The Power of Pause Institute

Blog

  • Personality Changes

    Let me show you how to live a better life WITH techMy handwriting has gone to pot because I barely do it any more

    Ditto for mental arithmetic and facts

    After all, the entire body of human knowledge is now in my pocket!

    Our brains are like a muscle … the bits we don’t use will atrophy

    The latest report from @John Burn-Murdoch in the FT makes for scary reading

    Aspects of our personality have changed dramatically in the past 10 years

    This has affected all age cohorts, most of all younger people – “digital natives”

    The timing correlates with the mobile phone age.

    That’s the bad news.

    The good news?

    Our brains are like a muscle … we can choose to strengthen those parts that we want.

    We can revert some of these changes.

    How? I’ve been taking a break from tech for a whole day every week – the Sabbath – for my entire life (even before mobile phones existed)

    As a child, I found Sabbath restrictive.

    As an adult, I realised it was freedom.

    Instead of your life being worse BECAUSE of tech …

  • Two Walks, One Difference

    A walk on sabbath is different than a walk during a week. 

    A walk during the week often feels like a task: a way to clear my head between meetings. A walk on the Sabbath feels like freedom.

    There’s only one small change: I leave my phone at home. 

    When was the last time you took a fully unplugged walk in nature? 

  • A Sacred Pause at the End of the Week

    After a crazy week, Friday hit me like a ton of bricks.

    Taking a minute during the afternoon to look forward to the upcoming Sabbath was itself a pre-tonic tonic.

    When time slips from one busy day to the next and one busy week to the next … What if we could reclaim time?

    That is what Sabbath means to me A structured, sacred break from all the noise

  • Why Inaction Is the Riskiest Choice

    When it comes to our tech and social media overconsumption addiction, the facts on the ground are changing too fast for us to get gold standard research on what to do about it. 

    A “gold standard” study on the effect of social media takes years. 

    A platform like TikTok can tweak its algorithm in an afternoon.

    So, while we absolutely must continue the research, we can’t be paralyzed waiting for it. We have to try things that make sense for our families right now. 

    Action over inaction.

  • What We Owe Our Attention

    How do you characterize your ‘relationship’ with your phone?

    Philosophers are describing our phones as parasites!

    Initially, our smart phones helped us stay in touch, and find our way around.

    More recently, they have become an extension of us, to the point that they now may be considered ‘parasites’.

    They ‘survive’ by staying connected to us, yet exploit us, capturing our attention to the benefit of the big tech companies.

    How can we rebalance this relationship?

    Evolution theory shows we need to (a) detect exploitation, and (b) have the capacity to respond.

    I think that capacity is within all of us: drawing on human agency to take back control over our lives.

    Every week on Sabbath, I don’t use my phone.

    This day has turned into my own secret weapon in what has become a battle.

    And it’s far more than just respite from a busy week.What We Owe Our Attention

  • Imagine there’s no cellphone

    And now for something completely different …

    From the last person you’d expect to write a poem!

    And with apologies to John Lennon

    Imagine no cell phone

    It’s easier than you think

    Nothing to distract us

    Sitting back and enjoying a drink 

    Imagine all the people

    Fully engaged in life

    Ah-Ahhhhh 🎶

    Imagine going out for dinner

    It’s all about the food

    Conversation with friends

    Staying in a good mood

    Imagine no fake news

    Messing up your day

    Ah-Ahhhhh 🎶

    You may say I’m a dreamer

    But I’ve been doing this for years

    A break from tech every week now 

    Newsfeeds will not drive me to tears

  • The Restriction That Became Freedom

    I grew up seeing Sabbath as restrictive—no phone, no TV, no football.

    But over time, it became something else.

    A break from the noise.

    A breath of presence.

    What felt like limits as a kid…

    Became freedom as an adult.

    Curious what that kind of pause could feel like?

  • Insanity, Updated for the Digital Age

    Too many apps in your life?

    I know the feeling

    So what do you think about an app to help us deal with it?

    Trying to solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them is what Einstein called the definition of insanity

    When the solution to distraction is more of the same tech that caused it …

    … then maybe … 

    … we’re asking the wrong question.

  • Same Algorithm. Better PR.

    Google is hosting YouTubers at Parliament House this week—just as the gov’t rethinks its decision to exclude YouTube from a social media ban.

    Same data-hungry model. Same addictive design.

    Is YouTube really different—or just better at branding?

  • “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”

    “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”

    Ronald Reagan called it the nine most terrifying words in the English language.

    We all know we have a big problem with our mobile devices

    The question is: who or what is going to help solve the problem?

    I’m all in favour of mobile phone bans at school and thanks to @Jonathan Haidt for writing and evangelising about the effect of devices on our children.

    That’s very suitable for schools.

    Now, how about the rest of us?

    Can regulators stop the juggernaut that is social media?

    It’s whack-a-mole. Restrict one platform and a new one just pops up.

    Amend Section 230 to make them publishers not platforms? Break them up? Fine them for breaches?

    It’s not clear that even big moves like that will make a difference.

    The fix is already in.

    It’s not too late to find a better solution, but we have to rethink our approach.