How to purposely incorporate friction into my life?
One of my favourite memories growing up was stumbling upon a movie midway when you turned on the TV (via free-to-air of course).
I had no idea what came before in the plot, but it was so intriguing that all your plans for the night flew out the window.
I also liked it that Gilmore Girls was only shown once a week, on one channel, at one time (shock horror). Right when it finished you would text your best friends, "I can't believe she walked out with the flour!"
Some friction is good for my life. The need to wait. The serendipitous that I otherwise would've missed. Being forced to slow down, process and work my grey matter. (I honestly think my thinking is atrophying, which is why I've been getting back into fiction that is a little harder to get into.)
And AI usage brings all these considerations to the fore.
I've been considering what are some ways to purposely incorporate some friction into my life.
- Movement and exercise is a start. So far there is definitely no short-hand to this!
- I've been trying to slow down my social media communications. I'm "off" social media in the sense that I no longer have a public Facebook page, or a personal public instagram account. I'm relying more on in-person messages. Which requires me to curate what I want to send, and how I want to frame my messages.
- I'm trying to use less of the 'like' button. Either I don't say anything, or if I have something to say I try and contribute something meaningful in a long-form comment.
- I try and think of my own best answers before 'Googling' or AI'ing something.
- I try and spend half an hour each night doing homework with my children, so that it's not 'outsourced' to the app and we can discuss the ideas / concepts.
What are some ways you've been considering adding friction into your life? Email me thoughts! viv@parenthesisdesign.com