DustBowl's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
dustBowl
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DustBowl's journal

Post by dustBowl »

I'm not exactly sure what I want this journal to be. But now feels like the right time to start, so I'd rather figure it out as I go than wait and risk losing motivation.

Let's start with the basics.

The basics

Personal
  • 28-year-old American male
  • Single, no kids
  • Currently living in Seattle, WA, USA
Financial
  • Net worth ~240k, depending on stock market fluctuations
  • Yearly income ~180k pre-tax (software developer @ E-corp)
  • No debt
  • My only "long"-term financial commitment is a lease on a one bedroom apartment through July 2023 @ $1900 / month

ERE strengths and weaknesses
I'm stealing this framing device from someone on here whose handle I don't remember. Sorry anonymous poster; I would credit you if I remembered who you were.

I like it as a way to provide a snapshot of my current state. Hopefully it will break down a big wall of text describing my situation and make it a little more legible.

Strengths
  • I care about the environment, and I hate waste. The "closing loops" piece of ERE appeals strongly to me. I'm highly motivated to reduce my overall levels of resource consumption.
  • I like learning for the sake of learning. Before I knew about ERE, I dreamed about retiring early and taking random college classes for the rest of my life. The "renaissance man" lifestyle is basically a more practical version of what I wanted to do anyway, so it seems like a good natural personality fit.
  • I have supportive friends and family. Some of my closest friends live "alternative" lifestyles (e.g. living out of a car, living out of an old bus and fixing it up, that kind of thing) so I'm maybe more familiar with the feasibility of those lifestyles than your average salaryman. My family also thinks it's cool when I talk about doing ERE-type stuff, rather than weird. Taken together, you have an environment where it's emotionally easy for me to move in an ERE direction, while it might be harder for other folks who face resistance from their loved ones.
  • My exercise routine and diet are already dialed in. In my early twenties I was a big gym bro, and in those days I spent a lot of time learning about dieting and working out. While I'm not really into that culture any more, I internalized enough of that stuff that I don't have to spend many mental resources on maintaining a healthy routine. It's on auto-pilot. I also spent a lot of time learning how to cook and meal prepping, which translates nicely to an ERE lifestyle.
Weaknesses
  • High-income job. Seems weird to have this in the weaknesses section, but I think this is the right place for it. ERE is about skills (among other things), and It's easy to get lazy about developing skills when you can throw money at any problem with impunity. This one dovetails nicely with the next point...
  • Lack of practical skills outside of my area of employment. This point can be taken together with the previous as "the salaryman trap," which has been discussed extensively elsewhere on the forum. I won't rehash it here.
  • Chronic injury. I herniated a disc in my lower back deadlifting in my early twenties (very dumb, big regrets on that one). My specific injury manifests as difficulty and pain when I hinge forward at the waist. A non-exhaustive list of activities that involve hinging at the waist includes: sitting at a desk, driving a car, flying in planes, riding a bike, most variations of manual labor, and more... so it's not great. Thankfully, when my upper body and legs are aligned, I'm mostly pain-free, so I can stand, walk around, and sleep fine. Possible focus for this journal will be what the DIY aspects of ERE look like when you're physically limited in your ability Do It Yourself.

The intent of this journal
I don't really have a specific intent in mind for this journal. I just want to start engaging with this community more actively because I've gotten so much value out of being a lurker here for the last few years. To begin with, I'll track progress toward the goals listed below. Folks can chime in as they have input, and we can see where it goes. The goals in question:
  • I want to wean my brain off of its need for constant digital stimulation. The first step here is self-ban from reddit. God knows how much time I've wasted scrolling the front page of reddit over the last decade... Longer term success in this realm will look like cultivating the ability to focus on singular tasks, without the need for a constant firehose of stimulation. Basically, it's mindfulness, though "mindfulness" as a modern western buzzword is annoying.
  • I want to sell or give away a bunch of junk that I've accumulated over the years that I don't use. Pretty basic ERE 101 but still valuable, especially since I eventually want to move towards more alternative housing arrangements. The more I can get rid of, the more flexible I should be on that front.
  • I'm working on various skill development projects. My current focus is on learning piano. I'm using a site called Pianote (lol) and I'm about halfway through their main program. I love this instrument. I should have taken it up years ago.
  • I need to figure out what a more intentionally-cultivated version of my social life will look like going forward. I struggle to find the correct balance between not enough personal space and too much isolation. I've put in a lot of work on this topic in the last few years, but there's still plenty of room for improvement.

Next up: more detailed posts for each goal

AxelHeyst
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by AxelHeyst »

Congrats on starting the journal, and welcome! Do you use a recumbent desk due to your disc? Commercial ones are $$$ but can be DIYed pretty easily. I loved my setup(s) when I was using them a lot.

MBBboy
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by MBBboy »

Congrats on starting! I think you'll find a lot of benefits from achieving your first goal. I deleted my reddit account a few years ago, and it's made a big difference in how downtime is used and I also find myself in a much better mood. And that was from a starting place where I wasn't participating in the toxicity of the front page - I'm excited on your behalf for the positive impacts you'll experience

dustBowl
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by dustBowl »

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.
AxelHeyst wrote:
Mon Jun 06, 2022 6:48 am
Do you use a recumbent desk due to your disc? Commercial ones are $$$ but can be DIYed pretty easily.
I actually was unfamiliar with the concept of a recumbent desk until I just googled it, though I know about recumbent bikes so I should have guessed based on the name. On the DIY front, are you envisioning taking a stationary bike and adding on the desk part? I imagine DIYing an actual stationary bike would be challenging...
MBBboy wrote:
Mon Jun 06, 2022 9:00 am
I deleted my reddit account a few years ago, and it's made a big difference in how downtime is used and I also find myself in a much better mood.
I immediately noticed the difference you mention in how downtime is used. I'm actually shocked by how much free time I find myself with. I guess if you spend 20 minutes mindlessly scrolling reddit multiple times per day, that's an hour or two of time waiting to be taken back. But it's not a behavior I was very conscious of, so the the full amount of time I've gained back has been surprising.

I've actually found that it's had a negative effect on my mood so far. My brain seems displeased with the fact that I've suddenly shut off the stimulation faucet after a decade at full blast. I also get annoyed because it forces me to confront how underdeveloped the non-work aspects of my life are, which feels bad to think about, lol. Still, I expect that the long-term effects will be positive as I'm forced to replace mindless screen time with higher-quality behaviors.

AxelHeyst
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by AxelHeyst »

Nah, this is what I mean.
dustBowl wrote:
Sat Jun 11, 2022 3:17 pm
I've actually found that it's had a negative effect on my mood so far. My brain seems displeased with the fact that I've suddenly shut off the stimulation faucet after a decade at full blast. I also get annoyed because it forces me to confront how underdeveloped the non-work aspects of my life are, which feels bad to think about, lol. Still, I expect that the long-term effects will be positive as I'm forced to replace mindless screen time with higher-quality behaviors.
Think what you will of the man, I really like this quote:
Tim Ferriss wrote:A person's success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.
To which I'd add, that includes uncomfortable conversations you're willing to have with yourself. 8-)

dustBowl
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by dustBowl »

Goal #1: Reject Content

I was reading through @J+G's journal (which is great and inspiring), when I came across this quote from @c_l:
classical_Liberal wrote:
Fri Dec 03, 2021 12:44 pm
Just adding to this, if one does fall into lower Wheaton level traps during accumulation of money, it takes a lot of effort to get rid of those "bad habits". Worshiping too long and hard at the alter of accumulating wealth changes your religious denomination, so to speak. Put another way, it's easier to not smoke cigarettes' if you have never been addicted to them.

How pursuit and acquisition of FI, particularly super FI (in which a hands off approach of managing capital can succeed), impact a persons mental, emotional, philosophical state negatively is something mostly ignored here. But it is a huge issue.
If that quote is about the consequences of worshiping the Gods of Wealth, I would propose an analogue regarding the Gods of Content. It would look something like this:
dustBowl wrote: How the consumption of Content, particularly Modern Digital Content, impacts a person's mental, emotional, and philosophical state negatively is something mostly ignored here. But it's a huge issue.
(I don't actually think it's ignored on these forums. I just wanted my wording to match the quote.)

I'm defining capital-C Content as some combination of [ social media / long-form articles / podcasts / music / youtube videos / insert your specific content that you consume here ] all rolled up into one. It comes with some connotations about the broader cultural structures we all exist within that I don't want to go into because I don't understand them that well. I should come up with a more pithy definition, but I see Content used in this way around the internet, so I hope people will understand what I'm going for.

What's the problem?
For a better explanation than I'm going to give you, I would recommend Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. The TLDR based on my personal experiences would be that when you spend too much of your time consuming Content, your ability to do pretty much anything else atrophies. The way that you think changes. If you spend enough time soaking your brain in Content, you'll become a "better" consumer. But that's probably not what you want, because the definition of a "good" Content consumer is set by external forces (big tech and media companies?) who don't have your best interests in mind.

In my case, becoming a "better" Content consumer over the years has manifested as:
  • A reduced ability to concentrate on mentally demanding tasks for any substantial period of time
  • A low-level mental discomfort that never really goes away unless I'm consuming some kind of media. These days I pretty much always leave on low-level background stimulation in the form of music / podcasts / youtube videos to assuage it.
  • An almost completely eliminated drive towards creative pursuits I used to value
What's the ERE-specific relevance?
I would answer that question by looking at two facets of ERE:

1. Skill development
One of the core pillars of ERE is skill development. The idea being that the more skills you have, the less money you need, the more resilient you are, and the more opportunities can arise for your skills to interact in interesting ways. The thing is, it's hard to meaningfully develop skills when you can't focus on anything for extended periods of time because your brain requies a constant drip-feed of stimulation. If, for example, you feel the need to check reddit every fifteen minutes lest your brain start to itch, it's hard to get into a flow state while practicing piano (ask me how I know).

It seems trite as I write it out, but I think it's a real problem for ERE aspirants. I ran into it when I took a sabbatical last year with big plans for all the skills I was going to work on. What I discovered instead was that my ability to focus on any of my intended projects was severely limited. Of course, there were plenty of confounding factors in that situation. But I think the fact that I spent the last decade as a Content consumer contributed meaningfully to the struggle.

2. The consumer -> producer progression
Let's say that one of Jacob's goals with ERE was to turn us all from a bunch of "consumers" into a bunch of "producers". Obviously there's more to it than that, but it's a simplified model that I like.

We tend to think about consumption and production in a physical sense. How much money (resources) did you spend (consume) last month? Last year? Could you live on a JAFI? And so on. But I'm interested in the mental side - how we consume and produce ideas.

My personal vision for ERE involves progressing along the consumer -> producer spectrum not just physically, but mentally. I think about Jacob's description of the Renaissance Man as a person who generates novel insights by combining ideas from disparate fields. It's an appealing archetype.

And I'm convinced that consuming a bunch of Content is pretty much the last thing that someone who wants to embody that archetype should do. Because turning the Content firehose on your brain numbs you. Mentally, emotionally, spiritually. I can find and consume anything I want, at any time, and none of it makes me feel anything. It's too much. Too much for the reward centers of my feeble monkey brain; they've burnt out over the years. As I consume, I think nothing and I feel nothing. The only thing I feel is the nagging desire to shovel more Content the into the void that used to be my personality.

It's basically the exact opposite of the mindset I claim that I want to develop. There's no room for original thought. All the inputs, all the time. If you're trying to cultivate a sense of creativity, your have to give your mind some breathing room. There's a reason that people say they come up with their best ideas in the shower, or on walks or whatever. Space and silence are key inputs to the creative process.

Okay, you've defined a problem, but what are you doing about it?
The following list represents the concrete actions that I want to take to wean my brain off of its Content addiction, with the long-term goal being to convert it from a consumer brain to a producer brain. More will get added over time as I progress through the existing list. Performing these actions consistently will serve as an indicator that I'm moving in the right direction:
  • Not using reddit. Resisting the urge to replace reddit with other "low-quality" alternatives, as defined by me. Any site that has infinite-scroll functionality gets auto-banned.
  • Going on walks with no phone
  • Cooking dinners without listening to a podcast or music
  • Sitting through meetings at work without browsing the internet
  • Reading slowly and with focus. My default mode is to skim
  • Practicing piano
Desired Outcomes
I'm not 100% sure what the end state of this goal looks like in terms of actions. Will I still own a smartphone? Will I still play video games? How will my personal relationships be affected? I don't know. But I know what it will feel like: stillness, a renewed sense of creativity, and the ability to focus on singular, demanding tasks.

NewBlood
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by NewBlood »

Hi DustBowl! I can definitely identify with all this. Welcome from a fellow Content consumer! I look forward to hearing more about (consuming) your journey.

basuragomi
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by basuragomi »

I've lately gravitated to modeling content consumption and cultural engagement in general as a heat-transfer problem. When you start engaging from a position of low cultural alignment, the rate of new ideas you exchange is high. Once you're fully immersed, nothing is new and the rate of exchange drops exponentially lower.

Neither extreme is particularly useful, but you can orbit in and out of contact with the dominant culture to maximize idea exchange efficiency - and then it's just a matter of how eccentric you want (that orbit) to be!

AxelHeyst
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by AxelHeyst »

I really like the metaphor of the eccentric orbit. I think there is a lot of value in spending time in transition zones - going from high engagement to low, and low engagement to high.

Dustbowl I really like how you tied this issue into skill development. I'm interested in how you find the practices you outlined go; what was challenging, what wasn't, etc. Cheers.

AnalyticalEngine
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by AnalyticalEngine »

Hi Dustbowl, I like your thoughts on content consumption. Reducing digital distractions is something I'm working on myself, so I look forward to seeing where this takes you.

If you are ever interested in more academic takes on this concept, I suggest the books "Society of the Spectacle" and "Simulacra and Simulation." DeBord defines this concept of the Spectacle, which is similar to how you use the word content. He defines Spectacle as a social relationship between people mediated through images. Basically that because people produce content to be viewed by other people, this is essentially a social relationship between two people that's occurring through the medium of images. I think it's helpful to think about who's on the other side of content (who's producing it and how do they benefit from the media's consumption) to get a full, systems-oriented look at content.

theanimal
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by theanimal »

I identify with a lot of what you wrote and also will be curious to see how this progresses for you. The thing that cements it for me is that whenever I have zero access to wireless services/wi-fi for more than 24 hrs, I lose all desire to ever go back to what I was checking before. This last weekend I went for 60 hours without even looking at my phone or any other screen and it was glorious.

I wasn't much of a music listener to begin with, but I found that playing an instrument frequently (in my case, mainly the uke and occasionally the piano) eliminated essentially all desire to listen to commercial music.

You may enjoy Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television by Jerry Mander (just as applicable to other high tech) and Ten Arguments for Deleting your Social Media Account Right Now by Jaron Lanier. Both books outline the effects on the psyche and behavior of the individual that consumes via these channels.

MBBboy
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by MBBboy »

Definitely identify with this. This was a topic our pastor brought up at church a year or so ago and it really stuck with me. I don't remember the phrasing, but the basic idea was "if you're always filling your mind with the thoughts of others, there's so space for thoughts of your own"

dustBowl
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by dustBowl »

basuragomi wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 8:53 am
I've lately gravitated to modeling content consumption and cultural engagement in general as a heat-transfer problem... you can orbit in and out of contact with the dominant culture to maximize idea exchange efficiency...
I love this.

AnalyticalEngine wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 11:19 am
If you are ever interested in more academic takes on this concept, I suggest the books "Society of the Spectacle" and "Simulacra and Simulation." DeBord defines this concept of the Spectacle, which is similar to how you use the word content.
I started reading DeBord and I can already tell that this recommendation is right on the money. He's talking about the exact concepts that I've been thinking about. He was so prescient writing this thing that reading it feels like reading a bunch of my own thoughts on modern society. Except, you know, written down by some French guy 60 years ago.

Which is weird. It feels kind of disorienting to read in that way. How did this person take the thoughts out of my brain and transport them back in time 60 years + across the Atlantic ocean? I got the same feeling when I finally read Walden after a few years in the ERE / simple living sphere. I keep getting reminded that my ideas aren't that original :evil:

The one thing I'm not sure about with DeBord is whether there's anything actionable in here - it all seems pretty abstract / high level. Of course, not every problem statement has to come with an attached solution. And I guess not every societal critique has to be immediately actionable on an individual level.

Thanks for the recommendations. I'll report back once I make it further into Spectacle and start in on Simulacra.


@theanimal
I'm trying to think of the last time I was disconnected from the internet for any substantial period of time (say, at least a day). I literally can't think of one. I have some camping trips planned for this summer, so if I'm out in the wilderness for more than a day or two I'll be sure to make a note of any changes I notice.

Not listening to commercially-produced music feels, on an emotional level, more extreme than anything else I've contemplated so far. It's hard for me to imagine not being plugged into the modern music ecosystem, though it definitely falls under the umbrella of content as I've defined it. I think it's probably because I identify as a musician on some level (I've always played music and at one point seriously considered career in music), whereas I don't identify as e.g. a redditor or whatever.

Having said that, if I actually think about it, there's been a steep drop off in the amount of music I listen to since I started my Content purge. In my case, it's been intentional, since I've been trying to break the habit of having background music on at all times. But he silence has started to feel natural pretty quickly. So maybe my natural level of mindful music consumption will end up being lower than I expected.

Thanks for the book recommendations - I'll add them to my reading list. Have you read them? Did you find them valuable?

MBBboy wrote:
Fri Jun 24, 2022 4:04 pm
the basic idea was "if you're always filling your mind with the thoughts of others, there's so space for thoughts of your own"
That's a nice, concise summary of a lot of my thoughts. Your pastor knows what's up.

dustBowl
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by dustBowl »

AxelHeyst wrote:
Sun Jun 12, 2022 2:19 am
Nah, this is what I mean.
Also, this is extremely cool. I have neither the skills nor the tools to replicate it, but I'll happily accept the inspiration porn :D

It's funny, though - after you posted this, I received an unsolicited gift of one of the exact zero-gravity chairs that you linked in that post. So it seems clear that universe is telling me to go find a monitor arm and replicate your friend's setup.

theanimal
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by theanimal »

Yes, I've read Four Arguments a couple times, the first nearly about 10 years ago now. That first reading was powerful enough for me that I more or less stopped watching videos of any kind (tv shows, movies etc) for a couple of years.

I read the latter book late last year and posted some of my big takeaways in my journal viewtopic.php?p=251814#p251814 This book was enough to more or less kill off my use of social media. I've never used Instagram and never really used FB much so it was just Twitter for me. I had used it for a few years but have more or less ceased using the site since reading the book 6 months ago. I can fall into the trap of listening to a lot of podcasts. I don't think it is the worst thing in the world as it is not (yet) behavior modifying as a medium. Nonetheless, I have started limiting myself to about 1 podcast/day. As others have mentioned, I think it's important to give my mind its own time to think, instead of just listening.

Report back on your experiences if you end up going for an internet free stretch of 24 hr stretch or more! I'm planning on doing it more myself. I fast regularly for physical benefits, digital fasts for mental benefits seem to make sense too.

AnalyticalEngine
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by AnalyticalEngine »

If you want to check out the actionable side of DeBord, look into the Situationists International. They were a political movement he started and many of the activities they did were designed to be "anti-spectacle."

dustBowl
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by dustBowl »

Goal updates

I haven't posted in a few weeks because the switch flipped at work from chill to hectic, and I haven't had enough spare mental energy to write anything cogent. Things have settled down a bit now, so let's take a look at how we've been progressing on our goals:

(Some of these I've posted about before; some of these are newly-developed since I last posted; some are existing but I haven't posted about them yet)

Cooking skill development (existing goal I haven't talked about yet)
I've naturally fallen into a rhythm where I learn one new "thing" per week. A "thing" isn't always a full recipe. Sometimes it might be a component of a full recipe, or a technique, or even just a concept. Recently I've learned how to make:
  • Tortilla chips (both deep-fried and oven-baked, definitely prefer the oven variety for ease of cleanup)
  • Refried beans
  • Broccoli cheddar soup
  • Apple pie (including dough from scratch)
  • Butter (zero effort if you have a stand mixer)
  • Whipped cream (same as previous)
Other cooking-related things I've been doing:
  • Reading Salt Acid Fat Heat.
  • Learning how to correctly hone and sharpen my chef's knife. My chef's knife is the tool that I use the most by a large margin, so it's about time I learned to keep it at maximal efficacy.
Content purge (goal I've talked about in this journal)
Overall, I'm happy with my progress on this one. I made some significant changes here right off the bat, then hit pause once work got crazy. But I held onto my initial gains during the recent work binge and didn't backslide, which I'm happy about. More specifics:

What I'm happy with
  • Reddit use has been reduced to pretty much zero, with exceptions if I'm looking for the answer to a specific question and there's a reddit post addressing it
  • I don't listen to music or podcasts in the showers any more. Showers are reserved for thinking time.
What I want to work on
  • Some of my reddit time has been replaced with other low-value activities. Not all of it; my overall content consumption is down.
    But I'm still wasting time e.g. watching youtube mindlessly, or listening to podcasts that I don't care about. That stuff's got to go.
  • I'm still mindlessly browsing the internet when I get bored in work meetings
  • I still spend most of the work day with music on in the background as a sort of mental pacifier
Getting Things Done (new goal)
I read an old post of @AxleHeyst's in @roamingFrancis's journal extolling the virtues of GTD and it inspired me to give the system a real shot. I gave it a half-hearted attempt a while back, but this time we're going whole-hog. I'm recording 100% of my thoughts that might be actionable in any form. Everything gets fed into, processed in, and organized within a single system (I'm using OmniFocus). I'm also reading the book and working on internalizing the underlying principles.

It's been a few weeks since I started and I'm feeling very, very optimistic about the returns so far. I'm going to hold off on writing a longer post about this until I collect some more data. I'm worried that I might still be in the honeymoon phase here. But I have to say I that noticed an immediate, impactful change once I really committed to this system.

Content purge + GTD = headspace/mental clarity/something else I don't understand yet (new goal)
The way I'm thinking about this is that the ongoing content purge is about getting other people's idea out of my head, and GTD is about getting my own ideas out of my head.

...

For now, this goal is kind of a placeholder for idea that's still gestating. I'll revisit this when I write a longer post on my GTD implementation.

MBBboy
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by MBBboy »

Congrats on the progress Dustbowl. Never know what will end up happening when you free up time / headspace. But even if the answer is "nothing useful" you are better off simply for not filling your head with toxic crap

Aspirant
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by Aspirant »

dustBowl wrote:
Wed Jun 22, 2022 12:59 am
Goal #1: Reject Content

I was reading through @J+G's journal (which is great and inspiring), when I came across this quote from @c_l:



If that quote is about the consequences of worshiping the Gods of Wealth, I would propose an analogue regarding the Gods of Content. It would look something like this:

(I don't actually think it's ignored on these forums. I just wanted my wording to match the quote.)

I'm defining capital-C Content as some combination of [ social media / long-form articles / podcasts / music / youtube videos / insert your specific content that you consume here ] all rolled up into one....

What's the problem?
For a better explanation than I'm going to give you, I would recommend Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. The TLDR based on my personal experiences would be that when you spend too much of your time consuming Content, your ability to do pretty much anything else atrophies. The way that you think changes. If you spend enough time soaking your brain in Content, you'll become a "better" consumer. But that's probably not what you want, because the definition of a "good" Content consumer is set by external forces (big tech and media companies?) who don't have your best interests in mind.

In my case, becoming a "better" Content consumer over the years has manifested as:
  • A reduced ability to concentrate on mentally demanding tasks for any substantial period of time
  • A low-level mental discomfort that never really goes away unless I'm consuming some kind of media. These days I pretty much always leave on low-level background stimulation in the form of music / podcasts / youtube videos to assuage it.
  • An almost completely eliminated drive towards creative pursuits I used to value
What's the ERE-specific relevance?
I would answer that question by looking at two facets of ERE:

1. Skill development
One of the core pillars of ERE is skill development. The idea being that the more skills you have, the less money you need, the more resilient you are, and the more opportunities can arise for your skills to interact in interesting ways. The thing is, it's hard to meaningfully develop skills when you can't focus on anything for extended periods of time because your brain requies a constant drip-feed of stimulation...

What I discovered instead was that my ability to focus on any of my intended projects was severely limited. Of course, there were plenty of confounding factors in that situation. But I think the fact that I spent the last decade as a Content consumer contributed meaningfully to the struggle.

2. The consumer -> producer progression

Desired Outcomes
I'm not 100% sure what the end state of this goal looks like in terms of actions. Will I still own a smartphone? Will I still play video games? How will my personal relationships be affected? I don't know. But I know what it will feel like: stillness, a renewed sense of creativity, and the ability to focus on singular, demanding tasks.
This! I have been entertaining similar thoughts while succumbing further to the void of Content.

No wonder I don't get s##t done when I spent my mental energy on Content.

dustBowl
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Re: DustBowl's journal

Post by dustBowl »

Thanks @MBBboy for the words of encouragement. I don't know many people in real life who share my views on this stuff, so I appreciate that I can put my thoughts out here, where folks seem to understand what I'm aiming for and are sympathetic.

@Aspirant Yeah, it's sneaky how much of your mental energy can get sucked up without you even realizing. I'm only a few months into my Content purge and I've already realized huge gains in terms of mood and overall energy levels. So based on my experience thus far, I'd definitely recommend weaning off as much as is feasible, just from a mental-energy standpoint alone.

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