Arman's Antics (#059)
The latest from mental junk food junkie Arman Khodadoost
Hey everyone!
Coming to you live from Austin, Texas. Here’s your weekly dose of Arman’s Antics. Five things I’ve explored and discovered that will get you thinking, laughing, crying (or a nasty combination of the three).
Welcome to the zero new subscribers receiving this for the first time (304 total). I respect your inbox and don’t take your attention for granted.
I hope nobody is reading this, but if you are, please keep it to yourself.
Essay I wrote last week
For most of human history, our ancestors suffered from information scarcity.
Now we suffer from the exact opposite. This is a uniquely modern affliction, so we can’t turn to the history books for any meaningful guidance. It pains me to say this but:
I think you're mentally obese
Humanity’s collective diet is atrocious. And I’m not talking about what we shove into our mouths. I’m nauseated by what we feed our minds. We have adopted a mental junk food diet that would even make the FDA cringe. A mental sweet tooth seemed harmless at first, but now it’s clearly rotting our minds.
Book I unapologetically binged (for the second time) last week
If you enjoyed my essay above, you’ll love Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman.
Every once in a while you stumble upon a collection of ideas that describes what you’ve been thinking but didn’t have the words for.
This book is one of them. The foreword alone is worth the price tag. Now I could blabber on and on about all the fine points he lays out, but I won’t bore you with that. Here’s the description:
“Originally published in 1985, Neil Postman’s groundbreaking polemic about the corrosive effects of television on our politics and public discourse has been hailed as a twenty-first-century book published in the twentieth century. Now, with television joined by more sophisticated electronic media—from the Internet to cell phones to DVDs—it has taken on even greater significance. Amusing Ourselves to Death is a prophetic look at what happens when politics, journalism, education, and even religion become subject to the demands of entertainment...”
I mean c’mon, even the image on the cover has to intrigue you, no?
Youtube video that perfectly introduces the book above
Remember how I said the foreword from Amusing Ourselves to Death is reason enough to buy the book? Well, if you’re too cheap (or lazy) to do that, here it is in video form so you don’t have to take my word for it:
Tech fast
When’s the last time you went 24 hours without using technology?
Don’t worry, I’ll wait…
I thought about this long and hard but couldn’t think of a single instance. In fact, I’ve gone longer without food than without technology. So I decided to change that.
And made my wife do it too (against her will).
From 6pm on Saturday (after UGA won their football game of course) to 6pm on Sunday, we experimented with a technology fast. As in, no phones, no TV, no radio, literally nothing. This is no exaggeration when I say it was the most peaceful 24 hours we have ever experienced.
I won’t lie and say it was easy (although my wife made it seem so), but I can confirm it was worth it.
She and I experienced a strange sensation that has become completely foreign to us all — boredom. And we loved it.
We conversed with each other more than we ever do.
We drank coffee together without scrolling on our phones.
We took our dog (Xena) on more walks than she’s used to.
We read our books for hours at a time.
We forgot day light savings time occurred.
In other words, we totally disconnected from the outside world which led to us to be more connected with each other.
I hate when someone tries to proselytize their beliefs onto me, but after this tech fast I can’t resist — every single one of you would benefit from a 24 hour tech fast. Just make sure you tell your loved ones you are doing it beforehand, so they don’t call the cops to file a missing persons report.
Random thought
Why can’t we set autoresponders for phones like we can for emails?
That’s it for the 59th edition of Arman’s Antics.
Thank you for spending a few of your attention points with me today. Again, I hope nobody is still reading this, but if you are, please keep it to yourself. Now back to your regularly scheduled nonstop scrolling.
Have a terrific Tuesday!
Cheers,
Arman
Please don’t like or comment below
That sounds like an interesting book, thanks for sharing!
I can’t think of the last time that I spent 24h without technology, but it’s something I always think about. I’ll probably give it a try.