Quit social media ... Cal Newport (author of deep work)

nelsonic commented 7 years ago

iteles commented 7 years ago

I heard this podcast with Cal Newport earlier this year and immediately put his book in my amazon cart queue: http://www.asianefficiency.com/podcast/088-cal-newport/

nelsonic commented 7 years ago

Yeah, maybe quitting "Social" (Distraction!) Media will be the catalyst that will allow us Time to focus on what matters...? ❓

iteles commented 7 years ago

https://twitter.com/iteles/status/813539229619851264

nelsonic commented 7 years ago

Yeah, aren't we already in the second week of the new year...? How did the hiatus go...?

iteles commented 7 years ago

It wasn't long enough.

nelsonic commented 7 years ago

Does quitting "Social Media" make me a "Quitter"...? 🤔 🤣

jedwards1211 commented 7 years ago

@nelsonic you're using GitHub quite like social media 😉

nelsonic commented 7 years ago

@jedwards1211 Yes I use GitHub to "socially" collaborate on code projects (and as a (public) "Todo List" / task tracker...)

The key distinction between my usage of GitHub and other "Social Media" sites is:

I pay GitHub for their service.
I GET a lot of real value out of using GitHub both for pleasure & work.
I expect GitHub aren't mining & selling my personal data to advertisers
Every feature on GitHub has an API which allows me to extract my data and leave at any time.

Facebook, by contrast, are hoodwinking people into using their "useful" services (mostly systematically copied from other apps/sites ...!) while harvesting all their personal data. I don't know if people care... Mostly people just want a "free" photo hosting service and to stay in contact with family/friends...

And Facebook (and other "Social Media" services) are "Free", right...?! https://www.facebook.com/help/186556401394793 facebook-is-free

Maybe not...

I would gladly Pay Mark Zuckerberg & Co. $5 / month (way more than he is selling my data for!!) if there was a "we won't ever sell your data" <option> on Facebook. But that will never happen because they have their Business Model now (selling their user's personal information!!) and the "Market" would not allow them to change (even if there was an internal appetite to "do the right thing"...)

Meanwhile I have a #plan for quitting Facebook but I need time to implement it!

Use Facebook API to extract all my contacts and birthdays so I can retain that useful data (so I can send people birthday greetings!)
Use Facebook API to extract any other data they have on me.
Use messenger API to send PM to all my Fb contacts informing them Why I'm quitting.
Close/Delete Facebook account.
Get on with work.

Like your fine self, Andy, I've had the "come and work for us" email from Fb recruiters several times. They obviously don't have a very good internal database for tracking the "NOs" or they are just "persistent"...

P.S: I don't think Facebook is necessarily "worse" than any other "Social Media"... They are all mining and selling personal data. This is just an example.

jedwards1211 commented 7 years ago

Yeah, I agree that it would be nice to pay Facebook (etc.) in return for not selling my data. Though I would also want the option to completely disable distracting features like the newsfeed, I have no idea if that's become possible since I quit 2 years ago...

Or that they had a way to subscribe to certain group notifications by e-mail only, without opening an account. The only thing I really regret about not being on Facebook is sometimes missing out on group event notifications.

I'm glad to year you also turned their recruiters down!

sirmews commented 7 years ago

Any suggestions for dropping LinkedIn? While many professional devs can get away with using Github as their resume some of us have different occupations.

In terms of social media accounts or those that come close, I only have LinkedIn and Github.

nelsonic commented 7 years ago

@raonav I have a (mental) Plan to Quit LinkedIn too... 😜 Historically it's been pretty useful for me as my "CV". I haven't "applied" for a "Job" in the past 9 years because people have found me, often through LinkedIn... but there is a better way, we just need to build it...!

I don't think MSFT would have paid $26Bn to acquire LNKD http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/6/13855408/microsoft-linkedin-acquisition-cleared to just let them "keep doing what they are doing" ... it's clear to me that MSFT are going to "data mine" the crap out of the LinkedIn data to tighten their grip on the Enterprise Software market by knowing everything about the "Executives" who make software purchasing decisions...

We started making progress towards eventually leaving LNKD in 2015 with an internal project which I can tell you more about if you're interested, but sadly, (for now) not all of the code is "Open Source"...

sirmews commented 7 years ago

@nelsonic Pretty interested in hearing more about that project. I aim to drop LinkedIn this year. Their history of dark UX practices alone made me despise them, even before the MSFT purchase.

nelsonic commented 7 years ago

@raonav see: https://github.com/akitten and think of how these pieces can be assembled ... 🙈

nelsonic commented 7 years ago

Good summary of Deep Work: https://youtu.be/LJ9lnspNNRE (1h)

nelsonic commented 7 years ago

https://youtu.be/d5GecYjy9-Q