jenna

"The economy is just smart people paying beautiful people to promote stuff to insecure people." — @ShaanVP

800 page novels, 3.5 hour blockbuster movies, 4+ hour podcasts… Not to mention homesteading social media accounts with millions (and millions) of followers, slow food journaling version 2.4 promoting sourdough bread-making, old-school pickling and marmalade making — what’s going on?

Are we experiencing a new and evolved slow revolution? Is this the... See more

The fastest growing sector of the culture economy is distraction . Or call it scrolling or swiping or wasting time or whatever you want. But it’s not art or entertainment, just ceaseless activity.

The key is that each stimulus only lasts a few seconds, and must be repeated.

Our modern world seeks to focus us towards the short term and praises quarterly growth. But in the real world, away from high frequency ledger entries and global capital flows. It takes 100-120 years for an oak tree to grow from seed to full canopy height. It takes three human generations to grow a tree.

“In the past, jobs were about muscles. Now they’re about brains, but in the future, they’ll be about the heart.”

Today, this culture is at its fever pitch. But there’s also been a backlash: There’s been innumerable talk about the millennial burnout, the dangers of hustle porn, the warnings about our ever-shortening attention spans, and about the benefits of unplugging. We are all embracing the quiet time.