Mixed Signals: A little less outrage please

No. 8 – 24th of May, 2020

Before this all began, I avoided the news.

In school, we have it drummed into us that keeping up with current affairs is important. Watching the news makes you smarter. Sadly, that's no longer true.

"The news" is 5% information and 95% outrage. The game is to keep us watching. Keep us coming back. And making us feel something is key. Informing us... not so much.

There are times when the news really does need to get through. "Can I leave the house today?" isn't something I thought I would need to check the news for in my lifetime. Then old habits creep back in and I'm checking the news on my phone in bed morning and night.

I'm back to blocking it out. A little less outrage please.

On with the links...

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👨‍💻 I have been reading...

+ "My experiences drive me to reflect on what environments are best for children. Certainly not the ones I came from." Also... check out Rob's interview on social psychology below.
+ My friend Neil Cocker has been interviewing some brilliant people (who I'm also very proud to know... Melin, Candice, + Jamie) on the theme of Community during Coronavirus.
+ A jam-packed Twitter thread on the 6 mental models that power Tobi Lutke's (CEO of Shopify) clear thinking.
+ Some great tips on giving a talk (from someone who sees a lot).
+ Retail sales (clothing in particular) have unsurprisingly taken a big hit recently. Still the graphs on this page are startling.
+ Your music video would need to be viewed 2.1 million times for you to earn minimum wage in revenue.
+ A great PDF on cognitive bias.

📺 I have been watching...

+ Matthew Kobach (head of social for the New York Stock Exchange) has some great interviews on his IGTV channel. Start with Rob Henderson talking about social psychology.
+ I'm not big on TV, but I've been searching for a way to switch off. A bit of escapism. The Village hit the spot. The first season is on Amazon Prime.
+ Hay Festival has gone fully digital this year. (This should really be in a new category called "I would have been watching if I didn't have 3 kids at home...").

🎧 I have been listening to...

+ Derek Sivers on the Flowgrade podcast. Derek always challenges my thinking... "That’s the role time plays in my life. I don’t look at clocks. I don’t have a schedule. I don’t have a structure to my day. I tend to throw myself into one thing at a time."

📚 Books...

+ Information is Beautiful is a fantastic book filled with data visualised in many incredible ways (see the music revenue link further up).

🧸 I've been playing with...

+ A tool that lets me block out the "What's happening?" (trending) module on Twitter.

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Thanks for reading. Have a great week. 👋

Gareth @garethkthomas