Digital consumption does not let me do actual work

There are two types of people in the world - those who create and those who consume. Facebook, IG and the rest evolved from social networks to social media. They honed the product (their algorithms) to such a degree so as to get maximum engagement from their users. This is visible in Meta's user hostile decision to always default to the algorithmic 'For You' feed on Threads.

When some of the smartest people in the world want you to get addicted to something, you will get addicted to it. And so many are. Doomscrolling is a thing. Ask someone what they saw after an hour spent scrolling, and they would not be able to reliably answer.

I take pride (ego?) in the fact that I recognise this fact and am able to take action from time-to-time to test my resolve regarding social media.

Whenever I find myself scrolling IG uncontrollably, for example, I uninstall the app for a few days/weeks/months.

I do not post to Facebook since a long time now. I enabled auto-posting between IG and FB, so all my recent posts are that. I did not delete FB. Never felt the need to, actually.

And yet, despite it all, I found myself nodding along as I read digital consumption keeps me from getting better at my job.

There are a couple of things which spoke to me in paricular:

1. I write. I used to have great vocabulary. Now, at times I struggle to find the right words. I space out on simple things.
2. I find it hard to engage with longer content. Books, or longer articles. I bookmark them in NNW for reading it later. But never do.

I have recently discovered NNW, and I find myself struggling with wanting to read everything. Get the notifications down to zero. I feel productive while doing so. And there are a lot of good things I come across on the web too. But I wonder now, am I getting better at things at my job. Or things that I am working on now.

The answer I think is no.

Sure, I am getting a lot of articles to talk about for NordLetter. Which is good I guess, but there is only so much time in a day. If I am spending that time reading on the web, I am not spending that time working on my book. Or reading that AD book for work. Or preparing for AZ-305.

I don't have a solution at present. I need to find a balance. There is also a mental aspect to this all. This deluge of content is not healthy. I could remove the Hacker News feed, for example, but there is some really interesting stuff I come across on that feed sometimes. This sivervepunk article for example.

I do not have a solution at present. Turning off the notifications might work. Which is the default state for almost all the apps on my phone. Maybe its the unread badge which is making me anxious and not at peace.

I do not have a solution at present. I will report back when I do.