{"id":146511,"date":"2019-06-03T23:18:56","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T06:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=146511"},"modified":"2019-06-03T23:27:26","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T06:27:26","slug":"focus-not-privacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/03\/focus-not-privacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Focus, Not Privacy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A thought:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps what we should be optimizing for in our personal lives is FOCUS, not ‘privacy’.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Nobody cares what porn you watch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My personal privacy is important. Yet, I think in the context of the internet, I think “freedom from distraction” (focus) is actually more important than privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would say the biggest problem in today’s world is distraction. We got a trillion advertisements in all aspects of our lives, and I think we no longer have the opportunity or the breathing room to actually let our minds go fallow, in order to think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freedom from advertisements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My theory:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently (and in the future)– it will be about the ‘digital elite’ who are able to live WITHOUT ADVERTISEMENTS vs the ‘digital poor’ who will live a life subsidized by advertising.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

All forms of ‘entertainment’ are designed to optimally trap us, suck out our wallets, and gain our eyeball-ear attention. With screens all around us, the ‘eyeball economy’ is strong. Furthermore now with the introduction of the wireless AirPods– the ‘ear economy’ will also explode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"haptic<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I don’t necessarily think that advertising is ‘evil’ — I just think that it is annoying (especially when you don’t want to be advertised to). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t like it when an algorithm knows too much of my personal preferences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Anaheim,
Anaheim, 2019 #cindyproject #fujifilmxf10<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My biggest critique of modern algorithms are that they are TOO GOOD<\/em>— they know my personal interests too well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Google\/YouTube knows that I am interested in Kanye West<\/a>, Steve Jobs<\/a>, JAY Z<\/a>, Apple, deadlifting<\/a>, AI<\/a>, Tesla, entrepreneurship<\/a>, and everything of this sort. Thus when it gives me ‘suggested news stories’ or when I am randomly on YouTube, I MUST click the articles or watch the videos. And while the article might have some positive utility to me, the ‘distraction cost’ is tremendous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once again– my critique isn’t that algorithms are “evil” or nefarious– they are just plain distracting! Which robs me of my focus<\/a> and attention<\/a>— my most valuable asset. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"Oakland,
Oakland, 2019 #xiaomi9se<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tools to regain your sanity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some basic ideas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Uninstall social media apps from your phone, as well as email. If you really really need to use this platforms, you can always do it from your laptop.<\/li>
  2. Use ‘freedom.to<\/a>‘ to block out internet\/wifi access for certain periods of time, if your goal is to focus.<\/li>
  3. If you are really brave, try to go #nophone<\/a> for a week, month, or even longer (I went for 1.5+ years without a phone, with great results). Life will be a little less convenient, but your ability to focus (and not get distracted) will go up 100x.<\/li>
  4. I encourage you to use Safari on MacBook and to install all the ad blockers, YouTube blockers, and other ‘focus’\/productivity plugins (StopTheMadness<\/a>, Facebook News Feed Blocker, Facebook Demetricator, ‘Shut up<\/a>‘ (turning off online comments)). You can also install ad blockers on your Samsung web browser, Safari for mobile, or you can use the free ‘VIA<\/a>‘ browser available in the Android store. If you have a Windows or other laptop, try using the Brave browser<\/a> to have fewer distractions. I encourage you to uninstall Chrome– the ultimate distraction tool.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    \"My
    My Safari extensions<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Conclusion: Value your focus above everything else<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \"zen\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Ultimately, this is all your personal preference. For myself, I prize my focus and attention above convenience, money, fame, and power. I will thus optimize my own life this way. But ultimately however you decide to optimize your own lifestyle<\/a> is up to you; the question is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What are you willing to sacrifice in order to get it?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    BE BOLD!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    ERIC<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A thought: Perhaps what we should be optimizing for in our personal lives is FOCUS, not ‘privacy’.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":146249,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_ek_photo_artist_note":"","_ek_photo_thesis":"","_ek_photo_camera":"","_ek_photo_place":"","_ek_photo_human_moment":"","_ek_photo_sequence":"","_ek_photo_question":"","_ek_photo_canonical_claim":"","_ek_photo_ai_summary":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/2583CA8D-BB64-4DEB-9C1B-131AD2822466.png?fit=1668%2C2224&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146511"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":146518,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146511\/revisions\/146518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}