Post-Truth

Every year, the Oxford dictionary picks a “word of the year” that they believe should be recognized. This year, it was the term “post-truth”.

It’s official definition? It’s an adjective, “Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”
Given what has happened in the past year, it’s no surprise that this word was chosen, given the rise in politics that have adapted more to the soundbite tactics of Twitter than to factual news articles, and given the eminence of “fake news” during this election cycle. It’s also no surprise that the rise in “post-truth”-ism is directly facilitated by the rise in social media and digital technology—like I had mentioned in an earlier blog post, social media fragments the distribution of information, meaning that anyone could report their own news and not necessarily have it edited and fact-checked by a news corporation. Some bits of information may “seem” as if they’re news—mostly because they have a thousand Facebook shares, or because they bear a legitimate-sounding headline.

According to an article on BBC, AC Grayling, a renowned philosopher, acknowledged the vast changes in the dissemination of news, saying that “’All you need now is an iPhone. Everyone can publish their opinion - and if you disagree with me, it's an attack on me and not my ideas.” An Al-Jazeera article also pointed out that there was little flexibility or true communication in social media, saying that “It deprives people of human contact and the accompanying intimacy and exchange of opinions, which could lead to changing a wrong impression or correcting an inaccurate belief.”
“Post-truth” politics and journalism is a phenomenon that doesn’t affect just journalists—it touches all of us, and that same BBC article has accused the “post-truth” state of news as causing damage to “the whole fabric of democracy”.

What’s curious to me is that politics—or American politics, at least, has always been shaped around the tenet of “truth” and honesty. We have “Honest Abe” as a winning campaign slogan; we pass down the story of how George Washington admitted to chopping down his father’s favorite cherry tree. What do we do now, now that “post-truth” is becoming the hallmark of American politics?

For me, “post-truth” has an ominous tone. Throughout my life, I’ve always heard a certain few “post“ words over and over again. Post-9/11. Post-WWII. Postmodern. Each time I’ve heard those words, it’s always also brought on a ponderous sense of finality, as if it was impossible to return to that “pre” world, as if was an event that had unraveled beyond the capability to return to its original state. I wonder if “post-truth” will have the same effect. Can we ever return or revert back to an honest world, and correct the inflammatory mistakes we’ve made? Or have we completely and irrevocably moved past the truth, and into the digital world of deceptive madness?

How important is truth to you, and do you believe that everyday media affects that?

4 Tools to Minimize Online Distractions: My Experience

A while back I listed the New Year’s resolution of trying to focus and single-task more, instead of striving for the elusive (and frankly, for me, rather unattainable) art of trying to multi-task and juggle multiple subjects at once with success. I took this pursuit to my internet use, and tried out a variety of apps, websites, and software that would help me buckle down and get my work done faster. I ended up trying out four main applications/websites—each of which had a different approach to try to get me to focus—and figured out which ones I personally worked best with.

1. TomatoTimer: based on the Pomodoro technique of working (a simple time-blocking concept in which one works for 25-minute bursts, followed by 5-minute breaks), TomatoTimer was a no-frills website that simply worked as a timer. While I liked the idea of working in 25-minute periods of time, initially, I discovered that I preferred much longer working periods and breaks—I usually don’t get very productive with something until I’m around 20 or so minutes in. In this case, I loved the idea of the Pomodoro technique, but I felt like it didn’t quite click with my working style.  
   
2. Stayfocused: This is a Chrome extension that you can build into your browser, and you can set a certain amount of time to spend on time/attention-wasting sites (such as Facebook, Youtube, etc.). After your time’s up, you are blocked from those sites. That extension worked wonderfully for me at the beginning, as it allowed me to choose which sites to block, but still, I felt like I could always “cheat” and increase the “allowed time” when the timer was going.  
3. ColdTurkey: This is sort of the reverse of Stayfocused. Instead of allowing you a set time on time-wasting sites, this Windows software locks you out of certain websites for a set amount of time. This worked better for me than Stayfocused in terms of getting on track, and when I tried it out I ended up getting a ton of work done. It was definitely super-compatible with my learning and working style, and allowed the flexibility of being able to access the internet after a period of worktime. 
4. Freedom: the strictest of distraction-free tools, Freedom basically shuts the internet down for a predetermined period during the day (the irony in the name is, of course, appreciated). Though I was able to get a *ton* of work done when I used this, I can definitely see where it gets to be too restrictive—after all, what if I’m working on a blog and need to do research? What if I’m working on a weekly brief and can’t access Google Drive? If you want absolute, internet-free focus, this is the software for you, and in my past uses of it (before this year) it’s gotten me through its fair share of research papers and college essays. Just be forewarned—once you set the time, you can’t access the internet – unless you completely restart your computer.

Though all apps helped me to a varying degree, Cold Turkey worked the best for me, as it allowed me strict restrictions but also gave me the flexibility to choose which websites to block. Not all productivity tools are for everyone—it was surprising how the Pomodoro technique, so widely lauded by online productivity gurus, didn’t quite work for me. However, throughout this process, I was able to get my work done faster so I could sleep better, and spend more time interacting with friends, so I’m definitely not opposed to trying out more distraction-free apps in the future—and keeping the ones I liked this time around.

Do you guys believe in these productivity tools? If so, which ones do you like?

Technology and the Work/Life Balance

Recently, TIME published an article on how five countries around the world are trying to improve the work/life balance of their employees by introducing certain strict regulations. One of the countries was France, whose workers and businessmen just gained the right to disconnect and refuse to answer their emails out of office hours. Those regulations closely mirror those of German companies, who starting as early as 2014 created a cultural norm of not answering emails when one is away on vacation.

I, for one, think this is a great idea. In this age of technology and 24/7 connectedness, there can at times be this underlying expectation to always be "on call". Somehow, being able to get an incoming message at any hour of the day translates to bosses expecting quicker response times and action out of workers, even if it means responding to emails at midnight and making sales deals while away on vacation. For me, I'd always loved the idea of being able to be connected, professionally, at any time and at any place, but this appreciation of connection has also come with an underlying fear that productivity and response times will only become a race to the bottom, with work taking over our lives and without an iota of quiet, unfettered free time to ourselves. I mean, we're already seeing hints of that happening, from Amazon workers who are expected to reply to emails in the middle of the night to Silicon valley employees whose livelihoods are embroiled in the hubs of ever-connected tech companies and startups. If we can't step away from our work, then will we achieve a well-balanced life? Is balance even possible to begin with?

There is definitely a greater potential for self-improvement and quicker response with the advent of technology. Look, there is a merit to working hard and being willing to stay connected to "get ahead". But--and I say this as a self-professed rabid semi-perfectionist who has worked at all hours of the night--I think that in workers in this time period should definitely not have to be swept up in dizzying, high-speed expectations of constantly being connected to company obligations and work responsibilities via email and smartphones. To me, being expected to be connected at all times and *constantly* answer company e-mails outside of work equates to an insidious type of overtime--something that is productive when done intermittently, but definitely not healthy as a lifestyle.

I admire the steps that Germany and France have taken to acknowledge the effect of technology on company expectations and curb those expectations by introducing regulations, and I hope that our country also takes those matters into consideration as well.