light Phone, but that would mean giving up amazing smartphone perks like my camera and Audible. This article (from 2014) offers the most practical and effective approach I’ve seen yet. Worth the time for any parent or human desiring to live more intentionally.
(I’m also listening to The Comfort Crisis on Audible right now. A great book that primed me to receive this message).
Watch this:
How AI Could Save (Not Destroy) Public Education
To be frank, I disagree with the overarching premise here. AI will be gamed by most students and will only further contribute to the mental devolution we’ve witnessed over the past decades. Saturated in incessant entertainment and smartphone distraction, most students will continue to anxiously search for shortcuts that allow them to get back to their precious (said in the Gollum voice).
BUT, those in subcultures with the right values and a smart approach to tech limits will be able to use breakthroughs like this to significantly disrupt our current (broken) educational paradigm. Pretty amazing stuff.
Listen to this:
There are three great podcasts I’ve come across over the past weeks.
America Needs a Self-Help Book. Tim Urban’s Got One.—Honestly: I’ve been slowly plodding through Urban’s book. This conversation does a great job of summarizing the most important ideas.
Why We are All So Addicted to Our Screens—Modern Wisdom: The title says it all. You can’t afford not to understand this stuff. A couple ideas from the show:
“Individuals are losing control of themselves and they don’t even realize what is happening. All they know is that this is not what I want to be doing on a day to day basis… but I can’t seem to get away from a screen.”
“Why do we have fun? To practice the skills that are useful for survival.”
Luminary Interview: Andy Crouch—Rule of Life Podcast: Crouch is full of insightful ways to look at modern tech. I’m particularly taken with his distinction between a device and an instrument and his definition of personhood.
Thank you very much for reading and sharing!
Also, if you enjoyed last week’s post, Why Car Lines Shouldn’t Exist, you’ll love this from Let Grow.
Have a wonderful week! Carry the fire!
Shane
Great resources! Thank you for always adding to my to read/listen to pile!
The Comfort Crisis sounds like something I've been looking for. Along the same lines I also loved your post on "Why I Want Your Kid to Have Misfortunes". We all have it so easy...too easy. I don't feel like I have enough teaching moments for my kids because of it. We're a hiking family and sometimes we choose something just beyond the boys' limits just to show them how to overcome adversity.