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Comment by seltzered_ | Hacker News Reader

FWIW, back in 2017 Venkatesh Rao looked at the distractions going on in the world and criticised 'deep work' in the process: https://breakingsmart.substack.com/p/life-in-the-time-of-cho...

"17/ In more sanguine times, this is easy in theory. You just log off from Facebook and Twitter, and put your head down and do what people like Cal Newport call “deep work.”

18/ I personally don’t believe in the idea of unplugging for "productivity" even in sanguine times, but in choleric times, it is a recipe for doing tone-deaf projects nobody cares about.

19/ Unless you work in pure mathematics or physics (and perhaps even then), your work is capable of creating meaning only if it is responsive to, and consciously situated in, its social milieu."

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That's an interesting piece. But I wonder if it's criticizing more the idea of "working in a vacuum" without taking into account what's going on in the world, as opposed to "focused work" (which imho, can still be work on something culturally aligned).

"what's going on in the world"

Just triggered a thought - what's so special about "what's going on in the world", especially when the majority of what people focus on with social media will never affect them and at best is the equivalent of local gossip.

Only now, because of the wonders of the Internet and social media, mundane crap from the opposite side of the planet can now feel local too.

> Just triggered a thought - what's so special about "what's going on in the world", especially when the majority of what people focus on with social media will never affect them and at best is the equivalent of local gossip.

I came to this conclusion years and years ago, when I stopped watching TV news because of ads, but had the unintended side effect that I became more informed about the world (because I had more time to invest in reading true journalism). When I tell people I don't watch the news, they scoff and claim I'm ignorant. I ask them what the most important thing was in the news two weeks ago. They never can tell me.

Yeah, I like your distinction. I like the idea of focused work that takes into account larger 'black elephants' going on in the world, stuff that may not be part of the popular social discourse of the moment but is still happening.

I don't agree with Venkatesh's characterisation of Deep Work. Cal Newport reads the whole newspaper from cover to cover every day, I'd say that makes him pretty well connected and informed. He doesn't check the "news" 30 times a day but what ultimately is the point of doing that?

Why is this guy relevant ?. For all i am aware of is he is ardent supporter of the caste system.

Responsiveness is a key element of some jobs. So I agree that there cannot be only focussed work. At the same time super heavy operational companies like amazon are known for their rigorous approaches to deep work (reading time, 6 pagers). There needs to be a healthy mix of both types of work. That’s even more demanding to achieve.

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