*Future editions of my newsletter will be published on Fridays at noon, thanks!*
“Doomscrolling” is an interesting word. The precise definition is up for debate, but in the early days of the internet it was considered the act consuming large amounts of negative news from our grossly unnecessary 24/7 news cycle. Recently the definition has transitioned to the mindless scrolling of short form video content à la TikTok, Youtube Shorts, and Instagram Reels.
I unfortunately witness this everyday.
Waiting for the bus? Doomscrolling.
Waiting at the doctor’s office? Doomscrolling.
Walking your dog? Doomscrolling.
The act is easy to identify. The victim is usually holding their cell phone about 12 inches from their face. The eyes are often lifeless and glazed over. The thumb on the dominant hand will make a flicking motion on the center of the screen every 5 seconds or so. Occasionally, the victim will utter a small chuckle when something amuses their most primal senses. This is often when someone slips and falls, or something makes a loud noise. Always the mouth is slightly ajar, and if you watch for long enough a little bit of drool will slowly trickle out of their mouths.
I am very familiar with this phenomenon because I’ve wiped away my fair share drool. I have been trying to curb my phone addiction for more than a decade, and while I have made some progress, I know I still have work to do. I know this because whenever my cell phone is down on the ground near him, Luca lunges at my phone and holds it to his face, mimicking me. When I see him do this, it breaks my heart. Clearly he knows that I give this thing too much damn attention.
I realized that the phone was a problem when I was in medical school, so much so that I went ahead and permanently deleted my Facebook and Instagram. I allowed myself access to YouTube because I enjoyed long form video content (it’s funny that I have to make such a distinction now). This was all well and good until the advent of YouTube Shorts. Little did I know, but the shorts would be fed to me periodically, and unbeknownst to my conscious attention, I would spend hours exercising my right thumb, learning and enjoying little to nothing. I’ve gotten so angry at myself at times that I would delete the YouTube app from my phone, but then find myself downloading it again when I wanted to watch my other content.
I’ve gotten much better at more consciously consuming content, and the way I do this is by curating more thoughtfully. I now always have a running list of books, podcasts, and videos. When I want to watch something for 30 minutes, I will try to watch a 30 minute long form video that I have saved, rather than watch 360 five second videos. My go to while waiting for something is the kindle app on my phone. While running or driving, podcasts and audiobooks are great.
My attention is one of my most valuable resources and I vow to give it to my family most of all. There is no such thing as idle time, I have to decide on how to spend it. I want to try and spend as much time away from the screen as I can, but when I want consume something on my own time in order to unplug or to learn, I will consciously choose what I watch. I won’t let someone else decide that for me.
Especially not Mark Zuckerberg.
I will leave you with this line from a song that came on at the end of my last run. It absolutely jazzed me up.
“F**k you, I won’t do what you tell me!” - Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine
BONUS:
At the risk of trying to curate your content, below are links to a few of my favorite YouTube videos that I conjured up as good examples for this post. If you have an inquisitive nature, and a thirst for the most interesting of things, you may find these worthy of your attention.
How The Economic Machine Works by Ray Dalio - many people talk about “the economy” but do not understand it’s underlying mechanics. I’ve read a lot about economic theory, but nothing more terse and precise than this 30 minute video by Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, one of the most most successful investment firms in the world. His book Principles is on my reading list, but as I understand it, much of the book’s content is freely available on his YouTube channel as well. His video on The Changing World Order is fantastic as well.
Why It Was Almost Impossible to Make the Blue LED - this video tells the fascinating story behind the creation of the first ever practical blue LED. It may seem trivial at first but it was only with the advent of the blue LED that we were then able to develop LCD screens with red, green, and blue LEDS. This channel is one of my absolute favorites. The founder Derek Muller is a physicist, educator, and film maker, and he does an amazing job of breaking down complex scientific concepts so that anyone can appreciate them.
The Death of Socrates: How To Read A Painting - Evan Puschak is a video essayist and recently published his first book Escape Into Meaning. This was the first video of his that I watched and I can’t believe that it’s already 8 years old. In this video he waxes poetic as he breaks down a painting by neoclassical French painter Jacques-Louis David. I find his analysis and commentary to be understandable even as a very novice enthusiast of art. His other videos breaking down works of film and literature are excellent as well. He puts amazing effort into his work and it shows.