In this post, I am going to make an unusual and seemingly counterproductive recommendation for better mental health. I am going to recommend that you do less of things that are interesting, informative, and entertaining.
But all these activities foster personal growth. Why would I suggest you do less of them? Read on as I explain.
What I’ll discuss here are the choices we must make to thrive in Western culture without falling victim to its excesses. The choices I have in mind are about things that educate, enlighten, interest, and entertain us. This will not be about major life choices such as our health, relationships and careers. As I think you’ll agree, we are now bombarded by content of all kinds that can leave us quite overwhelmed and psychologically unwell. We need a way of dealing with this without leaving quality content behind.
The solution is a practice of intentional simplicity. That will include electing not to pursue things that may enlighten, interest, inform, or entertain us. We can do this and still maintain our quality of life, personal development, and good citizenship.
To better understand this, let’s look at some recent human history: how dietary habits changed during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. For all human history prior to those decades, there was never an excess of food. Food always existed on the edge of scarcity. No one worried about eating too much or even eating the wrong things. Just eating was enough to worry about.
But in the decades mentioned above, something happened that has never been the case in human history. There was an excess of food throughout Western culture. You could live comfortably, have a full belly, and do virtually no exercise. This combination made for some very unhealthy people.
The conclusion of the medical establishment and the citizens of Western society was that they had to eat less and choose what they ate more carefully. That seems completely normal to us now, but considered in the grand sweep of history, it was a remarkable and unprecedented change. What I propose is similar but instead of food, it deals with certain facets of our mental life. What’s at stake is our emotional well-being.
We are currently bombarded with choices in all forms of information and expression. The internet has caused an explosion of articles, videos, blogs, and podcasts that make the printing press look like a small increment in production. Ideas, counter-ideas, and counter-counter-ideas now exist for every corner of human experience. We must make serious attempts to prune the investment of our attention just as we carefully choose how much and what we eat.
Let’s begin with an example from the news. This may be a newspaper, social media, podcast or wherever you get your news. Imagine you see an article whose headline is: a politician you know has voted in favor of a policy you endorse. Normally, you might open and read the article, but judging from the headline, you’re probably not going to learn more than what the headline and subtitle stated. You’ll likely learn some details which you will quickly forget. There will be other examples in your news source that may look just as interesting on the surface, perhaps entertaining or novel.
Our society is awash in sources of communication and entertainment. Cities are buzzing with opinions, artistic expression, and new experiences. Going down each rabbit hole will deteriorate your attention as you’re spending it on making your way through this tangle of words and images rather than benefiting from it.
Attention is not something we have an infinite amount of. It is very much like energy. You only have so much and when you spend it, it’s gone. If you spend too much of it over a long period of time, the chronic deficit will cause some damage. This may be a stress related illness such as migraines, irritable bowel disease, fatigue, or hypertension; or more commonly psychological effects on your mood, level of tension, relationships, and overall sense of well-being. On a deeper level, your vulnerability to mental disorders such as depression goes up significantly.
There is certainly nothing wrong with delving into interesting articles. In fact, you may benefit and enjoy all of them. The important thing, and the point here, is that the communication world is now an ocean of such articles. You could spend your entire day with one news source going through perfectly interesting or entertaining articles. But we now live in a different world. Rather than dive into everything that piques our interest, we must make decisions and actively curtail these efforts.
Now, when I read the paper, I look over a group of articles and decide which are most likely to inform me about something important or show me content that is entertaining or new. Out of perhaps 10 articles I look at I will read only one or two. And even those I may read just the beginning because that’s where the basic information is.
The pruning process is twofold. First, I am deciding which information sources are likely to truly increase my knowledge and understanding (or entertain). Second, I am simply choosing fewer sources irrespective of their potential value. So better sources and less content overall is the goal to take an active role in simplifying your life.
In addition to news articles, we could consider books, new restaurants, and other examples of possible sources of novelty or interest. I would use the same decision process to prune all these down.
This may sound like a formula for a boring life. A rule more fit for a monastery than modern life. It may also raise the question as to whether a simple life makes you simple-minded. Just like the food diet which leaves you with more energy than over-eating; the communication diet leaves you with a calmer mind that is not lost in the jungle of opinion and expression. It also opens the gates of your mind to wander, reflect, and calmly notice what and who is around you.
This should not be taken to the point of changing your quality of life. Each person will be different in how this works for them. Some, like me, value simplicity. Others enjoy the wilds of opinions and originality. The goals of better choosing and few choices overall remain the same, but the final product will be different for everyone. The effects of simplicity on a calmer and more open mind are really what we are looking for.
Life in our modern era has brought new and unexpected challenges to maintain our humanity. In an age of excess, simplification will be a bigger part of that effort. In any of these efforts, it is vital to understand that less is more. Our humanity will shine through if we do not obstruct it.
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For us Jews - the charge not to waste our time and mind space on nonsense is especially critical.
