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TagCal Newport

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Are We Experiencing a Universal Cognitive Decline?

People are increasingly having trouble reading, focusing, and solving complex problems.

A new study shows that people are struggling more than ever to read, concentrate, and solve problems. The research comes just a few months after Oxford’s indicative decision to make “Brain Rot” its 2024 “Word of the Year.” Common experience itself lends itself to the conclusion that we are struggling to focus, that our attention is fragmented, and that simply thinking about one issue for more than a few seconds is difficult. The Financial Times reported that intelligence and reasoning capacities have declined since the early 2010s. While the COVID-19 pandemic is commonly blamed for the plummet and is indeed responsible for much of the cognitive decline, the downward trend preceded the crisis according to the study. John Burn-Murdoch reports: Read More ›

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Young anxious woman lying in bed staring at smartphone screen at night, reading about depression symptoms in internet, phone addicted female can not stop scrolling news media before bedtime. Anxiety.

Cal Newport: Overstimulation Is Ruining Your Life

Turns out the solution is simple: don't use things that overstimulate you.
"Don't use things that cause overstimulation," Newport says. "The dopamine system is powerful, so don't give it the targets it's going to fire up for." Read More ›
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Sad man getting dislikes and being rejected by audience for social addiction ad

The Benefits of Ditching Social Media

Tech writer Cal Newport explains why boredom is actually a good thing

Cal Newport ascended into the limelight upon his viral Ted Talk in which he called people to ditch social media. In this video from last year, Newport rehashes some of the main benefits of not having social media. Boredom is on the list, interestingly; Newport notes that most people no longer have moments of boredom, and as a consequence, don’t have any space in their lives to reflect, think, and work through their emotions. Andrew McDiarmid, a contributor at Mind Matters, has written on this in the past. He notes, Mind wandering, or stream of consciousness thought, gives us several mental gains, including the ability to consider obstacles to future goals, generate novel, creative thoughts, and place our experiences in meaningful Read More ›