Patience as a differentiator. Expectations keep getting higher. Yes, time is a blur. Assumptions on aging. Verifying what you read. Unexpected results of efficiency improvements. Teens and social media isn't black and white.
“Patience is not passive, on the contrary, it is concentrated strength.”
— Bruce Lee
Today’s musical backdrop: Good Vibes Coffee Rave ☕ @Bali Café I Groovy/Funky/Afro/Tech House I Uplifting Dance Mix by Val Baker DJ. As I’ve mentioned before, my tastes are eclectic. Today I needed something dancey and upbeat.
Hope your week goes well.
Take care,
1. “Patience is the killer advantage”
Your Edge Is Patience, Not Genius – JA Westenberg – (Blog)
I’m tempted to say that if there’s anything I’ve learned… but it’s not something I’ve learned; it’s something I just did. Ask Leo! for 23 years. Not All News Is Bad coming up on 10 years. 7 Takeaways approaching 300 issues over nearly six years. Patience. Keeping going even on days when I felt like tossing it all away. That’s why these publications enjoy even a small modicum of success.
you’re competing against people who stop
And there are a lot of those. Unfinished projects. Newsletters that quietly stop after just a few issues. Sometimes it’s a deliberate choice, learning the effort wasn’t what you truly wanted. But more often than not it’s just running out of the patience to keep at it.
Do this: Have patience.
Support 7 Takeaways
(Or just forward this to a friend; that helps too.)
2. “Every improvement eventually becomes the new baseline”
The Inflation of Expectations – Tom Greene – (Blog)
Hedonic adaptation. We get everything we want, and yet we’re not happy because we want more. What was only a dream some time ago is now a basic requirement.
There’s a problem with that.
If every luxury immediately becomes a necessity, there’s no level of prosperity capable of making us feel prosperous.
By continually moving the goalposts, we ensure we can never reach them. As a result, we can never look around and truly appreciate what we have.
Do this: Stop and appreciate where you are.
3. “It feels like we’re living through multiple decades at once”
Your Perception Of Time Is, In Fact, Warped – Mike Mariani – (Noema)
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve quipped, “time, it’s all just a blur” when I or someone I’m talking to has difficulty remembering when something happened. Turns out there’s science behind that feeling. And based on that science, we get to blame COVID and doomscrolling.
The way we gauge time is inextricably linked to how active and engaged our brains are, and the extent to which we form memories.
Specifically, a lack of novel things to remember in prior years leads to them seeming to have passed by quickly in hindsight. It really is all a blur. It’s our experience of novel things that helps our brain keep track and remember.
The entire article is a fascinating look at how we experience time, and how we’ve all been affected by events. Our perception is, indeed, warped.
Do this: Counter-intuitively, become more comfortable with doing nothing. Another argument in the essay.
4. “At some point, assumed competence moves.”
I Got Older. When Exactly Did I Become a Blasted Idiot? – Hans Casteels – (The Oncology Underground)
A funny and insightful read exploring how people start treating you differently once you pass some arbitrary age.
… we have developed a peculiar habit of treating the possibility of future incompetence as evidence of present incompetence. Grey hair has become circumstantial evidence. Age itself is apparently probable cause.
Ironically, the primary examples are all tech-related, which hits home hard for me. My tech expertise didn’t suddenly leave when I turned 69 last week, yet there are those who would take my grey hair and walking stick as a sign that I’ve lost all cognitive ability. Now generalize that to an aging population and across many fields of expertise and ability, and you can understand why some of us might be a tad frustrated.
Do this: Don’t assume incompetence. (The essay is entertaining, and I also recommend reading it.)
5. “Question what feels right”
The baseline skill of the AI age – Hana Lee Goldin, MLIS – (Card Catalog)
That baseline skill is simply verifying what you read. It’s a critical skill these days, and it’s simultaneously fallen into frightening disuse. The essay lists several specific steps to take. One, recognizing document types, is a simple, basic skill that can make a huge difference in how we accept what we consume.
Recognizing what kind of document has arrived changes how we read what it says. An advertisement can resemble an article. An opinion can resemble reporting. A press release can reproduce the language of research. A paid testimonial can look like an ordinary review. The format doesn’t determine whether every claim is accurate; it tells us what the page was made to do and what the author may have chosen to emphasize.
I keep returning to information literacy (and Card Catalog specifically) because it’s such an important skill, and it’s a skill we’re not using nearly enough.
Do this: Take the time to verify what you read; before you form an opinion, before you share.
6. “You may find yourself doing more, not less, of the thing you tried to become more efficient at.”
Jevons Paradox: The Perils of Efficiency – Sahil Bloom – (Curiosity Chronicle)
There’s a lot of talk of Jevons Paradox of late, because there’s a lot of talk about improving various technological efficiencies. It dates back to 1865, and is very much worth understanding.
The common economic intuition of the era said that as efficiency improved, people would use less coal. You could create the same total output with less coal, so less total coal would be used.
Jevons argued that the economic reality was different: As technology improved the efficiency of coal use, demand for coal would increase as people would create and justify new uses. They would grow their overall output in response to the lower input costs.
In short, Jevons was right.
It’s been applied to countless technologies since. Bloom points out that it also applies to aspects of our lives that we’re constantly trying to become more efficient at.
Do this: Understand the impact of improved efficiencies.
7. “Teens use social media in a dizzying array of ways”
Teen Social Media Bans Miss the Point – Mizuko Ito – (MIT Press Reader)
I understand the appeal of phone and/or social media bans for teenagers. It seems a simple solution for a scary problem. And yet, as the author’s title suggests, it kinda misses the point.
Teens use social media in a dizzying array of ways — to connect with friends and family, enjoy entertainment, get information, play games, create content, and organize movements. While social media can be weaponized for bullying or hate, over half of all teens turn to social media as a source of social and emotional support.
Bans are a black-and-white solution to a many-shades-of-grey problem. The real problem is that addressing those shades of grey — improving how social media works, teaching media literacy, ethics, and skepticism — is harder; much harder. And yet they’re skills to be used long after the teenage years have passed.
Do this: Invest in education.
Random links
Other things I found interesting this week.
- The Foundation and the Frontier – “Instead of worrying about AI encroaching upon what I do well, its power is in enhancing the things that I do poorly.”
- Everyone needs an Air Theramin.
What I’m reading now
- Tell Me Where It Hurts: The New Science of Pain and How to Heal – Rachel Zoffness Ph.D
- There Is No Antimemetics Division: A Novel – qntm
- The Inner Compass: Cultivating the Courage to Trust Yourself – Lawrence Yeo (re-read)
My Reading List – everything I’ve read since 2021.
My Sources Page – the common sources I scan/read regularly.
Support 7 Takeaways
Your support helps keep 7 Takeaways viable. I appreciate your consideration VERY much. I have options for recurring Support (Monthly/Quarterly/Yearly options) as well as one-time support over in The Ask Leo! (my “day job”) store. Purchasing any of the books using the links on my Reading List also helps.
Another thing that really helps is sharing 7 Takeaways with a friend. Just forward this email on. And if you received this email from a friend, you can subscribe at 7takeaways.com to get your own copy every Sunday.
Thanks!
If you’re having difficulty viewing this email, visit 7takeaways.com/latest.
If a link to a source above leads you to a paywall, please read my note on paywalls.
Some links above may be affiliate links.
If someone forwarded you this email, subscribe at 7takeaways.com.