I picked up a copy of the book Deep Work by Cal Newport in response to my internet habits. While reading the book I came to multiple insights which I was able to connect to my day-to-day life and ideas I had previously encountered. In this blog entry I want to share those takeaways and my opinion on the ideas Cal offers in the book.
The idea to write this blog came from a conversation I had with a friend and a youth leader who works in the field of technology in which they discussed the importance of developing good digital habits. Our youth leader communicated an idea similar to what I had been reading in Cal's book Deep Work. He first discussed how the internet revolution had occurred only a few years ago and how what we are observing now with Artificial Intelligence is like another complete revolution. The issue he expressed is that young people have to learn to adapt so quickly, and in turn develop digital habits that are harmful. We discussed some of those digital habits, and I thought about them and how they had affected my life, my perspective on faith, the way I spend my free time, and I realized the impact digital habits have on all areas of our lives. In this blog I would like to express what I learned from Cal's book and how it connects to building strongly rooted digital habits.
When I dove into his book I was curious about what exactly deep work was. I was particularly interested in how it could help me develop my own digital habits. In my own words, deep work is an ability that is developed from intense concentration, which when used pushes you to your limit. Cal also used the word flow to describe what deep work is like. In Steven Kotler's book The Art of Impossible, he ties flow closely to motivation and values. I believe this connection is critical in attempting not only to reach flow but also in developing deep work and a firmly rooted digital habit.
Without the proper motivation when using tools on the internet, it becomes very difficult to train deep work. A moment that reflects this in my life was a class in the fourth quarter where I had locked in a grade for the year. After I realized this, my work ethic deteriorated. Likewise, when developing applications, many of my goals were applications which I envisioned could be created quickly. This short-sighted mindset caused me to rush and skip crucial areas.
Alongside motivation, another key takeaway was that Newport's framework on using social media tools could also be applied to technology that has been developed such as GPT Work, which is increasingly being used by students and workers alike. As a student interested in exploring new technologies, I have used it, but after reading a section from Deep Work, I changed my perspective on the technology.
What I liked about Newport's position was that he acknowledged that for certain individuals, tools on the internet can be beneficial. His framework for making a decision focused on understanding what your personal goals are and ways you could best apply the technology to aid in their achievement. I felt that introducing a method of decision-making, instead of outright claiming social media to be harmful, connected with me as a student who is interested in exploring these developing technologies.
When I inspected my use case, I came to the conclusion that I should refrain from using the technology for tasks involving planning and using my own expertise. I made this decision by first understanding my own motivations and goals.
I thought I would have only one or two motivations but I quickly realized there were many motivations to factor in. To name a few: saving time, using new technology, and FOMO. I realized that these motivations were specific to the tool itself. I believe that, as a student, I should apply my personal motivations as a whole to this type of decision. To outline the new thought process I adopted, I believe that by disregarding motivations such as the desire to save time and FOMO, and focusing on motivations such as developing deep work, planning ability, and personal health, I would make a much better decision overall. From that point, by making the decision to prioritize broad, personal motivations over those specific to the technology, I was able to come to a different conclusion.
How I came to this decision involves telling you a story that outlines why those three broad goals are negatively affected by the usage of tools such as GPT Work in my life. It started with a call from a member of the club telling us he was organizing a debate camp hosted by our high school. As we made commitments, we realized we needed to develop teaching material. We turned to artificial intelligence and we developed a five-day curriculum.
From there I used GPT Work after reading an article by a professor who promoted the use of the technology to convert the product into a slideshow. Things took a turn when the output came out and needed serious polishing before any of our camp attendees saw it. I proceeded to do this, but because I had no plan in mind for the goal of the project, I ran into problems when I tried to make changes or improvements. I had no plan to fall back on. This resulted in a four-hour, 30-minute stretch of "fixing" 70 slides and incorporating images and reference slides, resulting in an overall lower-quality product than I had desired. Moreover, the following day we decided to change the curriculum to fit an older age group; this resulted in a majority of the slides having to be scrapped and repurposed.
This example of using artificial intelligence made me realize that there were some serious drawbacks: 1) my friends and I had limited planning; 2) the product was lower quality; and 3) I had been in a highly stimulating working state that wasn't productive. Regarding my broader goals of sharing the debate experience and developing my teaching and teamwork skills, I would argue that, in my case, it didn't contribute. My decision to use the tool in this way was costly in terms of time and my teammates' effort in having to revise a slideshow, and it cost the camp valuable teaching material. For these reasons, in the future I plan to make a different decision regarding how I use these tools.
Despite this daunting experience using the tool, I believe it tells us something very important about how new technologies are affecting our digital habits. It's creating a race for adoption in which many are running into the same issues I have encountered stemming from the fact that we don't have strongly rooted digital habits. In my opinion, despite the caveats of new technology—high stimulation and addictive characteristics—the responsibility for using the tools in a way that is effective and beneficial lies not in the technology but in the individual using it.
But the question remains: How do I build strong digital habits that are fruitful as well as productive?
This is something I hope to develop and build as a student. I am interested in sharing my experience as a student as I try to build strong digital habits.