The Great Slowdown: A Call for Mental Space
Image courtesy of Spur Magazine
Thought this week
"So imperceptibly we are developing a mindset or habit of reading in a particular way that, by and large, is based on a kind of skimming reading. We can build habits of mind, a kind of reading that’s after the innermost landscape of our thinking, whether we call it a sanctuary of reading. How do we build a habit of mind, in which we decide from the start of whatever we are reading, what is the purpose?"
- Maryanne Wolf in her interview with Ezra Klein
The Great Slowdown
Today's article offers an edit of my monthly column TOMORROW for Spur, available in Japanese newsstands. Spur is one of the leading fashion magazines in Japan. I’ve been Spur's Futures columnist since 2022 and generally writing for publications for over a decade.
The Battle for Your Time
The average 18-year-old is on pace to spend 312 months of the rest of their lives online (factoring a life expectancy of 90) according to Dino Ambrosi in his TedTalk ‘The Battle for Your Time: Exposing the Costs of Social Media’.
Attention is one of the most important human faculties. We use it to enjoy, and understand the world and people around us, strategize, and gain deeper reflections and insights.
But our current attention spans an average of 47 seconds on any screen.
Our overconsumption of media aligns with our overconsumption of physical goods, regardless of how these things affect our mental wellbeing and our planet. We are in the "TikTokocene" as coined by agency Day One in their Predictionary:
"The cultural era in which TikTok is a dominant influence over culture”.
But could change be in the air?
Slowing down our ingestion of digital media is an urgent creative imperative and relevant to the Fashion world because we are (or at least have always claimed to be) about originality and creativity.
We can’t nurture raw creativity if our minds are overcrowded and skirting burnout. The constant external stimuli has plunged us into a cultural plateau where we’ve become expert recyclers of other brands’ or people’s ideas, engineering more hype and repetition.
Originality has taken a serious hit.
Cultural theorist, Digital Anthropologist, Strategist and Writer Matt Klein opened a chat to his Zine community asking: ‘How do you intentionally manage your media diet and overwhelming infobesity?”. The question is telling, coming from a leading voice in culture and insights awarded the Best Independent Publication at the 2023 Webby awards.
An Urgent Creative Imperative
Slowing down our ingestion of digital media is an urgent creative imperative. The Great Slowdown is relevant to the Fashion world because we are (or at least have always claimed to be) about originality and creativity. That is the start of every great fashion creation or movement.
We can’t nurture raw creativity if our minds are overcrowded and skirting burnout.
The constant external stimuli has plunged us into a cultural plateau where we’ve become expert recyclers of other brands’ or people’s ideas, engineering more hype and repetition.
Originality has taken a serious hit.
Digital Information Literacy
What if making time away from everything was just as, if not more important than staying up to date with newsfeeds, emails and social media?
In ‘Critical Ignoring as a Core Competence for Digital Citizens” Anastasia Kozyreva, Sam Wineburg, Stephan Lewandowsky and Ralph Hertwig argue “digital information literacy must include the competence of critical ignoring”.
A recipe for our modern times
After years of unpacking how to safeguard my own critical thinking and creativity, here is a selection of ways to slow down and regain footing in our rushing world:
Reclaim Agency
Consider cutting down your email and social media consumption by deciding when YOU are available, vs being on other people's schedule. Studies using heart monitors showed without email people were less stressed and became more social. According to organisational psychology professor Adam Grant and his research with management professor Jihae Shin, taking breaks also boosts creativity.
Incorporate play
We have a problem with boredom. Instead of task switching try deliberate play, an activity that blends elements of practice or work with free play to offer a dopamine rush that distracts from boredom or staves off exhaustion. Consider the card-based method Oblique Strategies created by musician/artist Brian Eno and multimedia artist Peter Schmidt to break creative blocks.
Read Books not Tweets
With deep reading our brain is activated everywhere across different regions in both hemispheres. However we are losing the ability for deep reading according to Literacy scholar Maryanne Wolf. This is rewriting our brain’s capacity for epiphany moments of insight. Language is a natural process for Homo Sapiens but not reading. Don't take this skill we taught ourselves for granted. Use it or lose it.
Map your local nature spot
Consider immersing yourself in nature walks. 10 minutes or longer walks, three days a week for eight weeks, reduces levels of cortisol. According to a Danish study, Nature also helps us to recharge our directed-attention which is needed when analysing and further developing ideas.
Handwrite
When everything is digitised, it seems counterintuitive to handwrite. Taking notes takes time but makes the input that much more intentional. The hand-to-brain connection improves memory, and learning, allows us to personalise our ideas and processes and boosts creativity. Handwriting is also an opportunity to carve time away from screens and minimize distractions.
Protect your Zone of Genius
The Great Slowdown is ultimately about reconnecting with our zone of genius and flow.
It can co-exist with hyperconnected lives, one does not cancel out the other. But it is scientifically proven and many have the cognitive scars to prove it:
If we can’t psychologically detach from our screens and feeds, we can’t pay attention and stay grounded in our originality.
By Geraldine Wharry