Creatures that crave

I’m convinced the apps today have made me addicted to checking them as often as possible, especially after listening to Chamath Palihapitiya (former head of growth at Facebook) talk about how they are built to be addicting. In this video Chamath shares his guilt for developing these apps, how they are ripping apart society, and why he doesn’t let his own children use these applications.

Part of my problem with these apps is that I don’t feel fulfilled after using them, and I consistently feel like I could do more or better — I’m convinced they evoke feelings of self pity and encourage self absorbed behavior.

This week I volunteered. I don’t normally volunteer, but am hoping to get in the habit of volunteering to eliminate feelings of self pity and selfishness.

I found an opportunity on volunteermatch.org — “Science Night”. My thoughts were that this would be an organized after school program where volunteers could drop in and help kids with their Science homework. I knew that this was going to be a little uncomfortable, but was convinced that it would make me feel better.

On my bike ride over, I started to feel uncomfortable, the neighborhood did not feel safe. When I arrived I felt very out of place, there were ten high school girls…