Jonathan Garner

@_welf @potential_app Currently writing a @mindovertech book that may be of interest to you

I'm at this funny point where it seems like making content about "intentionality" / habit building / minimizing digital distraction etc would be the thing that moves the needle for @potential_app yet at the same time, after years of dealing with that stuff I now experience much of it futile like, you do you really need another micro hack for how to make your phone less distracting? or do you need to a) find God b) do Jhanas c) find work you enjoy that connects you with other people and the world in a meaningful way d) start a family e) develop an epic workout practice for yourself where you can metabolize your demons into strength f) read Scattered Minds — only to end up letting God's grace heal your ADHD by uniting your distressed parts into a loved and forgiven whole not sure what to do about this?!

@fraserdeans Amen

It feels satisfying when time is well spent. Avoid diffuse meetings. Minimise commuting. Enjoy the company of friends and family. Intentional screen time. #buildinpublic

@fraserdeans If you are on Instagram check out @wearejustlooking

A few photos from my daily walkabout. Photography as a mindful practice.

@_welf Amazing, love it

@jonathangarner_ twitter.com/_welf/status/1…

there's more to life than this

@visakanv You should submit it to @wearejustlooking on Instagram

uncropped:

I like this photo I took when I was out on a walk today

@visakanv It may also be too cumbersome for what you want, but worth checking out Hypothesis if you are not already aware: web.hypothes.is

eg i can pick up any of my notebooks and add new emphasis upon reread that is immediately visible whereas for my blog i might have to edit and update the title which is so many steps twitter.com/visakanv/statu…

i've probably said this before but i wish i could emoji react to my own blogposts as a sort of tagging system. whenever i spend some time in my paper notebooks i'm struck by how tedious it is to "mark up" digital notes and documents

@Malcolm_Ocean Perhaps: at a relative level, up to what point (if any) is it helpful to try to understand interdependent principles in an isolated context?

insofar as Buddhism teaches multiple things, how separable are they? - can you grok emptiness independent of tanha, & vice versa? - is rigpa dependent on those two? (help me ask the better version of this Q)

@fraserdeans I'm intrigued

The last couple weeks I've been hacking on a pet project related to journaling. Very niche. Unsure if I'm going to turn this into a business yet. But I would like to make it available to people. Not all projects need to be businesses. #buildinpublic

@visakanv I made a custom magnetic chalk board for my studio and I used to love thinking on it. I've not used it for a while now, but you are making me want to start again!

capacity check my whiteboard can hold a max of 64 5x7 index cards in an 8x8 config, which is unexpectedly satisfying I don’t expect to use all of them at once but it’s cool to know

💡 this is what is currently missing from my life

@Malcolm_Ocean If you haven't found it already, I think you might like the first chapter 'tools of the mind' in the book 'the shallows' by @roughtype. It's a really great exploration of instrumentalism vs determinism in context of digital tools, or 'intellectual technologies' as he frames them

heidegger talked about how hammers can be 🔨 an extension of your will, if they're working 🪨 an obstacle to your will, if they're not but it seems phones & laptops have a third mode: 👀 subversion of your will, via notifications and shifting affordance landscapes

@elaifresh @Malcolm_Ocean Agreed. May I humbly suggest this toolkit I created that helps develop a practice of intentional digital habits through mental reflection and experimentation? mindovertech.com/digital-habit-…

@Malcolm_Ocean My experience with this kind of thing is that if you’re clever enough to install something like this, you’re going to be clever enough to uninstall it when you really want to. Not very effective in changing habits

is there an android app that can stop me from watching more than 5 YouTube videos a day? I don't want to block based on time, since 1h podcasts are great

@visakanv I'm not saying this is what you are talking about, but it reminds me of a phrase that I've found very helpful: 'don't give a shit, give a fuck'.

and i wonder if even here maybe i am a step removed from a deeper question i haven't inhabited in a while, which is how i feel about myself right now. i think overall i'm doing pretty good. but a part of me always expects more from myself. and i dont think it's a selfish or insecure thing, I think it's more like... I know I have the capacity to help more people. people use phrases like "savior/messiah complex" to describe this sometimes but the way i think about it is like. one more kid bro. you could help one more kid like yourself feel less alone but then of course the messy recursive thing is... being a self-sacrificial martyr type doesn't help. the deepest way to help is to demonstrate by example what it looks like to be happy, well-adjusted, have good boundaries, rest, and so on. a word i've been returning to lately is "discernment". the same thing can feel right or wrong in different contexts. gotta be discerning, gotta pay attention to how it feels, there is no externalized fixed frame for what is good, there is no escaping the necessity of discernment. you do what you can, you grieve what you can't, and you take care of yourself so you can keep playing. fighting spirit! fighting spirit! fighting spirit! (that's not going to make sense to anyone but that's alright lol not everything has to make sense to everyone all the time)

a thing that tormented throughout my teens and early 20s was something like "how do I know if I'm trying my best" I still don't really know the answer but I also don't really care very much in the same agonized way. I do what I can and if it's not enough then ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@hgggrA @Malcolm_Ocean True. As a brit, it just also feels so accurate 😅😭

help me find or coin a general term for the error of  ~"throwing the baby out with the bathwater" 🌊👶💦 except: 🤏 short verb   (like "goodharting" or "one-boxing") 💡 needs little-to-no explanation   (not "chesterton's fence") 🥼 due to hubris/"I know better", not a lapse   (eg "stopped pounding the manioc") 🤨 plausible   (did the baby/bathwater thing ever actually happen?   ...looks fictional. in any case we have drains now) basically, a word for "making the error that proper conservativism mostly avoids" or put another way "removing something load-bearing in an attempt to remove something annoying" I bet we can coin something if we find a memorable incident with a distinct word, then verb it (like "thalidomiding" or "CFCing" although they're connotationally slightly off. "introducing cane toads to australia" is too long and too localized but is connotationally quite good) proposals?

@DrJustinThomas Not being busy, ironically, takes time and effort. It's a bit like Churchill's "If I Had More Time I Would Have Written A Shorter"

Being "crazy busy" is not the flex many people think it is. Making time to be attentive, responsive, and kind is essential. Busy is basic.

@jacobwelby Excellent, I look forward to following your journey! Incase it's of interest, you may find some inspiration for experiments from the Digital Habit Lab mindovertech.com/digital-habit-…

@jacobwelby Love this! How are you devising your experiments? Do you have them all planned out, or are you seeking them out as you go?

@Malcolm_Ocean This experiment is relevant!Sometimes there is no gap in our digital behaviour due to inertia, other times it's an act of avoidance. Staring boredom in the face can feel scary at first, but very quickly it can open up into something really interesting

there's a really important skill/habit in the smartphone era which is... doing nothing in particular taking even just a beat or two to fully rest after one thing ends, before immediately going "what's next?"

@jacobwelby Tbh honest I think that's basically the same thing 😂 it is crazy how good it feels. Every. Single. Time.