Uncomfortable Truth About Social Media (Avoid Distracting Content & Control Your Life) | Cal Newport

[@Fgp96]

you’re a beacon of hope in a distracted world Cal

[@riddlerhymes512]

Great analogy, Cal. Both hyper processed food and algorithm driven social media are addictive and destructive. The big difference? With social media, algorithms create an addictive product that has been custom crafted to each consumer. It's like Hershey's Chocolate creating a candy bar called "Bob" that has all my favorite ingredients, and then pelting my house with it day and night.

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

Educated and high quality Curators are more important than never

[@williamchitangala9951]

Then, writing is like cooking and doing (primary) research is like farming.

[@brainstem2023]

What's really terrible is that KZbin can be distracting. I constantly fall victim to the recommended videos on the page with videos, like this one, that I genuinely need to be watching. If I could actually treat this as a PodCast and just listen without watching, that might help. But getting there is tough.

[@kouhaiii3182]

i have Unhook on pc (and firefox mobile) just for that. redirects to subscriptions and hides recommended/related videos.

[@timbukstu]

FWIW - for the recommended video's I save them to "watch later" or another folder. Then I will someday go back and watch them. Ironically, I never do. I listen to YT when walking the dogs, doing chores, and sometimes at my desk. For great video's I take notes, Like this one - 3 things stuck out to me. Anything else I listen to take away one piece of information, and don't try to learn it all if it has more golden nuggets. I just watch it again "later"

[@notthatJules1]

there is a Chrome browser extension called Unhook that hides the sidebars and ads. I only watch on my laptop so I can do this.

[@briancrainfan]

@@timbukstu I actually use the sponsored ads as a way of telling myself to pause the video.

[@studylive99]

Listen while you are doing something active like cooking, doing dishes or something

[@DeezCards]

Am being trained to be promoted to a project manager at the engineering firm I work at. Inability to work deeply was one of my biggest concerns with that position so today's question on the topic was very insightful.

[@Celtic-Acid]

You're welcome. Glad I could help.

[@CedarCoastCreative]

I am a content creator for my own business, but also for a software company. Keeping an online presence is very important for the brand to continue to grow, but I am aiming to keep it educational and cerebral, and avoid the digital doritos/Mr. Beast hyper edited content. It is a very fine line to walk and may cause loss of engagement, but in the scheme of things I feel and hope it will be worth it. I have certainly felt the effects of eating ultra processed foods as well as ultra processed social media, you really do become numb to it. Thank you for this perspective, I very much agree with it and it is certainly helping me grow in my understanding of how to further work more efficiently and push through the mind-numbing environments that have been created in our everyday lives.

[@DarkSitari]

Too many adverts for crappy trending products and services.

[@user-hf9zp5rz4i]

Sponsor Block browser plugin auto skips the video past them

[@taylorjanegreen1]

I love your work and I agree with so much of what you say about social media. I am a digital minimalist of intentional living, thanks to you! Yet, I have to say there are a lot of great people and great content on TikTok and Instagram in addition to all the ultra processed bull fuzz. There’s a lot of real education and real people on Instagram and TikTok. Yes, like Pinterest, it’s short form, but that doesn’t always take away from the punch of an important Ah ha or insight or message. I think talking in absolutes about the content of these platforms detracts from your argument.

[@studylive99]

The problem is the overload

[@weston.weston]

I greatly endorse Cal's message, re: social media.

[@fluestergefuehle]

"re:" means "reply"

[@weston.weston]

@@fluestergefuehle It means "in reference to"

[@fluestergefuehle]

@@weston.weston Maybe google it first.

[@mnunley010]

@@weston.weston it can also mean "regarding" which is how I understood your comment and makes sense

[@weston.weston]

@@mnunley010 same.

[@brainstem2023]

Where do e-books fit? Are they minimally or moderately processed? E-books are found more and more on platforms that tempt the reader to look at books they don't own. Print books may have some sort of advertising component, but it doesn't change while you're reading it like the Kindle app home page. Sheesh, imagine if your bookcase had advertisements streaming on the sides.

[@mpazaryna]

I'm using an AI workflow to extract summaries from KZbin videos and add them into Obsidian for further reading and note-taking. This has been incredibly helpful as I rely heavily on KZbin for professional learning. However, this distillation seems analogous to the ultra-processed foods you mentioned. Could this be considered ultra-processed content? Will the AI summaries and AI-generated work foster the same potential drawbacks as consuming ultra-processed food in learning and building a deep understanding?

[@syifaaulia100]

wow a lot of very good tips here! and interesting ideas!

[@Chic.Geek75]

Thank You Cal!

[@nagomezp]

What is the name of the tool to send newsletters to the Kindle?

[@brysonthor]

I want that image of the phone sipping off the brain as my background image good stuff

[@sanyaprakash]

I want summary 😢

[@lment333]

Fast food digital menus shove tailored content in your face without showing all content without bias - might be a similar analogy

[@razvancoca1472]

would it work taking pencil notes while watching? might notice the emergence of real ideas behind mindless watching

[@MohanizShow]

You are Favourite Channels

[@Krazyed13]

Dunkaroos are actually back!

[@casualnerdjason6678]

FINALLY Gilmore Girls came up on the podcast.

[@Run4yourlives]

Digital Dorito. Wow. Can’t think of social media any other way now. 😳

[@Celtic-Acid]

Digital tacos, digital kebabs are some more for you 🧑‍🎓

[@Beshladilawal]

KZbin is a social media too. Telling people to stop won’t work. Let everyone use it as they want.

[@taylorjanegreen1]

Sorry to rain on your parade, guys, but the low productivity music is nails on a blackboard… Wincing material every time! 😬😬😬

[@RobertAnthony___zz]

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[@AmandaNicole__0]

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[@RobertAnthony___zz]

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[@RobertAnthony___zz]

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[@Sis.RachelClaire]

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[@Sis.RachelClaire]

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