On Slowing Down
For the folks that are familiar with my digital consumption habits–speed-watching YouTube videos or breezing through podcasts and audiobooks at 2x speed–you might find what I’m about to say surprising. This journey into hyper-consumption started over a decade ago, where I was trying to optimize every minute, every second.
At first, it began innocently with a little bump to 1.25x speed. That quickly escalated to 1.5x, and before I knew it, I was at to 2x. Hell, at some point, I installed a plugin to allow me to go further to 2.5x speed, only to later dial it back to 2x. My friends would poke fun when they would see me do this, but again, I was trying to cram as much knowledge and entertainment into my waking hours as possible.
A quick spot check at my feeds, I can see that I’m currently at:
- 112 YouTube Channels, granted, roughly a quarter post sporadically.
- 82 Podcasts, where around 18 have actually ended.
But a few months ago, I asked myself: What value was I truly gaining? I realized all this consumption seemed kind of pointless when my retention of most of the knowledge was lost. And if it was merely for the entertainment, it’s not like I’m 2x-ing my TV Shows, Movies, and Music (I’m not a monster). So I decided to experiment with slowing down. For a few weeks, I slowed it down to 1.5x and that was an adjustment to get used to, and then eventually back to 1x.
I instantly started to notice the obvious, “These YouTube videos and Podcast episodes are excruciatingly long!”, which posed a new problem towards my completionist tendencies. But this did start to help me accept that I should let go of the need to consume every single episode or video. If anything, it helped me filter a lot and appreciate more the episodes and videos that I did decide to invest my time in. I found myself going back to listening to music and reading more as paradoxically, by filtering out so much noise, I ended consuming less–both in terms of quantity but also time.
I know so far this all sounds really silly, but it did make me think about the broader implications of our collective rush for efficiency. I would like to point your attention to a video of Wisecrack’s take on productivity, which pretty much summarized how I’ve been feeling for a while until I decided to do less. He discusses the Protestant work ethic and how the current economic system forces us to optimize every aspect of our lives, and makes us feel bad if we don’t.
The journey from 2x back to 1x has been more than a mere adjustment of speed; it’s been a profound reassessment of how I engage with the world around me. There have been numerous studies that suggest our brains process information more effectively at a pace that allows for reflection and connection. Slowing down hasn’t just changed how I consume media; it’s transformed how I perceive time, attention, and value.
So, dear reader, I pose a question to you: Have you considered the pace at which you consume digital media? How about the quantity? What might you discover by slowing down, even just a little? Have fun experimenting, to find your own balance between staying informed and savouring the moment. Perhaps, like me, you’ll find that less truly can be more.