attention is sacred

Our attention is sacred. It’s an act of worship in itself. An act of spiritual, mental, and emotional formation. When you give something your attention – a movie, a conversation, a project at work – you’re declaring it the most important thing in your life. It may sound dramatic, but at its core, it’s true. When you pay attention to something, you’... See more

Short-form content captures attention and brings immediate gratification, but it sacrifices lasting enrichment. Watching a bunch of reels doesn’t match the full immersion of a movie. Reading a series of posts doesn’t rival the depth of insight of a book. Long live long-form.

If all else fails, consider your own mortality. How many people on their deathbeds do you think are going to say, “I wish I’d spent more time on Facebook”? Keep asking yourself the same question, again and again and again: This is your life. How much of it do you want to spend on your phone?

When we fall in love with someone’s mind, it has far less to do with what they create and more to do with what they direct their attention toward. A relationship with Claude could satisfy me for a time on the level of output––I type, Claude types. When we are not speaking, I don’t know what Claude is paying attention to. Claude doesn’t either. I do... See more

And yet: as much as the Fediverse is different (the governing structures, the incentives, the moderation, the absence of ads and engagement tricks), so much of it is also unsettlingly familiar—the same small boxes, the same few buttons, the same mechanics of following and being followed. The same babbling, tumbling, rushing stream of thoughts. I ca... See more

everything is hyper engineered to make you addicted https://t.co/J7WvnjoAdQ