MONTHLY MULLINGš”
The Social Dilemma, MOATS, and Principles that have changed my life!
Hiš,
Tapan here.
Monthly Mulling is a newsletter sending the best ideas from the web to your inbox for free. High signal. Low noise.
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Happy Sunday yāall!
Science is what you know. Philosophy is what you donāt know.
I have recently picked up a lot of history and philosophy books. I have been reading about stoicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and human history. If you have any recommendations, send them my way!
Onwards.
šMULLING
šThe Social Dilemma (Netflix Documentary)
I watched the Social Dilemma this week. It was interesting to see the way they have picturized the family getting affected by real-life issues caused due to social media and other internet businesses.
It is a great watch for people who donāt understand why online privacy and security is important. It portrays how social media nudges our actions subconsciously so that we help them grow their businesses and make money for advertisers.
These internet companies have three main goals:
Engagement Goal: to drive up your usage so you keep scrolling, liking, messaging, and so on.
Growth Goal: basically Network Effects. How can they make you keep coming back and inviting more friends, who will in return invite more friends? Notifications.
Revenue Goal: to make sure that as the above two goals are being reached, the company and advertisers are making the money off of you. Because youāre the product.
All the features and functionalities that are added on social networks are to accomplish these three goals. All of this while playing on your cognitive biases, misjudgments, and nudging your behavior. The documentary shows this dystopia well.
Butā¦
They spend almost 95% of the documentary showing the problems. I would have appreciated it if they gave real-life solutions. They spend the last 10 minutes explaining how the government should regulate what data social networks are collecting and tax it. No shit. But how soon do you think it is going to happen?
Congress asked Mark Zuckerberg, āHow do you sustain a business model in which users don't pay for your service?". Clearly, they donāt understand the internet companies running ads.
And funny enough, there was no mention of Netflix! It is one of the worst IMO. Every time you open the Netflix app, youāre spending 30 minutes minimum!
So I wanted to provide solutions that have worked for me:
Delete apps from your phone: I currently have Twitter and Instagram on my phone because it is work at this pointš¤·āāļø. All the other apps I only access when I am using my laptop and feel like checking them. This reduces app usage tremendously.
Set app time limits: Even if you exceed the app limits, it works as a great anchor point. Itās an ethical feature, nudging you to reduce your usage. I am trying to improve on this, especially with YouTube. What I have done instead is unsubscribed from all the useless channels and only subscribed to channels that provide real value to me. If I am on the app, I will make the most of it!
Put your phone on silent: My phone has been on silent for 5 years now. I havenāt missed anything urgent (yetš¤). When you expect someone is going to call like your landlord or a bank or food delivery, you can keep it on loud.
Turn off notifications: This way the phone is not nudging you with those red bubbles to check the app BUT you check the app only when youāre free. Game changer. Especially with Whatsapp and iMessage.
Pick up your phone more consciously: How many times a day, do you pick up your phone just because youāre bored? Are you doing it consciously or is your brain wired to pick it up as soon as you feel less focused/anxious/bored? Think about it!
Other documentary recommendations - Terms and Conditions May Apply.
This is a good starter podcast to understand how mental models work (unless you have read my article on mental modelsš).
George MacGill goes over some basic mental models and how to use them in real life.
š«Learning vs Understanding (Article)
Seth Godin explains the difference between learning and understanding. It is crucial to follow a self-directed, project-based learning approach. This needs to be taught in school.
IMO I still think that apprenticeship and gurukul based traditional schooling was way better than the current education system.
I am still unable to wrap my brain around the concept of teaching something for an hour per day and then switching to a different subject. No student will ever be able to understand a topic deeply while in school.
The problem is that no one taught us toĀ understand. Instead, we are pushed to simply to memorize. To be educated enough to do well on the test, and then to forget what we were taught, because we never actually learned it.
š“Steal from your Comfort (Article)
Ever think āI could have done thatā, āI would have done thatā, or āI can do thatā when you see someone elseās work?
So why are you not doing it?
Derek Sivers answers the question - you have to steal from your comfort.
It takes many hours to make what you want to make.Ā The hours donāt suddenly appear. You have to steal them from comfort.Ā Whatever you were doing before was comfortable. This is not. This will beĀ reallyĀ uncomfortable.
If you want to build something, you have to put in the time and not give in to distractions. Donāt get comfortable.
āš½Jordan Peterson on Writing Essays (Article)
Jordan Peterson, 12 Rules for Life fame, explains why essay writing is important, how it helps you think clearly, and how should you write your essays.
It is a long read. 30-minute long. But I felt it was worth it.
I took some notes on how to write better and if youāre writing or plan on writing, this article will help you as well!
Here are some key highlights.
The primary reason to write an essay is so that the writer can formulate and organize an informed, coherent and sophisticated set of ideas about something important.
If you learn to write and to edit, you will also be able to tell the difference between good ideas, intelligently presented, and bad ideas put forth by murky and unskilled thinkers.
If you learn to think, through writing, then you will develop a well-organized, efficient mind ā and one that is well-founded and certain.
The most important part of learning and remembering is the recreation of what you have written in your own language.
šCONTENT UPDATE
āš¼BLOG
I am lagging on content release because of some major life changes. But I managed to release one article. Today!
I still havenāt posted the article anywhere outside of my site. So, at this point, it is exclusive newsletter contentš
PRINCIPLES THAT HAVE CHANGED MY LIFE
This is one of the high signal articles that I have written on the blog. It includes 50 plus ideas that guide me through life.
We learn lessons, form biases, build models, and understand new ideas as we navigate through life. I have been documenting these as Principles.
These principles help me think clearly, make better decisions, and be stoic.
I am hoping it will help you as well.
This is a long article. Long in the sense of the amount of information presented in the article. It will take time to digest. So take notes.
šPODCAST
š°COLD BREW MONEY
Our weekly podcast discussing money because your friends and family wonāt. We are now on YouTube! Hit that subscribe button!
šGetting Started with Investing: We discuss lessons, tools, strategies, and resources on getting started with investing. If youāre a beginner, you should give it a listen. (Spotify | Apple | All other streaming platforms)
š°All about that MOAT: We discuss what are moats, why are they important, and the different types of moats. This is one of the concepts I recently learned on the podcast. Really interesting! (Spotify | Apple | All other streaming platforms)
šHow to look for moats: Atit explains to me how to read a financial statement if youāre an investor. We walk through Apple as an example to understand what are the key line items you should be looking at in a financial statement to find a moat. (Spotify | Apple | All other streaming platforms)
Note: If you like our podcast, share it with your friends on Twitter, Instagram, or anywhere else! Donāt forget to tag us! (Twitter | Instagram)
I also release daily content on my Instagram account - show some love!š„°
Ciao.
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