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Defeat the Dragon News Feed: Making Sure You Live a Good Life

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This is a translation of a philosophical and metaphorical article by Niklas Goeki on why people scroll content instead of really enjoying their life. Admit it, you got here from the news feed.

The article was carefully transferred from the blog of the running editor . By the way, you can follow the announcements of new articles in my telegram channel . Subscribe to not miss anything!

Stop scrolling and start living

A monster lurked behind you. You do not see him, do not try. He always silently follows you on the heels. He pursues you everywhere, but you will never notice him. This is a stubborn and treacherous beast that never sleeps. Every minute of every day he tries to push you from the righteous path into the pit of oblivion.

This monster is a news feed dragon, and today we will learn how to defeat him.

You scroll to get here. Through the medium’s feed, email, Facebook, Twitter, or even through my other post. One way or another, you had to roll the tape to get into this article. Think about how much time you spent on it.

When you scroll with your finger, mouse, or eyes on a phone, tablet, or laptop, you do two things:

  1. Read
  2. Look for

Anyone who reads has already reached the destination. The one who is in search is not there yet. He searches, looks through the material, hopes to find what is suitable. But what exactly are we looking for? Often this is difficult to realize until the very end, because this process did not begin at all with a search.

The news feed dragon just determined our next step. This evil creature is born of the progress of civilization. A dragon exists to lure you into its lair of disappointment, steal your time, attention and energy.

Here are typical monster habitats:

  1. Facebook
  2. Google
  3. Netflix
  4. Twitter
  5. Grocery store
  6. Inbox
  7. Spotify
  8. Youtube
  9. Newspaper
  10. Amazon
  11. Tinder
  12. Your car
  13. Apwork
  14. Uber
  15. Mcdonalds
  16. Khan Academy
  17. Medium

In other words, the dragon is hiding among the elements that we have to overlook to make a decision. He is omnipresent, universal and makes no mistakes. We all face the dragon, and he always wants to immerse us in a feeling of deep regret.

In the first four posts of my anti-technical series, we struggled with addiction to certain applications, activities, or devices. The interaction of machine and man made her the mistress, and us - slaves. The time has come to take a step back and ask ourselves: “What lesson have we learned from this?”

For me it is crystal clear:

Avoid News Feed

If you think about how much time it takes to interact with the tape, then immediately want to reduce it. It is easy to notice a side effect of technology that promises only sadness and disappointment.

But despite this, the dragon can still be defeated. All opponents have their weaknesses. We just need to find them. We will do this by examining the nature of the monster.

Meet the Dragon: Science-Based News Feed


The gifts of civilization greatly increased the power of a being, but it was not born here and not now. The roots of the beast can be found in the world's first market.

image Photo by Juan Tapia

A synonym for the word “tape” is “sentence”. When humanity changed the hunt for trade, the dragon woke up and began to bombard us with questions:

  1. Who to trust in the trade?
  2. How much is this apple?
  3. Which carpet looks better?
  4. Will there be better sheep skin here tomorrow?
  5. When is the best time to buy?
  6. How much to spend?
  7. What do I really need?

How do you react to a real, incredible and frightening dragon? When Bilbo first met Smog in the Hobbit , he froze in place. I bet you would do the same.

image Acquaintance with the dragon

This is what happens when we encounter the dragon ribbon at the grocery store. Barry Schwartz talks about the Paradox of Choice . When you stand between shelves trying to choose the right brand of cookies from 53 options, you are likely to experience two types of regrets.

«[] . . -, . . , , . , , . . - , ».

When the dragon looks at you, puffing out its nostrils, you regret that you descended into this cave altogether. The idea that you jump in the wrong direction when the monster rushes, knocks the soil out from under your feet.

Of course, the problem has become more serious along with the growth of the range and supply on the market. And although we encountered a problem as much as 2,000 years ago, the solution still does not seem simple:

“The abundance of options deprives us of the right to choose”

Barry says those who choose consciously think about opportunities. They reflect on what matters in life, determine the weight of specific decisions, short-term and long-term consequences. It happens that they come to the conclusion that none of the proposed options suits them.

«, , . . , — - , ».

When you have one option, you ask yourself: “But do I really need it?” When you come across several possibilities, you automatically ask yourself the question: “Which of these do I need?” The result of our satiety with options is perfectionism. High expectations cannot be justified and lead to a huge amount of regret, which we blame ourselves.

image Photo by Gisele Milgoza

Of course, we learned how to work with the cornucopia at the grocery store. We ignore 75% of the environment, select only familiar brands and keep a shopping list.

Yes, we spend more time choosing and leaving not salty, but it helps to pass the jaws of the beast.

Naturally, the monster continues to develop.

Dragon Evolution: The Inescapability of the Ribbon


When we first tamed the beast and artificially limited its infinite nature, we cut off one of the heads of the hydra. But as in the myth of Hercules, two new ones immediately grew in its place.

imageA lot of goals. The

nature of the tape has changed along with technological and social progress. A new, more accurate definition of “tape” suggests that it is “a device or pipe that delivers raw materials to a machine.” A frighteningly precise definition - this mechanism should feed us. True, we are not cars at all.

Information, entertainment, ordering food, and even those who make coffee for us, must go through our filtering system based on tape. Of course, they all lead us into the same paralysis as the shelves in the grocery store.

Open Amazon and scroll down. Or interest. Or the Financial Times.

The dragon not only adapted to the new digital world, but also went through a second, more insidious transformation. Its one-dimensional, infinite appearance can now forever keep us in scan mode. Many popular online spaces use this to the fullest.

imageThe most popular tapes.

This model was described by Neil Eyal in the book “ On the Hook ”. We pecked, scroll, choose, and regardless of what we choose, we spend more and more time, energy and money on it. We do this on autopilot.

“We’re used to opening twitter at work in minutes of boredom. We feel the pangs of loneliness and before the emergence of rational thoughts, we begin to scroll the Facebook feed. A question comes to mind and instead of thinking about it, Google instantly opens. The first decision that comes to mind always wins. ”

The problem is not that we spend time getting dopamine here and there. Today, the first thing that always comes to mind is news feed related solutions.

Every next hook leads to a new news feed.

We do not just come to facebook when we get bored, but we go from it to Uberits when we get hungry. The tinder opens when you want to have fun, and the motivation to work or study ends somewhere between the Inbox and Google.

No matter how much we try, the dragon grows more and more new heads. But how to defeat this monster?

image Drawing of Sandra from DevianArt

Victory over the beast


To defeat the hydra, Hercules did not cut off all her heads at once. He did not try to tie them in a knot and bury the creature under a rock. Instead, the hero called for the help of his nephew Iolaus. When Hercules chopped off his head, Iolaus brought the burning torch to the stump of his neck and burned it.

This is called space design. Hercules has transformed the environment of the hydra in the inappropriate for the growth of new goals. It took very little time, but even a couple of seconds was enough.

We too can defeat the dragon ribbon by designing a space . Our torches are applications, scripts and other simple tricks that will help to avoid its influence. We have already explored some of them in this series :

  1. Install the News Feed Eradicator to avoid the hot breath of Facebook .
  2. Use the applications Noisley or LisnOnRip to pierce the skin of music .
  3. Set restrictions on video from Stay Focus and remove recommendations of YouTube
  4. Calm your phone with peaceful wallpapers and controlled applications

Cut, burn, cut, burn, cut, burn. Do you hear the sounds with which heads fall to the ground? Of course you can do a lot more:

  1. Reduce Twitter consumption with Twitter .
  2. Set up recurring payments on Amazon subscriptions to reduce the number of shopping recommendations.
  3. Turn mail work into a game .
  4. Remove apps that make you feel worse.

And one more head, as it were, and one more was gone, and the next swallows the sand. Cut, burn, rinse, repeat. With each subsequent improvement, a little deliverance comes into your environment.

However, the purpose of this post is not to give you a dozen new tools. I can’t always bring the torch to every neck you chopped off. You must become Iolaus yourself.

Designing an environment that is not subject to the destructive effects of news feeds should be your natural habit as breathing

Only in this way can you defeat the dragon yourself.

Life is full of liberation, not regret


We all extol the idea of ​​death. All our lives we imagine that when the time comes, we will be ready for it. We see ourselves in bed at the age of 103, surrounded by loving people. We say thanks and fall asleep forever.

I wish everyone to embody this beautiful vision. But it’s actually dangerous to get attached to him. We will never be fully prepared.

Death, like so many other things, cannot be interrupted

The important question is how this will happen. What will you feel when your time runs out and death comes from within: regret or liberation? Do you feel the difference between: "I spent too much time in the empty" and "Everything is fine, I am ready to leave."

Liberation is “a sense of comfort and relaxation that removes anxiety and torment.” I wrote this feeling on my dying list. And now I am designing my surroundings precisely in order to experience it someday.

You might think that I'm exaggerating, but this is the most cunning dragon ploy. He will never swallow you whole or cause critical damage, but he will manage your every move to the very end. You will have no other option but to end your life in lies and disappointment.

In the end, we ourselves will evaluate what kind of life we ​​have lived. But if you now begin to introduce preventive measures, then they can significantly improve your final rating. Be sure to periodically look back on your life path. If it is dark, light your torch.

Stop scrolling and start living. Sharpen your existence to liberation, not regret. Your senser will tell you that if you don’t feel full, then this is possible because you yourself are being eaten.

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