A consequence of The Cult of ProductivityThe Cult of Productivity
Repurposing the tools of self mastery towards the ends of maximizing "productivity". There is an intense pressure to "produce" in capitalist culture because that production is the life blood of cap... and the related brain rot I will call Productivity Brain[^1] is that all content created by these Productivity Maximizers begins to take a similar shape. You see these types of creations on Youtube frequently. They have a well produced sheen and follow a very rote sequence of beats, crafted from a standard youtube video formula supposedly tuned to the algorithm. There will invariable be some quote pulled by one of the 10 authors anyone of these productivity people read, lots of purchased prefab after-effect motion graphics, some inspiring royalty-free music, and then a regurgitation of some idea or concept that is "on trend".
This sort of content is most frequently produced on topics related to productivity because the sorts of people who make this sort of thing lack any creativity, but content creators of all sorts produce vapid, empty, but optimized content like this all the time.
It buries useful or interesting or challenging content- The Algorithm will destroy good contentThe Algorithm will destroy good content
The internet now is a sequence of algorithms surfacing content in an attempt to keep our eyes glued to the screen for as long as possible. This means content that maintains certain metrics like "en...
References
^1: referenced as Productivity Porn by Merlin Man, in the Cal Newport article The Rise and Fall of GTDThe Rise and Fall of GTD
Newport, Cal. “The Rise and Fall of Getting Things Done.” The New Yorker, November 17, 2020. accessed 9/26/23
Overview
Cal Newport, author of Deep Work talks about the history of GTD, personal pro...