I guess this extends to any subject slightly popular. I can remember the insanity of “personal knowledge management” (PKM), which is the same: a bunch of gurus sharing their made up “methods” as...
I hate to be a cynic, but I’m guessing the main reason for the proliferation of these sorts of articles [about using the phone less] is that they’re algorithmic catnip. They’re symptoms of the illness they seek to cure. We’re addicted to reading about our addiction to phones. If the pieces have a therapeutic value, it probably lies less in helping people gain control over media than in renewing a reassuring fantasy of such control.
I guess this extends to any subject slightly popular. I can remember the insanity of “personal knowledge management” (PKM), which is the same: a bunch of gurus sharing their made up “methods” as some sort of science to be more productive, ignoring the fact that their job is to produce content about being productive, which boils down to not be that productive in other areas anyway.
“Here’s my review of how usable this travel backpack is” (Spends a third of the video talking about how well it fits his thousands of dollars worth of video equipment and lighting.) WOW this is so...
“Here’s my review of how usable this travel backpack is”
(Spends a third of the video talking about how well it fits his thousands of dollars worth of video equipment and lighting.)
WOW this is so useful and relatable to me Mr. Video Content Creator Man!
There was an MKBHD review of some iPhone where he points out that he thinks the reason Apple puts so much work behind year-over-year improvements to the camera on the Pro phones is specifically because that encourages YouTubers and TikTokers to rave about them, since it’s the feature set THEY care about most and has a halo effect on how the review the device overall. I think it’s fair to say the ecosystem of everything is being polluted by the incentive structures of one-size-fits-all platforms. All the advice about productivity is about optimizing teaching courses and tracking meetings, the stuff productivity gurus do. All the advice about being productive is about making videos, because the thing the video makers view as productivity is cranking out videos!
I guess it’s not so dissimilar to how Hollywood writes busy professionals. If you’re a “stressed out marketing exec” trope they always have them stressing out over a job for a specific client to get them a really innovative pitch. But if you’re an actual stressed out marketing exec you can probably roll through most pitches in your sleep and you have the actual strategy down to a formula, but what’s actually stressing you out is juggling five-thousand individual tasks and 10 clients with deadlines hitting all at once. For screenwriters they perceive stress as having to crunch super-hard on a single project, so they conceptualize all work-shaped lifestyles to be a form of that.
I guess this extends to any subject slightly popular. I can remember the insanity of “personal knowledge management” (PKM), which is the same: a bunch of gurus sharing their made up “methods” as some sort of science to be more productive, ignoring the fact that their job is to produce content about being productive, which boils down to not be that productive in other areas anyway.
(I woke up a little grumpy this morning 😬)
“Here’s my review of how usable this travel backpack is”
(Spends a third of the video talking about how well it fits his thousands of dollars worth of video equipment and lighting.)
WOW this is so useful and relatable to me Mr. Video Content Creator Man!
There was an MKBHD review of some iPhone where he points out that he thinks the reason Apple puts so much work behind year-over-year improvements to the camera on the Pro phones is specifically because that encourages YouTubers and TikTokers to rave about them, since it’s the feature set THEY care about most and has a halo effect on how the review the device overall. I think it’s fair to say the ecosystem of everything is being polluted by the incentive structures of one-size-fits-all platforms. All the advice about productivity is about optimizing teaching courses and tracking meetings, the stuff productivity gurus do. All the advice about being productive is about making videos, because the thing the video makers view as productivity is cranking out videos!
I guess it’s not so dissimilar to how Hollywood writes busy professionals. If you’re a “stressed out marketing exec” trope they always have them stressing out over a job for a specific client to get them a really innovative pitch. But if you’re an actual stressed out marketing exec you can probably roll through most pitches in your sleep and you have the actual strategy down to a formula, but what’s actually stressing you out is juggling five-thousand individual tasks and 10 clients with deadlines hitting all at once. For screenwriters they perceive stress as having to crunch super-hard on a single project, so they conceptualize all work-shaped lifestyles to be a form of that.
Everyday!
Honestly, considering the state of the world grumpy is good :)