The Impact of Slow Distractions on Quality of Life

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The distractions we choose to fill our free time with can impact the overall quality of our lives. Slow distractions, which require deeper engagement and cognition, are better for us than fast distractions that merely play on surface-level emotions. Fast distractions, like scrolling through Twitter, provide shallow engagement and do not require deep thinking, whereas slow distractions, such as reading a political nonfiction book, encourage deeper cognitive processing and understanding of complex ideas. Therefore, rewiring our brains to prefer slow distractions can lead to a more fulfilling use of our free time and improve the quality of our lives.

During the New Year season it is common to talk about how to be more productive. But what about the downtime between your major pursuits? In this episode, Cal argues for rewiring your brain to crave slow distractions over their faster (often digital) alternatives. The goal here is not to get more done but to transform your life into something slower and more meaningful.

Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: bit.ly/3U3sTvo

Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia

Deep Dive: Slow Distractions [2:25]

- How do I work deeply as a stay-at-home parent? [29:12]
- Isn’t it myopic not to let young children use smartphones? [36:44]
- How do I succeed as a musician without social media? [38:09]
- How do I make plans without social media? [48:37]
- CALL: How to share ideas without allowing social media to take control [55:02]

CAL REACTS: I’m a 33-year old woman without a job [1:05:55]

Links:

youtu.be/YQLVWficcwc?si=lOIBa23I_0-4sJl6

Download a FREE chapter from my upcoming book, "Slow Productivity" HERE: https://www.calnewport.com/slow

Thanks to our Sponsors:

expressvpn.com/deep
notion.com/cal
shopify.com/deep
grammarly.com/podcast

Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, Kieron Rees for slow productivity music, and Mark Miles for mastering.