I recently came across an interesting academic article in the journal Frontiers in Psychology. It was titled, “The relationships between social media use, time management, and decision-making styles.”
The paper’s author surveyed 612 university students and young adults, asking them, among other things, about their digital habits and levels of personal organization. Using a linear regression analysis, she uncovered the following:
“Social media use was negatively and significantly associated with overall time management and all its subscales.”
Here’s the standard interpretation of this result: Social media is distracting, and if you’re distracted, it becomes harder to maintain control over your schedule. So, the more you use social media, the worse you become at time management.
But I’ve become interested in the reverse form of this argument: the better your planning system, the less time you’ll spend on engagement-based applications like social media.
Here’s my thinking…
When you’re following an intentional schedule, your efforts are oriented toward goals that you find important. You also feel a satisfying sense of self-efficacy. These realities engage your long-term reward system, which can override the urges generated by its short-term counterpart, dissipating the drive for quick gratification from activities like glancing at your phone.
In other words: The more you organize your analog life, the less appealing you’ll find the digital alternative.
If this is true, then maybe the thing social media companies fear most is not some newly-powerful application-blocking software or impossibly strict regulation, but rather a good old-fashioned daily planner.
In Other News:
A lot of people I know have been freaked out recently by a viral essay with a grandiose title: “Something Big is Happening.” I recently released a short video in which I conduct a close analysis of this piece. (Spoiler alert: I wasn’t impressed.) Check it out.
(More generally, I’ve been considering starting a separate weekly podcast/newsletter dedicated to providing a reality check on recent AI news. It feels like it might be useful to separate this discussion from my existing podcast and newsletter, which are more focused on how individuals can seek depth in a distracted world. But also, maybe this is a bad idea? I’m interested to hear your thoughts about this plan.)
A weekly podcast on AI is too much. We’re inundated by “AI” stuff at work, in the news, and everywhere else. I think a monthly recap that goes into real DEEP detail on a specific angle of the conversations surrounding AI is much better than a weekly podcast.
A weekly release schedule will inevitable become ineffective and result in a surface-level conversation after a few episodes.
I agree with you.
I also agree with this.
I support splitting out the AI stuff into its own channel but maybe for the exact wrong reason: it’s not why I follow you and I’d appreciate the classic topics having more room to breathe.
There is So Much going on — and at such a rapid pace — that if you can spare the time investment, we could all benefit from a weekly look at some part of the AI impacts.
I ahree
A newsletter for AI reality checks might be helpful for those who are interested in this topic. I enjoy the occasional updates on AI news, but it seems like most of us are here for the non-AI stuff. That said, it seems like you have a lot to say about AI and it’s important that your voice be heard. I suspect that a lot of people who may be interested in your take on AI news may not appreciate your deep work and slow productivity content. But don’t remove AI news entirely because it’s relevant to those of us here for your usual content.
I don’t think the AI needs a separate discussion. I believe you could make it a separate blog post. I don’t mind it being in more of a newsletter or a separate section on blog posts.
Perhaps integrate it into your existing formats (I prefer the written format) and a quarterly, separate deep-dive. The additional coverage is most welcome.
I would love a separate AI reality check podcast or newsletter! Having a it separate would also make it convenient to send to other