Social Media and Politics of Attention
Consider the things that disrupt your attention, that break you out of routine. Is social media among them?
I’ve been writing about social media distraction for some time, but today, consider a different angle. Consider how attention-grabbing social media networks are influenced by political power, how those political powers influence the algorithms, and how those algorithms influence you. What do I mean? In an article published today on Bloomberg, Sarah Frier shows how Facebook’s attempts to appease political powers lead to the proliferation of manipulative media. She writes,
Zuckerberg isn’t easily influenced by politics. But what he does care about—more than anything else perhaps—is Facebook’s ubiquity and its potential for growth. The result, critics say, has been an alliance of convenience between the world’s largest social network and the White House, in which Facebook looks the other way while Trump spreads misinformation about voting that could delegitimize the winner or even swing the election.
This is your must-read article of the day. And after you’ve digested it, ask yourself: In a world in which my attention is the ultimate commodity, who stands to benefit the most from manipulating that commodity?
I want to hear from you.
How are you feeling about social media these days? Do you feel your attention being manipulated (particularly politically), or is it all high-school reunions and kitten memes in your feeds? Feel free to drop me an email and let me know.
Screen Time Update.
This week, I average less than 2 hours per day on my phone, an accomplishment seeing as it’s one of my most used work devices. I’ll keep you updated.
Enjoy the Content Here?
Invite a friend to follow along by sending them a quick email (just change the address).
Finally (but importantly), Grab My Latest Book.
The Book of Waking Up: Experiencing the Divine Love that Reorders a Life.
Recovering Routine (In the Insanity That is 2020)
If you haven’t heard, it’s National Recovery Month, so I’m zoning in. Recovery is about regaining control, choosing the outcomes you want for your life. And as I’ve written before, during this pandemic season (and the insanity that’s been 2020), my routines have fallen by the wayside. I’ve been overworked and less given to creative work. I’ve indulged in more social media consumption than I’d like, too. So now, I’m aiming to fix that through:
Capturing the first hour of the day to create, meditate, and contemplate;
Using the screen-time tracker Moment to stay below two hours of phone use a day;
Moving my body 5-6 times a week (if you do this right, you can’t be attached to your phone);
Diving into the creative process of re-writing an eight-year-old novel (the first installment of Bears in the Yard went out yesterday to Substack subscribers).
Have you lost track of your routines in the Pandemic? What are you doing to restore them? Feel free to shoot me an email and let me know.
Need to walk through steps of recovery this National Recovery Month (whether from alcohol, food, shopping, porn, social media, whatever)? Grab The Book of Waking Up: Experiencing the Divine Love that Reorders a Life.
National Recovery Month and 2 Ways to Participate
It’s been an insane two weeks, but I’m back today with some big news. Read along.
Welcome to National Recovery Month
It’s September, which means it’s National Recovery Month, a month the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration uses to raise awareness around issues of recovery and to celebrate those working through their own sobriety. And if you’ve read my books, you know I have a vested interest in National Recovery Month. In fact, this month marks my 7-year anniversary of being un-drunk.
I’m a word nerd, and so I love the word recovery. It carries the connotation of reclaiming, of finding, of taking something back. In addiction circles (wether to booze, sex, shopping, or social media), we use the term as a sort of shorthand. Before the addiction, we were our truest selves, and we aim to recover what’s been lost to addiction.
In my latest book, The Book of Waking Up, I examine recovery as a mode of waking from our addictions (or the attachments in our lives) and waking to the adoration of something bigger—the Divine Love. What do I mean? I wrote:
Over the years, theologians, priests, pastors, and spiritual directors have preached, written, and opined about what constitutes a disordered attachment, an [affection] we place over our desire for divine [afection]. I might sum up much of that opinion this way: when we enter into longterm relationships with any coping mechanism in an attempt to silence… pain or to numb ourselves to it… we’re nursing an affection for lesser loves. We’re adoring the creation instead of the Creator.
Addiction: What is it but misplaced adoration.
Recovery, as I see it, is not simply about detaching yourself from some substance. It’s about waking to the realization that you adore something—booze, boobs, the roulette wheel—that will never adore you in return. It’s about learning to adore something bigger, something Divine, something salvific.
This month, I’m inviting you to join me in celebrating National Recovery Month (perhaps, National Adoration Month). Identify that coping mechanism that’s crept into your life. See the ways you elevate it, adore it, think it will numb your pain. Note how hollow it is, how potentially destructive, how pain-inducing. Then, grab a copy of The Book of Waking Up, Coming Clean, or any other great recovery book, and learn how to find lasting sobriety that’s rooted in something more Divine.
Are you tired of disordered attachment? Follow along.
Two Quick Things You Can do to Kick Off National Recovery Month:
(1) Pick up a copy of The Book of Waking Up for you and a friend;
(2) Shoot me an email letting me know your thought about addiction as misplaced adoration.
If you want to invite a friend to participate please share this piece with a friend or 10 (change the email address in the form). Ask them to subscribe and follow along this September. Start a discussion with them about recovery (and yes, we’ll return to recovery from social media this month). See what happens.