This is so insightful. Not only did your fluid way of writing suck me in, the idea is also beautiful.
Sometimes, more stress comes from not knowing what we're after, not knowing what we want. We chase the wind and return wasted. Seeking purpose is good advice.
Yes, it is so important to take the time to establish what you want and ground yourself in that. I usually need to take a week or two off twice a year to be able to hear clearly what I'm supposed to go next. Been half-doing that for the last few weeks, and it feels great.
Gaining financial freedom at this economic crisis is a must. Trade stocks, real estate, crypto and rare metals for generational wealth. Hit me up to gain more insight about investing tips
Brilliantly written and beautifully read. Loved this. I've been thinking lately about the idea of having an ecology of practice in which your routines and systems are coherent with your sense of self, aspirations, and external everyday constraints and this view of a practice fits really nicely - The Internet is a useful tool in the hands of the master, but it takes a self-awareness and deliberateness to learn how to wield it wisely.
"ecology of practice" I like that phrase. I've been going back to the old anthropologists for an upcoming piece where I'm thinking about what it means for a culture to be integrated and well-functioning, and I think that phrase captures it.
Thanks for the link. Read it, and signed up for a newsletter! I love the hedgehog's take on technology ... I shall be increasing rituals for its use, and spreading that idea.
Really great essay. Thanks for this. It speaks (directly and indirectly) to a few different things I'm struggling with at the moment, e.g., working to overcome my deep distaste for social media while trying to use Notes productively/purposefully, finding a clearer direction to take my writing, and so on. After reading this piece, I read some of your others, and they've all been incredibly helpful.
I think it’s so important to encourage people to read with a specific purpose. Sometimes we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to get through a reading list, but it’s a lot more effective to use a book as a guide with a current problem you’re facing...almost like a friend or mentor there to help you for a current life objective.
Exactly! I think a lot of people are little bit confused around reading, feeling obliged to finish etc. Its just a tool. Something you use to affect certain changes in yourself, emotional, or intellectual.
Gaining financial freedom at this economic crisis is a must. Trade stocks, real estate, crypto and rare metals for generational wealth. Hit me up to gain more insight about investing tips
Gaining financial freedom at this economic crisis is a must. Trade stocks, real estate, crypto and rare metals for generational wealth. Hit me up to gain more insight about investing tips
Thanks for this beautiful essay Henrik. I resonate with many of the points you discuss, but wanted to add a different perspective. As adults, having full control of our frontal lobes, many of us can 'play the internet like a piano'. Yet this analogy does not translate to children. Interfacing with the internet produces 'hyper attention' while other analog activities such as reading a physical book, engaging with nature, or interacting with people face-to-face nurtures 'deep attention'. When deep attention has to compete with hyper attention, it is akin to throwing a dolphin into a tank filled with piranhas and hoping that they will find a way to coexist.
I like using the analogy of a beautiful, mountainous, and mysterious landscape. At a young age, children have the opportunity to build train tracks to the farthest reaches of this wondrous scenery (by developing their deep attention). If they build these connections now (i.e., by immersing themselves in literature, history, nature, the art of conversation, etc.), they will forever be able to travel to the most remote locations that few others reach. If, however, they were to neglect the laying of these tracks now (and fall for the easy lure of hyper attention), the wonders of this landscape would remain largely hidden from them in their adult lives; only glimpses might be caught when flying over to another far-away land.
Do you have the inkling that certain types of attention/cogntition can only be develop during a certain developmental window?
My approach to using the internet with my kids is largely as an apprenticeship. They never do it on their own, and I bet they will not use it freely for quite a few more years; rather it is a communal practice, where we jointly share attention as we try to answer questions. Or talk to family on Zoom. Or listen to audiobooks and watch film in their second and third language, as an immersive practice.
Yes, your inkling is spot on. My husband is a neuropsychologist and thus I also read a lot on brain development, especially with regard to reading. The visual interface of screens alters eye movements and develops different, more superficial, pathways for reading and attention. Thus, reading from a tablet vs. reading from a tangible book; drawing with a paint program vs. drawing with paint and paper etc. produce more superficial attention. That is why learning to read from a device is not recommendable. The fact that a device provides access to a multitude of activities such as films, games, photos, text, etc. makes deep attention even more challenging (you are likely familiar with research that finds that even having a phone in your pocket makes you less likely to be attentive to details in your surroundings). The surge in attentional disorders is a close mirror of the surge in screen time.
Keeping children engaged with real life, tangible objects is necessary for brain development that will support their future attention.
Gaining financial freedom at this economic crisis is a must. Trade stocks, real estate, crypto and rare metals for generational wealth. Hit me up to gain more insight about investing tips
This is so insightful. Not only did your fluid way of writing suck me in, the idea is also beautiful.
Sometimes, more stress comes from not knowing what we're after, not knowing what we want. We chase the wind and return wasted. Seeking purpose is good advice.
Yes, it is so important to take the time to establish what you want and ground yourself in that. I usually need to take a week or two off twice a year to be able to hear clearly what I'm supposed to go next. Been half-doing that for the last few weeks, and it feels great.
Gaining financial freedom at this economic crisis is a must. Trade stocks, real estate, crypto and rare metals for generational wealth. Hit me up to gain more insight about investing tips
Email: litcapsvell@gmail.com
Whatsapp: +357 99 016766
Brilliantly written and beautifully read. Loved this. I've been thinking lately about the idea of having an ecology of practice in which your routines and systems are coherent with your sense of self, aspirations, and external everyday constraints and this view of a practice fits really nicely - The Internet is a useful tool in the hands of the master, but it takes a self-awareness and deliberateness to learn how to wield it wisely.
"ecology of practice" I like that phrase. I've been going back to the old anthropologists for an upcoming piece where I'm thinking about what it means for a culture to be integrated and well-functioning, and I think that phrase captures it.
I picked up the phrase from Peter Limberg of The Stoa in this recent piece of his: https://lessfoolish.substack.com/p/monasticization-of-daily-life
A brilliant antidote to the "tool as devil structure" meme. You and Alan Levinovitz appear to be on the same page: https://hedgehogreview.com/web-features/thr/posts/the-dao-of-using-your-smartphone
I'll put that on my reading list, thank you!
Thanks for the link. Read it, and signed up for a newsletter! I love the hedgehog's take on technology ... I shall be increasing rituals for its use, and spreading that idea.
Really great essay. Thanks for this. It speaks (directly and indirectly) to a few different things I'm struggling with at the moment, e.g., working to overcome my deep distaste for social media while trying to use Notes productively/purposefully, finding a clearer direction to take my writing, and so on. After reading this piece, I read some of your others, and they've all been incredibly helpful.
I think it’s so important to encourage people to read with a specific purpose. Sometimes we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to get through a reading list, but it’s a lot more effective to use a book as a guide with a current problem you’re facing...almost like a friend or mentor there to help you for a current life objective.
Exactly! I think a lot of people are little bit confused around reading, feeling obliged to finish etc. Its just a tool. Something you use to affect certain changes in yourself, emotional, or intellectual.
Gaining financial freedom at this economic crisis is a must. Trade stocks, real estate, crypto and rare metals for generational wealth. Hit me up to gain more insight about investing tips
Email: litcapsvell@gmail.com
Whatsapp: +357 99 016766
This is beautiful - thank you!
Gaining financial freedom at this economic crisis is a must. Trade stocks, real estate, crypto and rare metals for generational wealth. Hit me up to gain more insight about investing tips
Email: litcapsvell@gmail.com
Whatsapp: +357 99 016766
Thanks for this beautiful essay Henrik. I resonate with many of the points you discuss, but wanted to add a different perspective. As adults, having full control of our frontal lobes, many of us can 'play the internet like a piano'. Yet this analogy does not translate to children. Interfacing with the internet produces 'hyper attention' while other analog activities such as reading a physical book, engaging with nature, or interacting with people face-to-face nurtures 'deep attention'. When deep attention has to compete with hyper attention, it is akin to throwing a dolphin into a tank filled with piranhas and hoping that they will find a way to coexist.
I like using the analogy of a beautiful, mountainous, and mysterious landscape. At a young age, children have the opportunity to build train tracks to the farthest reaches of this wondrous scenery (by developing their deep attention). If they build these connections now (i.e., by immersing themselves in literature, history, nature, the art of conversation, etc.), they will forever be able to travel to the most remote locations that few others reach. If, however, they were to neglect the laying of these tracks now (and fall for the easy lure of hyper attention), the wonders of this landscape would remain largely hidden from them in their adult lives; only glimpses might be caught when flying over to another far-away land.
That's beautiful!
Do you have the inkling that certain types of attention/cogntition can only be develop during a certain developmental window?
My approach to using the internet with my kids is largely as an apprenticeship. They never do it on their own, and I bet they will not use it freely for quite a few more years; rather it is a communal practice, where we jointly share attention as we try to answer questions. Or talk to family on Zoom. Or listen to audiobooks and watch film in their second and third language, as an immersive practice.
Yes, your inkling is spot on. My husband is a neuropsychologist and thus I also read a lot on brain development, especially with regard to reading. The visual interface of screens alters eye movements and develops different, more superficial, pathways for reading and attention. Thus, reading from a tablet vs. reading from a tangible book; drawing with a paint program vs. drawing with paint and paper etc. produce more superficial attention. That is why learning to read from a device is not recommendable. The fact that a device provides access to a multitude of activities such as films, games, photos, text, etc. makes deep attention even more challenging (you are likely familiar with research that finds that even having a phone in your pocket makes you less likely to be attentive to details in your surroundings). The surge in attentional disorders is a close mirror of the surge in screen time.
Keeping children engaged with real life, tangible objects is necessary for brain development that will support their future attention.
The smartphone in the pocket: that makes me glad I've never gotten around to buying one.
Neither have I - and am profoundly glad for it, as I am not a 'freak of self-control' who could resist its temptation.
Gaining financial freedom at this economic crisis is a must. Trade stocks, real estate, crypto and rare metals for generational wealth. Hit me up to gain more insight about investing tips
Email: litcapsvell@gmail.com
Whatsapp: +357 99 016766