I feel like it’s messing up my brain. I know it’s messing up my brain.
If you’re here you know the research: Social media “increases risk for depression, anxiety, loneliness…” Do we even need the data? I just go by how I feel when I’m done using.
When I’m on Instagram I’m more jealous. Comparative! And I feel like I need to suddenly work on my six-pack and buy a bunch of green powders. I feel bad about myself. I start thinking I’m not doing… enough. Enough anything. Enough everything!
When do I feel the opposite?
When I’m offline — reading, writing, birding, biking, having deep conversations, playing with my kids, making dinner with my wife. I want to keep cultivating a life where I am less online and more present in-person — with myself and others.
I largely hang out in these three places and I’d love you to join me:
1. 3 Books - On the exact minute of every full moon I release an ad-free, sponsor-free, interruption-free longform conversation about life’s biggest themes through someone’s 3 most formative books. I do this to throw a log on our collective reading fire. Reading is a well-researched happiness practice! At the end of every show we hang out in my basement — reading letters, playing phone calls, geeking out about word origins. There’s even an entirely-analog secret club for the show that operates through the mail. I’m doing 333 Chapters with the last one publishing at 10:37pm on April 26, 2040. Chapter releases are intermezzoed with 333-second-or-less Pages and occasional Bookmarks. Our Values are here and you might start with David Sedaris, Brené Brown, Quentin Tarantino, Alok-Vaid Menon, Suzy Batiz, George Saunders, or Daniels. (Or at the very beginning right here.)
2. My Newsletters - I have been writing and publishing 1 awesome thing a day since 2008. (I started over here.) It’s become my top habit for cultivating a more positive mindset. Fifteen years later I still write and send out 1 brand new awesome thing every night at midnight. I also send out a longform monthly book club on the last Saturday morning of every month. (I think of it like a little magazine, a little coffee shop hang, and I spend 10-15 hours writing it every month.) I also send out bi-weekly Wednesday morning thoughts, articles, and poetry. All my newsletters are 100% ad, sponsor, algorithm, and tracker free and I read and (try to) reply to every reply I get. You can sign up here: www.neil.blog/newsletters
3. My books - I have ten books and journals loosely focused under the (broad) theme of intentional living. They’ve sold over two million copies in dozens of languages over the past 15 years. I think and write about things like happiness, failure, habits, gratitude, and community. I think of my books as the longest conversations I have. Many people who listen to my podcast or get my newsletters originally found me through my books.