I’ve tried several times to articulate my feelings on Readwise Reader, but failed every time. Sometimes frustratingly so because I think a lot of my problems relate to things I feel when using it. Don’t get me wrong it works great, and some features are really well done, it just doesn’t feel like it wants me to enjoy reading.
So, I’m stuck trying to pin down thoughts on sometimes ephemeral feelings provoked by an app.
Like most people I know, I am constantly worried about getting through my task list. At times in the last couple of years I’ve been absolutely buried with no way out. I’m always desperate for ways to maximise my time and ‘hack’ my way to getting more done. Judging by half of the YouTube videos I am suggested, I am not the only one, but there is a surprising fix.
There appears to be a collective belief that the world of blogging is changing. It is true that we are living in an era where Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is transforming the way content is produced. I’m just not convinced that it will change the way I, or most people I know, blog. Mainly due to the reasons why most people blog being entirely different to those of content farms doing it for income.
There are not many things that improve my life straight away any more. Meditation did exactly that around 6 years ago, and now journaling is doing the same thing. You read that right, me, journaling. After all my dismissive posts and words over the years of not knowing or wanting to write in one. I’ve got to admit, it’s quite remarkable.
I realise that it is only the end of January, and it’s easy to exaggerate the benefits before the novelty has worn off, but hear me out.
Derek Kedziora writing about giving up alcohol a few months also.
I was never a daily drinker, but I was always had one beer too many at parties and heavily relied on a bit of alcohol for confidence and getting through awkward social situations.
After drawing back and consuming much less for a while, it’s been a little over a month since I decided to give up alcohol. I had written a long post about this, but read Derek’s post above yesterday, and it distilled most of my thoughts into a paragraph.
For at least a couple of years, I’ve had an iPhone problem. Well, it’s not Apple’s fault, it’s mine, so I guess it’s more of a me problem. With iPhones. The problem is (that is my issue, not Apples) that there are too many iPhones, and I wish we could just go back to one version.
I write regularly about wanting to go back to not having a smartphone. I also write fairly regularly about my justification of having a huge iPhone.
Luke Harris on his blog, writing about social media as a whole:
I’m on Mastodon, but I’m bored with what I call “the timeline era”. Scanning an unending stream of disconnected posts for topics of interest is no longer fun, I prefer deciding what to read based on titles, or topic-based discussion.
Before I start, I need to point out, early enough in my post, that I understand all the benefits of Mastodon.
I give myself a hard time about the things I do and getting the most out of my short time in this mortal coil. I obsess over things like social media usage, writing practices and lots more I don’t write about. It does get me down some times, but here’s the thing, I am confident I put thought into the right things.
Sure, I might occasionally spend too much time comparing writing apps or to-do tasks but, in the main, the things I put thought into are important.
The posts I write do not disappear into the recesses of my mind, I think about them often. My thoughts and feelings often change over time, but when it comes to my attitudes towards work, I’ve remained fairly fixed for years. Whereas the general perception of work has had a major culture shift, accelerated by the pandemic, and one that is great for the world. Hustle culture and working because that’s what you’re supposed to do has been replaced by a desire for more.