Why you should stop looking at ‘Trending’
“We find comfort among those who agree with us — We find growth among those who don’t.” — Frank Clark
Entertainment is what keeps us busy and it’s what keeps big news websites running. It’s what keeps millions of people in the media employed and it’s what keeps others from doing work that really matters. It keeps all of us from understanding the important things more deeply. The things that shape environment, our work, our friends and our next generation. Those are all buried somewhere underneath the rubble we call “trending”.
News feeds show us…
Sports, a new gadget we don’t really need, some politician tweeting @CNN to get attention (that his mother didn’t give him), news about a celebrity (that is famous for … their looks?). It doesn’t matter whether you open the newspaper, twitter, or that you checked your personalized newsfeed on Facebook. They are all filled with sports, politics and celebrities. The jazzed up headlines get us to click, the pictures get us to engage and the text gets us to grasp for more.
Do you ever ask yourself, ‘Where is the stuff that really matters?’ Why is all this irrelevant stuff in my feeds? Why don’t I dig deeper and find some interesting new perspective. Why does my brain loves this crap so much?’ I know I do…. a lot.
The world’s “best” excuse, ‘We’re only human’
I watch something Netflix once a week, I watch Formula 1, once every 2 weeks, I play video games every now and then (almost never ever since I gave my Xbox away), I check the news of the latest transfer in Football (which I suck at), I read the latest news of what’s happening in the country I was born (The Netherlands) and the country I now live (Germany), I even read the latest news about what’s happening in my industry (tech), I check the latest on the organizations and leaders I admire, I read articles of the writers I can learn from and I kill my take my brain while doing all of the above.
Then I didn’t even get started checking all the platforms, sites and tools that have ‘notifications’ for me with relevant “news”. Slack, Trello, Twitter, Facebook, Inbox, etc etc. F*ck me what a waste of brain space! And I’m checking all this stuff at my iPhone, my Mac or iPad (not a fanboy). Yet I don’t really feel I’m learning a fascinating new perspective by spending all this time in keeping up with the “news”.
Where I do learn new perspectives from is by reading a new book every week, particularly books that disagree with me. Books, that when I buy them, create resistance. However, it seems so hard to expand my horizon with perspectives in my daily blur of new information that disagrees with me in a way that isn’t shouting, screaming and illogical. It seems takes so much effort to find an intelligent, thoughtful and logical opposite view.
That’s why I created a little experiment…
It’s called ‘The Bubble’ — Where you receive a different perspective in your inbox that pops your bubble. You just put a link in there, from an article, a video or a blog post, that totally confirms what you belief (Which means it confirms a bias you currently hold). Then The Bubble sends you back a personally curated link with an article, book or blog post that is a thoughtful opposite perspective. Straight to your inbox.
I just figured, that instead of complaining that it’s so hard to find a different perspective, I just built something (very rough) that can help make it a little bit easier for you.
Now it’s up to you to scratch your itch!
Share your link here and receive a different perspective in your inbox.
