How Do You Fill The Void?

Seneca wrote constantly about time. One of his most compelling observations was about how people are protective of their money, their property, their possessions, yet careless with the one thing they can’t get back. “It’s not that we have a short time to live,” he said, “but that we waste a lot of it. Can you imagine what he would say about the fact that today people average more than 5 hours a day on mobile devices? That’s 52 days a year—one-seventh of our lives—murdered! Cal Newport’s excellent new book Digital Minimalism, which just released this week, is an attempt to change that--to focus on limited time on the things that matter (deep work, family, being present, even the study of philosophy). In our interview with Cal for DailyStoic.com, he explained the two reasons why this is increasingly easier said than done. The first is that there are really smart computer scientists specifically engineering these devices and social media platforms to foster compulsive use. The second: “It fills a void. Life is hard. This hardness is especially manifested during those periods of downtime when you're alone with your thoughts. People avoid these confrontations through constant, low quality digital distraction much in the way that people of another era might have dealt with these difficulties with heavy drinking. But this is just a band-aid over a deeper wound.”How should we fill the void?“As the ancients taught us, the sustainable response is to instead dedicate your free time toward things that matter. Take on as much responsibility as you can bear, seek out quality for the sake of quality (as Aristotle recommends in The Ethics), serve your community, connect with real people in real life and sacrifice for them. All of this can seem daunting as compared to clicking "watch next" on your Netflix stream, but once engaged in these deeper pursuits, it's hard to go back to the shallow.”What if instead of reaching for our phones for even a dozen of the more than 2,600 times per day (!!) the average user engages with their mobile device, we reached for a journal and a pen? Or a book? Or what if we reached for nothing at all and just stared at the ceiling lost in thought? There are few problems you couldn’t solve if those 5 hours per day were spent thinking instead of scrolling. Put some distance between you and your devices today. Fill the void with things that add value to your life. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. 📢 Share | ⚙️ Manage Subscription

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:06Ryan Holiday?

  Welcome to The Daily Stoic, where each day we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living the good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com.

• 0:29Ryan Holiday?

  How Do You Fill the Void? Seneca wrote constantly about time. One of his most compelling observations was about how people are protective of their money, their property, their possessions, yet careless with the one thing they can't get back. "It's not that we have a short time to live," he said, "but that we waste a lot of it." Can you imagine what he would say about the fact that today, people average more than five hours a day on mobile devices? That's 52 days a year, one-seventh of our lives murdered. Cal Newport's excellent new book, Digital Minimalism, which was just released this week, is an attempt to change that, to focus on the limited time we have, and focus it

• 1:14Ryan Holiday?

  on the limited things that matter: our deep work, our family being present, even the study of philosophy. In our interview with Cal for Daily Stoic, he explained the two reasons why this is increasingly easier said than done. The first is that there are really smart computer scientists specifically engineering these devices and social media platforms to foster compulsive use. The second, he said, is that it fills a void. "Life is hard. This hardness is especially manifested during those periods of downtime when you're alone with your thoughts. People avoid these confrontations through constant, low-quality digital distraction,

• 1:55Ryan Holiday?

  much in the way that people of another era might have dealt with these difficulties with healthy drinking. But this is just a Band-Aid over a deeper wound." So how should we fill the void? Cal said, "As the ancients taught us, the sustainable response is to instead dedicate your free time towards things that matter. Take on as much responsibility as you can bear. Seek out quality for the sake of quality, as Aristotle recommends in The Ethics. Serve your community. Connect with real people in real life and sacrifice for them." All of this can seem daunting compared to clicking "Watch Next" on your Netflix stream,

• 2:35Ryan Holiday?

  but once engaged in these deeper pursuits, it's hard to go back to the shallow. So that's a great question. What if, instead of reaching for our phones for even a dozen or more than 2,600 times per day the average user engages with their mobile device, we reached for a journal, or a pen, or a book? Or what if we reached for nothing at all, and we just stared at the ceiling, lost in thought? There are few problems you couldn't solve if those five hours a day were spent thinking instead of scrolling. So put some distance between you and your devices today. Fill the void with things that add value to your life. And one of those things I would suggest is Cal's new book. Check it out, it's called Digital Minimalism.

• 3:17Ryan Holiday?

  You can get it ironically as an audiobook, or an ebook, or of course, my preference, a real-life, physical book. Check it out, it's a great book, Digital Minimalism, and check out our interview with Cal at DailyStoic.com.