I just finished Cal Newport's Deep Work today—my third Cal Newport book this year! (Preemptive apologies to my girlfriend for how much I talk and will be talking about his books).

The first idea from the book I wanted to test out is his counterproposal to the "Internet Sabbath." The weekly technology Sabbath, which I am relieved to learn, he is not fully against, (it is something that I've been trying to commit to every Sunday), is just not that effective when it comes to producing deep work.

The problem lies in its underlying philosophy: the volume of internet/media you allow into your life doesn't matter, as long as you schedule routine breaks from it. Cal flips that idea on its head, and says we should instead focus on what's important: productive concentration. Therefore, you should schedule the moments you are not focusing by, most likely, seeking "distracting stimuli" via the internet.

In his words:

"The idea motivating this strategy is that the use of a distracting service does not, by itself, reduce your brain's ability to focus. It's instead the constant switching from low-stimuli/high-value activities to high-stimuli/low-value activities, at the slightest hint of boredom or cognitive challenge, that teaches your mind to never tolerate an absence of novelty.... By segregating Internet use (and therefore segregating distractions) you're minimizing the number of times you give in to distraction, and by doing so you let these attention-selecting muscles strengthen."

Cal Newport, Deep Work p.162

So far, I've found my Internet-segregated morning to be both rewarding and frustrating. It is upsetting how many programs just refuse to work without an internet connection. (Notion used to be the worst at this, but their offline mode seems vastly improved. Currently, MyMind is being a little frustrating without internet). Furthermore, when I have just one piece of information I just really want to look up, and I have to wait until my next internet block to look it up.

Just another reason to own paper copies of a dictionary and thesaurus.