The Overlooked Killer of a Meaningful Life

it's not the phone

Here is how to 10x your productivity.

Justin Bieber had a mental breakdown.

If you eat this vegetable, you will lose weight effortlessly.

Hear this triggering political take.

Look at this super-easy way to make money online.

How did reading this feel? Uncomfortable? Confusing?

This is context switching, and it’s how most people’s lives look most of the time.

Negative consequences of social media usage are one of the biggest topics of our age, and for a good reason. But context switching is rarely given proper attention (no pun intended) in this conversation. Allow me to address why it is the overlooked killer of a meaningful, fulfilled, authentic life.

The following illustration provides a good entry point for our discussion.

caption...

This comparison has been circulating the internet for years. It seems that not much has changed after all.

There is an argument to be made that, regardless of the point of human history, most people spend their lives in distraction, avoiding being with themselves and their own thoughts, and failing to experience the present moment. In that sense, the digital age and social media exacerbated the problem, but they didn’t create a new one.

However, there is a strong counterargument to be made. In the past, methods of distraction were more constructive and less degenerate or unhealthy. If we look at this image, we can imagine that most people staring at screens are doomscrolling. On the other hand, people reading newspapers in the past were mostly reading about the topics that were relevant to them as adults and responsible members of society.

But concluding the argument at this would, once again, be overlooking the silent killer.

The most significant difference between these two photos is the speed of context switching. Regardless of what they were reading, the people reading newspapers were consuming one article at a time. Anything that they engaged in, whether for education, career, or entertainment purposes, required a decent level of sustained focus. Whatever you are consuming in written form requires you to give it some of your time and attention. Perhaps most importantly, there isn't a strong pull to switch to something else every few seconds.

However, in the age of context switching, the situation is different.

Regardless of whether your screen session is for work, education, or entertainment, there is a constant urge to switch and check the next piece of content, that other app, or that new notification. Email, Instagram, Slack, YouTube, the stock market - it's all just a fraction of a second away.

Social media as its own world is the prime example of zero friction in context switching. One moment you are watching Andrew Huberman explaining how to avoid the afternoon energy crash, the next moment you are watching a kid who is drinking one glass of milk for every new follower he gets.

Outside of social media, the average individual doesn't put any systems in place to make the context switching between apps more difficult. Nothing is preventing you from trying to listen to a podcast while writing a business email and then stopping midway through to check the score of a basketball game. In fact, this happens more often than people would like to admit.

However, the real problem isn't just in context switching itself. It's in how we’re addressing it and anything else that negatively affects our most valuable resource - attention.

Every single time, it’s the same story: it's killing your productivity.

And it’s true, context switching is one of the biggest enemies of deep focus and therefore productivity. But that shouldn't be where the conversation starts and ends.

Most people are sick and tired of the hustle culture and the cult of productivity. They don’t care about your 5 tips to get all things done from a 25-item to-do list. They want to live more fully, to feel more alive. Yes, they want to get stuff done, but not at the expense of their relationship with themselves and their life. Yes, they want to become more productive, but not to become a machine.

So many people are repelled from this conversation because the sole focus is on how reducing context switching can enhance productivity and efficiency in one's work.

But how about context switching killing not only your productivity but also your relationship with yourself and others?

How about context switching preventing you from discovering your purpose and passion?

How about context switching deteriorating your mental health?

These are the things we need to talk about, not just productivity. We exist in this world for more than just being good at completing tasks.

To address this matter in a more holistic, fully human way, I invite you to engage in an experiment with me.

Give yourself 10 minutes of fast-paced context switching. The most straightforward way to engage in this experiment is to scroll through either Instagram Reels, TikTok, or YouTube Shorts. For some, this will come naturally. For those who are more intentional with their screen usage, they will need to make an effort to engage in that type of chaos. That's a great sign.

Set the timer and do it for 10 minutes straight. How do you feel afterwards? I'm not talking about the feeling of shame for wasting time. How centered are you? How capable are you of reaching within and consulting with some deep part of yourself? Set a timer for another 10 minutes and do free-flow journaling. Just write whatever comes to your mind first and follow your train of thought, no matter where it leads. Once you're done, notice the clarity of your thoughts and how connected you are to what is within you.

At a different point in the day, set a timer for 10 minutes and engage in just one task during that time. This would be an unfair comparison if I asked you to engage in something deeply personally relevant for 10 minutes. So I’m telling you to engage in ANYTHING. Read a random article about gardening. Draw triangles for 10 minutes straight. Listen to a podcast about accounting and give it your full and undivided attention (that’s a tough one). But just engage in one thing and nothing else. 

Once the 10 minutes are up, do the same as in the previous session. Notice how you feel. Not in terms of time well spent, but in terms of centeredness, groundedness, ability to be with yourself and consult yourself.

Then, do another 10-minute session of free-flow journaling. Once again, notice your clarity of thoughts and the ability to reach within.

Now imagine both of these sessions being an hour long instead of 10 minutes long. Then imagine 1000 sessions stacked together. Because that’s the reality of our situation.

What type of life are you building by stacking hundreds or thousands of hours of fast-paced context switching? It's not just about living an unproductive life. It's about living a disconnected life. A meaningless life. An inauthentic life. That's no life at all.

As a once-great artist said, "Sorry for the realness."

I hope you take more control of your context today. Thank you for giving me your time and attention.

P.S. If you’re letting most of your time and potential go to waste because of the distractions and temptations of the digital age, click here to book a free call to see if I can help.