This piece resonates with me. I tend to just surrender myself to my external environment when on long walks around my neighborhood. Just soaking it all in, feels so good...
Thanks for this essay and reminder Baxter. It's useful for me to realize that I will *never* be able to read, watch, and listen to every good input that exists. But the right response for me isn't to try and cram in as many as I can in my finite time. Instead, it's to dig deeper into less, and form my own thoughts.
It’s easy to periodically fall into forgetting what it’s like to have no idea. It’s always too late and never early enough to get the point across to enough in need of ‘deeper’ truths. To find this post took many years, while many less valuable require brief flash after blinding flash.
“There’s an enormous number of people who think they’re ‘learning’ online but don’t realize that they’re numbing themselves.”
Last month I did 1 week of reading deprivation (following “The Artist’s Way”). No inputs. Just sitting, talking to people, or writing. I realized how severe my content addiction was. “Numbing” is the right word. What was so “bad” about my unstimulated mind that I developed a decade-long addiction to avoid it? Great post as always Baxter!
Hey Jamie, thanks so much for sending this comment! I'm really glad it resonated and really admire your self-awareness. I'm curious: what changes in behavior have you made since trying out that experiment? I'd be interested to hear any other surprises you came across.
It's 2 completely different states of consciousness between enjoying the moment vs. distracting myself. A few behavior changes:
* I do 80% of my runs with no airpods in. I used to always listen to podcasts.
* I’m less likely to watch videos in 2x speed. Now it feels overwhelming.
* Completely cut out video games (they feel distracting).
* The most surprising is that now when I consume art (a book, video, Substack article), I am inspired to create art. Before, I used media to procrastinate art. But now I connect more with the person who made it, and realize I can make it too.
I'm curious how you got the motivation to cut out the inputs? I've had a similar realization years ago, but I still default to killing any boredom with a podcast, youtube video, blog post, or something similar.
Something I've gotten really good at is just not picking up my phone or any content when I get bored. Ever try long meditations, like 30 minutes? They'll probably teach you more about yourself than any book may be able to reflect
Thanks for sharing man! You introduced me to the idea of "intellectual digestion" in an earlier post, and I really resonate. This is exactly why I think writing is becoming increasingly important
Great one! Thanks for that. Makes me think also about what Cal Newport would call 'The Deep Life'.
Thanks for reading Ian! It is most definitely a deep life.
This piece resonates with me. I tend to just surrender myself to my external environment when on long walks around my neighborhood. Just soaking it all in, feels so good...
Thanks for this essay and reminder Baxter. It's useful for me to realize that I will *never* be able to read, watch, and listen to every good input that exists. But the right response for me isn't to try and cram in as many as I can in my finite time. Instead, it's to dig deeper into less, and form my own thoughts.
Thanks for the reading Jeremy! Glad it resonated and captured some of this content-consuming anxiety that I think we all feel.
It’s easy to periodically fall into forgetting what it’s like to have no idea. It’s always too late and never early enough to get the point across to enough in need of ‘deeper’ truths. To find this post took many years, while many less valuable require brief flash after blinding flash.
“There’s an enormous number of people who think they’re ‘learning’ online but don’t realize that they’re numbing themselves.”
Last month I did 1 week of reading deprivation (following “The Artist’s Way”). No inputs. Just sitting, talking to people, or writing. I realized how severe my content addiction was. “Numbing” is the right word. What was so “bad” about my unstimulated mind that I developed a decade-long addiction to avoid it? Great post as always Baxter!
Hey Jamie, thanks so much for sending this comment! I'm really glad it resonated and really admire your self-awareness. I'm curious: what changes in behavior have you made since trying out that experiment? I'd be interested to hear any other surprises you came across.
It's 2 completely different states of consciousness between enjoying the moment vs. distracting myself. A few behavior changes:
* I do 80% of my runs with no airpods in. I used to always listen to podcasts.
* I’m less likely to watch videos in 2x speed. Now it feels overwhelming.
* Completely cut out video games (they feel distracting).
* The most surprising is that now when I consume art (a book, video, Substack article), I am inspired to create art. Before, I used media to procrastinate art. But now I connect more with the person who made it, and realize I can make it too.
I'm curious how you got the motivation to cut out the inputs? I've had a similar realization years ago, but I still default to killing any boredom with a podcast, youtube video, blog post, or something similar.
Something I've gotten really good at is just not picking up my phone or any content when I get bored. Ever try long meditations, like 30 minutes? They'll probably teach you more about yourself than any book may be able to reflect
Reminds me of a conversation I had a while ago where I compared content consumption to eating.
You can consume all you want but the important part is the digestion.
Processing what you consume to extract nutrients.
If you don't digest, then you die of indigestion
Thanks for sharing man! You introduced me to the idea of "intellectual digestion" in an earlier post, and I really resonate. This is exactly why I think writing is becoming increasingly important
Is it about limiting the input necessarily, or about limiting the low quality input?
Great point Steve! It's both. After limiting inputs, taste naturally gets a boost :)
This is really good. I definitely could use more quiet time.
Thanks for reading Lucca!