How to outsmart technology to avoid screen addiction?

Photo credit: Forbes

We just can't live without our smartphones, can we? In transport, restaurant, office, and even on holidays, every time and everywhere. Everyone keeps watching the screen on their cell phone.  Why is it so addictive? For entertainment, business, or for the sake of dopamine activation? Brain imaging research is showing that stimulating glowing screens is as dopaminergic to the brain’s pleasure center as sex. Somehow, avoiding using our phones or computers in this technological world is impossible. The key is how to outsmart technology.

First things first, we need to understand why we are obsessed with our screens - either from entertainment of computer games, or staying stunned for social media with our friends, these are more about psychological addiction. 

And a growing mountain of clinical research correlates screen tech with disorders like ADHD, addiction, anxiety, depression, increased aggression, and even psychosis. Most shocking of all, recent brain imaging studies conclusively show that excessive screen exposure can neurologically damage a young person’s developing brain in the same way that cocaine addiction can.

However, in this AI-dominated environment, we can’t avoid technology. But as parents, we should try to feed less or avoid this “electronic pacifier” to our kids in order not to damage their brains and growth. As for adults, be open-minded, not too afraid that AI will replace our jobs, although eventually it will. Risks create opportunities. Embrace AI and adapt to its convenience. Outsmart it by learning the skills to equip yourself. Those who are at severe risk don’t know how to use tech & AI to enhance efficiency in their job.

I’m curious about what our work will be evolving into within the coming 10 years and the very near future!

Work SMART is better than Work HARD

Many of us, especially employers, might have the fallacy that working hard is of utmost importance. And to measure how hard an employee works is by their working hours. This will lead to lower efficiency because even if your employee sits in front of the computer, it does not mean he or she is actually working, especially since we have work-from-home arrangements post-COVID. In other words, long working hours are somewhat meaningless, in my opinion.

However, for social norms, some companies still love to see their employees "struggling" in front of their workstations, maybe they think working overtime should be part of the job duties of employees. Tesla is one of the typical examples -

“Work like hell. You just have to put in 80 to 100 hour weeks every week. This improves the odds of success. If others are putting in 40 hour work weeks and you’re putting in 100 hour work weeks, then even if you’re doing the same thing, you will achieve in 4 months what it takes them a year.”

― Elon Mush

Despite the high turnover rate in Tesla, many of their employees still need to "pretend" to work even though they have already finished their work within their working hours, or some might even not take off, sadly due to the heavy workload. We will leave the topic of "4-day week" or work-life balance for later. What I want to share in this article is how to work smart. Recently, I have finally finished a rewarding book that definitely stimulates your productivity by building some good habits and staying away from the bad ones, which I am sure most of you must have heard - Atomic Habits. 

Some of the key learnings from this book in short are -

• When you are building some good habits, make your goal and habits visible, attractive, and  simply easy to achieve
• Make your rewards satisfying. Treat yourself instantly when you receive your goal or when you have finished 
• When you are trying to get rid of some bad habits, make the above reverse - said differently, make them invisible, unattractive, difficult to do, and not satisfying. 

I enjoyed this book so much simply because the philosophy is effectively communicated through solid examples, which you can practice in real life. Another way of looking at it, this book is relatively easy to follow the steps and practice in your daily routine. Strongly recommend to those who want to get rid of those bad habits, such as smoking, or find building a new habit difficult, to start reading this book today. If you want to improve yourself and be a better me. 

Step out today!

The magic of humanity

All my past, present and future blog posts will never be generated by AI. I can promise you. Although I use ChatGPT almost every single day, for work and personal use.

Technologies evolve drastically nowadays. There are tons of new stuff to learn and adapt to - strive to adapt to different software, and digitalized environments... We, humans, have a learning curve. It takes time, while robots already learn faster than humans. So humans are replaceable by robots?

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

What is the role of humans in the post-pandemic and global boiling era? Especially it is the age when we get to a critical and challenging time where the intelligence of AI already outgrows humans.

I am always grateful that I pursued a career that generative AI could easily replace, in the first place. Creativity can never be generated by AI systems. Feelings & sensing, personal writing style, neither. These are the magic of humanity. Generative AI may write you another Shakespeare's literature, but itself can never be Shakespeare. AI system is good to imitate something existing, but not creating a brand new style fundamentally or even capturing the essence of a unique perspective, at least as of today. It is due to the fact that most AI systems nowadays are based on pre-existing data and rules. The concepts of "thinking out-the-box" and "breaking rules" completely contradict any computer programming. 

To me, writing is a true reflection & expression of myself. I hope you can feel who I am, what I believe, and my point of view in my articles. "Cogito ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am) was the French philosopher Descartes' basic axiom. If I stop thinking, I will not exist. However, the purpose of writing by generative AI is to provide information to make human life easier. As far as I know, current forms of AI cannot develop genuine emotions or personal experiences, not to mention they can mimic emotions though. What matter is how to this powerful yet dangerous tool wisely, but not be taken over by it, while ensuring not enslaved by its capabilities.

More than ten thousand American writers across various industries including film, television, radio, and online media are on strike lately to fight for their rights. I can totally understand their intentions and stand in support of them. But do you think the employers of their companies will truly fulfill their demands? Let's keep an eye on it. Time will tell.

Life's a beach, enjoy the wave and go with the flow. True talent, the essence of human ingenuity, cannot be replaced by AI systems so easily, don't they?

P.S. I did try to use ChatGPT to imitate my writing style and write a blog, luckily it didn’t capture my spirit, thank god...

All or Nothing?

2021 is still a challenging year for all mankind.

Life's like gambling, sometimes, either you win or you lose everything. There's nothing in between. We fight towards the Pandemic, struggle to strive. Vaccinated or not? It's a matter of choice, a gamble somehow. Like opportunity cost.

In terms of career gambling, have you experienced you get a better job offer in your first working week? It's tough for you to quit at the beginning of the work. But the new job offer seems too tempting to pass on, although you know nothing about the new working environment. You need to risk your decision. Maybe it will be exhausting on board. You never know when you making your work-life choices.

In terms of love gambling, can you move on easily when you still care about someone? Especially for those who have established a long-term relationship. Difficult, huh? Some people might have relationships with several partners at the same time. Going on dates with different guys or gals isn't such a big deal these days, thanks to dating apps. To those people, they tend not to put all eggs in one basket, to divert their investing portfolio somehow. These gamblers are sneaky but they do exist. For those who can't foresee a future with your current partner, I'd highly recommend you to move on. Let's not waste any of your time in the new year. It isn't a fair game.

What kind of world are we living in now? 

Pandemic, post-pandemic? Is there an end to Covid? At the beginning of every year, we hope to travel next year. Country locking down, releasing restriction, once there is a new variant, the whole story repeats again... History is keep replicating itself, and is there an end to the story? Is that all or we will have nothing at the end, is pandemic the last warning of our beloved earth to humans? 

What's your move in 2022? 

Maybe nothing means everything. Nothing's impossible. 

There is always light on if you believe.

image credit: NASA

My secret recipe / Chocolate mousse cake (no bake)

Don't have an oven at home? No worries, you can master to create a cake with this easy recipe!

ingredients
ladyfingers                                  12 pcs 
cream                                         150 ml
dark chocolate bar                      150 g
full cream milk                           1 cup     
chocolate chips                           as much as you like
choco powder                             as much as you like
    

                                  
method 
1) boil the cream in a hot pot
2) break the dark chocolate bar into pieces, pour them into the pot and stir well
3) turn off the fire, add a cup of milk into it
4) prepare a container, cut all the ladyfingers into 1/3 and put them inside the container
5) pour some of chocolate liquid into the ladyfinger, mix them well
6) pour the rest of liquid into the container, refrigerate it for at least 3 hours
7) put the choco powder and chocolate chips on top


small tips
don't add too much milk into the chocolate, otherwise, the cake can't standstill

Lessons

How would you want your life to be?

What would you do to achieve it?
Are you willing to change your lifestyle or habit to a meaning life?
How would you contribute to the society?
How would you dedicate yourself to make a better world?

Lessons is the 1st book, or kind of like a biography of Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen, who is famous not only due to she's the ex-girlfriend of Leonardo Dicaprio, but also her fame in the model industry. She is one of the famous Victoria Secret's angels and recognized in the trend "Curve is Back" by Vogue magazine. I am impressed by the depth of meaning it conveys and how organized of this book is, in terms of the structure. Gisele mentioned the reason she wrote this book is she wants to left some meaning lessons for her 3 kids - the eldest kid who is her husband Tom Brady and his ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynahan (American actress casting Helen Wick from John Wick) co-parenting with.

Okay enough for the sandal, though it's always juicy for the celebrity gossip news and catch the eyeball of the public. Back to the content, the book itself is deeply meaningful - in a sense it describes the early life of Gisele becoming the supermodel. I'm impressed of how dedicated she is in her personal life. She worked in her teens and almost has no holidays, as we know models need to travel around the world and being criticized about her face and body. She truly deserves what she enjoy today. Plus I admire her dedication to contribute in the environment - she is willing to utilize her celebrity influence in making a better world. Not just being rich and famous. She is authentic and with a beautiful heart, which is a true beauty. I really like her a lot.

Some of the chapter heading from the book. Take a glimpse and highly recommend to read it thru.

   

"Life unfolds in unexpected way. The only constant is change"

Quote from book, which is so true. If we stay in the same position for the whole time, we can never grow. Step out is the only way out.



Read further -

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39407762-lessons
Intro of the book on Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/102301374-florence
Check out my bookshelf on my Goodreads account

Love is...

Love is all around the world.

Love is a poem you write.

Love is compromise.

Love is a song you sing when you’re unhappy.

Love is magic to cure your sickness.

Love is stress resistance.

Love is treasuring what you have everyday.

Love is the future.

Love is forgetting or learning from your past.

Love is my man on the moon.

Love can work wonder.