Chris J Wilson

A Dark Consensus About Screens and Kids Begins to Emerge in Silicon Valley - The New York Times via @leo

A wariness that has been slowly brewing is turning into a regionwide consensus: The benefits of screens as a learning tool are overblown, and the risks for addiction and stunting development seem high. The debate in Silicon Valley now is about how much exposure to phones is O.K.

Interesting article that touches on ideas you’ve probably heard a lot recently. I agree more with the “principled limited” screen usage. There’s an incredible depth of knowledge on the internet including things like YouTube (I don’t think there’s been a better time to learn a musical instrument and I’m brushing up my jazz guitar chops) but YouTube is designed to get you hooked and spend more time there, and often the brain dead stuff is the most addictive. We have to be careful.

Austin Mann’s iPhone Xs camera review 🔗 Surprise Austin takes great pictures with an iPhone again. This weekend I took a photo of a friend on sunny day when he was standing in the shade and it was hot. I suggested moving into the sun for a better picture, but he declined. Smart HDR would have lead to a much better end result. Then there was another moment at home where I suspect Smart HDR would have helped.

This is really making me want a new iPhone.

Should We Stop Listening to Podcasts? — CJ Chilvers

When you mention time and attention theft, most creators think of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (which I call Facebook II). They usually don’t think about Youtube or podcasts, which have the same issues: the ad model and all its abuses to the listener, and the lack of quality in favor of burn-out-inducing “consistency” and quantity (something that is also tied to the ad model).

I recently cut the number of podcast I listen to for similar reasons. With exceptions, podcast tend towards entertainment over content. I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with that. It’s good to switch off and be entertained from time to time but not all the time. Still greater intentionality is always good, as is protecting your attention.

I’d rather be a blogger

I just think one of the main reasons that the internet took off like it did from the late–90s onward was that people could finally have a voice, regardless of whether or not that voice drove clicks and views. No need to go through gatekeepers like print publications, book publishers, etc… we could just write something and hit publish. Now our voices are collectively passed through the values of content marketing and growth-hacking.

I probably could have linked to Paul’s whole article but what’s the point in that. So instead I quoted the part I found most inspiring. It’s a really great take on the difference between blogging and content marketing. This hit me hard as I’ve done a lot of “contentting” and not that much blogging until I came on Micro.blog…it’s good to be blogging.

Cognitive Dissonance

It has also been observed that if a person finds themselves engaging in activities which are in opposition to what they believe, they will be more willing to change their belief or adopt new beliefs to suit the situation, rather than change their actions.

I’m researching for an article and this statement really struck me. People will change their beliefs to match their actions more than change their actions.

Reading aloud

I find that reading my work aloud makes it weird enough that I can’t scan or gloss over anything. Reading to an audience is best, because you start really judging the thing when you have to project it into a room full of people. Quentin Tarantino says he likes to read his scripts to his friends, not for their feedback, but their presence. “I don’t want input, I don’t want you to tell me if I’m doing anything wrong, heavens forbid,” he says, “But I write a scene, and I think I’ve heard it as much as I can, but then when I read it to you … I hear it through your ears, and it lets me know I’m on the right track.”

I use this trick with proofreading texts. Sometimes I have to look at the same thing that’s been sent back and forth about five times, often with a minor change introduced that is easily missed. Reading aloud is one of the only ways to keep my eyes fresh.