Overcoming the Pull of Social Media
Summary
TLDRIn this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the discussion revolves around the concept of boredom and its evolutionary purpose as a signal to seek more efficient activities. The conversation highlights how modern media consumption, averaging 11 hours a day, has numbed us to boredom, hindering the brain's default mode network which is crucial for creativity and introspection. The episode explores the negative impacts of constant digital stimulation, including increased anxiety and burnout, and emphasizes the importance of balancing screen time with solitude to foster deeper thinking and creativity.
Takeaways
- 🧠 Boredom is an evolutionary signal that prompts us to seek more efficient uses of our time, which is essential for survival and progress.
- 📱 Modern society's reliance on digital media has reduced our exposure to boredom, with people spending an average of 11 hours a day on such platforms.
- 👨🏫 The speaker, a professor, illustrates the extent of media consumption by having students share their screen time, revealing high levels of daily engagement.
- 🤔 Boredom can stimulate creativity and introspection, which are essential for generating new ideas and allowing the brain to rest and reset.
- 📱 The immediate escape from boredom provided by smartphones and digital media can lead to a constant state of brain stimulation, potentially contributing to burnout and anxiety.
- 💡 Research indicates that periods of boredom can enhance creativity, as evidenced by studies where bored participants outperformed those constantly stimulated.
- 📝 Writers and creators often require solitude and moments of discomfort to foster deep thinking and the emergence of original ideas.
- 🚫 The speaker advises against using digital distractions as a crutch, emphasizing the importance of facing the discomfort of boredom for creative output.
- 🌲 Historical and religious figures have often sought solitude for introspection and creativity, suggesting its importance across cultures and time.
- 🔄 The challenge in today's digital age is to balance screen time and media consumption with periods of solitude and introspection for mental well-being and creativity.
Q & A
What is the evolutionary purpose of boredom according to the transcript?
-Boredom is an evolutionary discomfort that signals that the current activity is not an efficient use of time, prompting individuals to seek out more productive tasks.
How many hours a day does the average person engage with digital media as mentioned in the transcript?
-The average person engages with digital media for about 11 hours a day.
What is the impact of constantly escaping boredom through digital media on our brains according to the discussion?
-Constantly escaping boredom through digital media prevents the brain from entering a restful state, which can lead to burnout, anxiety, and hinders creativity.
Why is it beneficial to allow ourselves to experience boredom as per the transcript?
-Allowing ourselves to experience boredom can lead to increased creativity and new idea generation, as it allows the brain to enter a default mode network, which is a restful and introspective state.
What does the transcript suggest about the difference between loneliness and solitude?
-Loneliness is generally not good for us, but solitude, which is the voluntary choice to be alone for introspection, can be beneficial for creativity and deep thinking.
What historical figures are mentioned in the transcript as examples of individuals who benefited from solitude?
-Historical figures mentioned include Jesus, Buddha, and Abraham Lincoln, who all spent significant time alone to foster creativity and introspection.
What is the 'default mode network' referred to in the transcript?
-The 'default mode network' is a state of the brain that is active when a person is not focused on the outside world and allows the brain to rest, revive, and engage in mind-wandering.
How does the transcript describe the effect of digital media on our daily interactions?
-The transcript describes digital media as having a negative impact on daily interactions, with people preferring to engage with their phones rather than with the people they are physically with.
What advice does the transcript give for managing the influence of digital media in our lives?
-The transcript suggests reducing screen time and engaging in solitude to balance the constant stimulation from digital media and to foster creativity and deeper thinking.
What is the significance of the 'muse' in the context of the transcript's discussion on creativity?
-In the context of the transcript, the 'muse' is treated as a real entity that bestows creative ideas upon individuals who consistently engage in their work and embrace discomfort, rather than constantly seeking external stimulation.
Outlines
📱 The Impact of Digital Media on Boredom and Creativity
The speaker discusses the evolutionary purpose of boredom, which signals that current activities are not efficiently utilizing time, prompting a search for more productive tasks. In modern times, with the prevalence of digital media, people spend an average of 11 hours a day engaged with it, leading to a constant stimulation that replaces boredom. This instant escape from boredom through devices like smartphones hinders the brain's natural tendency to wander and reset, which is essential for creativity and mental health. The speaker, a professor, illustrates this by sharing anecdotes from his students' screen time and emphasizes the need for solitude and introspection to foster creativity, which is often stifled by constant digital engagement.
🧘♂️ Embracing Solitude for Enhanced Creativity and Mental Well-being
The conversation shifts to the importance of solitude and its distinction from loneliness. Solitude is presented as a deliberate choice to be alone for introspection, which is beneficial for mental well-being and creativity. The speaker contrasts this with loneliness, which is detrimental. Historical figures like Jesus, Buddha, and Abraham Lincoln are cited as examples of individuals who used solitude for deep thinking and creativity. The discussion also touches on the challenges of breaking away from the constant pull of digital distractions and the need to balance digital consumption with periods of solitude to maintain a healthy mental state and foster original thought.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Boredom
💡Digital Media
💡Evolutionary Discomfort
💡Solitude
💡Mind Wandering
💡Default Mode Network
💡Burnout
💡Creativity
💡Distraction
💡Media Class
💡Loneliness
Highlights
The evolutionary purpose of boredom as a signal to seek more efficient use of time.
The average person spends 11 hours a day engaging with digital media.
In a university class, students reported spending between 7 to 9 hours on their phones daily.
Boredom prompts the brain to seek more efficient activities, which is now replaced by easy digital escapes.
The contrast between the social interactions in the past and the current phone-centric behavior.
The brain's default mode network as a rest period when not focused on external stimuli.
Boredom's role in fostering creativity and the mind-wandering state.
Research showing that bored individuals perform better on creativity tests.
The necessity of experiencing discomfort for the generation of creative ideas.
The challenge of maintaining focus in the face of digital distractions.
The concept of the 'muse' and the importance of showing up for work to invite creativity.
The difficulty of reducing screen time when other forms of media are still consuming.
The irony of discussing digital addiction on a digital platform.
The need to balance digital consumption with moments of solitude and introspection.
The benefits of solitude for introspection and creativity, supported by historical figures.
The difference between loneliness and solitude, and the importance of learning to be alone.
The impact of constant digital stimulation on the brain and the potential for burnout and anxiety.
Transcripts
the jurgen experience so this is another
uh thing that i point out in the book is
that we're never bored anymore
so as we evolved boredom is this
evolutionary discomfort that basically
told us
whatever you're spending your time on
right now it's not an efficient use of
your time
so go find something else now in the
past this would be like let's say you're
picking berries from a bush you've
picked the easiest to pick ones
well if we didn't have the skew of
boredom we'd be like reaching into the
very back for the berries that are hard
to pick but
they become successfully harder to pick
because we've picked all these different
ones right
boredom would kick on and be like hey
your return on your time invested has
worn thin
move on to another bush right but
nowadays
with this influx of media we have people
spend
11 hours a day engaging with digital
media
is that real yeah 11 and that's the
average so
what you want to hear an even crazier
thing yeah
okay so i'm a i'm a professor at
university of nevada las vegas
and one of the classes i teach is an
intro class so it's got about 150
students
and some media class i teach in the
journalism department
first day of class i'll talk about how
just how things have changed with media
you know it's like we live
2.5 million years with no media in our
lives and now it's become our lives and
then i will ask
all right i want everyone to pull out
your phone right now i want you to look
at your screen time
tell me how much you have who thinks i
have the highest
we'll start to go through people i've
had people you know seven hours 45
minutes
eight hours 50 minutes 9 hours 16
minutes
it's like that's your entire day
all on that cell phone right so nowadays
when we have this discomfort of boredom
kick
in we have a super easy escape from it
right right we're not forced to be like
okay what am i doing with my time
is there something better i could be
doing we just pull out our phone
and you see this right anytime people
have one moment of
solitude or inactivity it's like oh
might as well just check my phone
it's brutal when you see people on dates
they're not even talking to each other
they're just looking at each other's
phones
yeah go wow people at dinner it's like
yeah
it's like you're in front of an actual
person yeah and you prefer to
communicate
in digital with someone who's not even
there
totally and um what's interesting about
boredom is when oftentimes when boredom
would kick on we would go
uh inward sort of mind wander and
mind wandering it gives you your brain
some time to like reset and revive
whereas anytime you're focused on the
outside world your brain
is actively processing information so
this is kind of like
in the book i compare it to lifting away
when you're
having a conversation looking at your
phone watching a screen whatever you're
doing if you're
focusing on the outside world your brain
is working and it's lifting
when you go inward your brain goes into
this default mode network which is like
a rest period
right so now because every time we're
bored we just pull out that
screen and focus more our brains are
just constantly being worked and
overworked and overworked
this is associated with just burnout
anxiety etc
yeah it's there's some real benefits to
boredom in terms of creativity as well
like oh totally boredom is really good
for coming up with new ideas yeah and
there's actually research behind this
they've done studies where they'll have
they'll have people watch something
really boring like a video of people
folding laundry just like they bore the
[ __ ] out of these participants
and then they have them come up with
take these different creativity tests
that scientists use
and the people who were bored come up
with more better
uh solutions and responses than the
people who had been stimulated the whole
time
and you think about this i mean just in
terms of anecdotes from creators it's
like
you need time to just sit and be with
yourself and have these
weird ideas bubble to the surface if you
never have that
you're not letting that the weird stuff
come out you know i mean
like do you experience this when you're
trying to think of
stuff in your own work yeah you have to
have discomfort the worst
thing that could ever happen to me from
writing is to just open the browser
and start let me just google this real
quick and see
it's like i play little games of myself
like i'll be in the middle of writing
i'm like what does that mean
really and then i'll google it like shut
the [ __ ] up and get get back to work
yeah
because like i'm just being distracted
i'm just distracting myself and
sometimes i'll allow myself a couple of
minutes of distraction
before i get mad but really i shouldn't
allow myself any
i should just keep working and sometimes
people say
i can't write i just stare at the screen
and nothing comes down like yeah that's
what's supposed to happen
yeah that's how it works man you're
supposed to [ __ ] stare at the screen
yeah and then you just write some
nonsense and eventually something good
will come out of that
yeah but if you just bail because you
don't like the staring at the screen
part and nothing's coming out
guess what you're never going to write
anything congratulations so then you'll
be at the whim
of whatever random spontaneous
creativity just
pops into your head throughout the day
yeah and sometimes you'll get some
and sometimes you won't yeah but
pressfield talks about that in the war
of art have you read that book
uh i haven't read that book i've heard
it's a very small book but it's really
good it's great for writers
and it's he's basically says he he talks
about the muse
as if the muse is a real thing and he's
like treat it like it's a real thing
treat it like
you're a professional and you're there
to summon the muse and if you just show
up every day and do that work
it will come it will come to you and it
will bestow upon you these creative
ideas
but if you don't do that if you don't
sit down and be
discomfort to be uncomfortable rather
rather
it won't happen and in this day and age
like you said we're so accustomed
to having our any boredom
alleviated by our phone yeah so in the
book too i talk about
you hear all this stuff that's like
break up with your phone
less time on your phone here are a
thousand different ways to use your
phone less
yes that is important but the problem is
is a lot of times
when people go okay i'm gonna use my
phone less so they put their phone in
you know safe or whatever weird habit
they've developed but then they go watch
netflix it's like your brain doesn't
know the damn difference between the
screen on your phone and the screen on
your tv the point is that you need to
remove yourself
from this outside media that's totally
just weaved its way
into your life like stimulating you with
nothing
yeah yeah the switch from phone to
netflix is like going i'm quitting
smoking but i'm gonna go buy some red
man and just pack that in
real hard you know yeah same thing we're
all aware
that there's this immense gravity that
comes from the digital world
it's it's immense it's just constantly
pulling you in with new content and new
distractions and this is one of them
this [ __ ] thing that you and i are on
that's it's ironic this is we're talking
[ __ ] about what we actually are doing
right now
but they you know they pull you
they pull you and we all know that it's
probably not
the best way to live but it's so hard to
break
the addiction i mean it's it's amazing
right it's amazing that
i can pull up a podcast and listen to
almost whoever i want their thoughts and
get these new ideas but at the same time
it's like if that's
all you're spending your time doing
there's some downsides we need to offset
it that i you know i don't necessarily
think the answer is to
go live in the woods in alaska for the
rest of your life although that'd be
pretty
cool if you did more power to you but
figuring out like how do we how do we
balance this all and have these moments
where we have
you know solitude go more inward and
aren't as stimulated
so one thing that you know after i am
standing out there
in solitude when i get home i start
researching you know what are the
benefits of solitude because we know
that
the data shows that being lonely isn't
good for us
but there's the difference between
loneliness and solitude like solitude is
electing to be
by yourself and using that time for sort
of introspection
and the scientists that i talked to they
said yeah you really need this because
a lot of times people are more conductor
circuits and they
they don't do well when they're alone at
all this is part of the reason we have
such a loneliness problem but if you can
like build this
build this capacity be alone they call
it like that can serve you well in a
long time and it also
breeds deeper thinking creativity i mean
it's like there's a reason that
thousands of years of religious
tradition
they have people who go and spend this
time alone out of nature i mean
jesus was in the desert for 40 days the
buddha exited the
palace gates you know and spent a bunch
of time alone and in solitude
even abraham lincoln used solitude and
for all his a lot of his writing
and stuff like that and i feel like
people don't have that as much anymore
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