I'm addicted to social media again, but that's okay?

hey friend, it’s your friend: jack 👋. Today we’re going to talk about the ironic side effects of trying to make an app to destroy tikt0k (and end doom scrolling) Yes, I’ve fallen into the consumption pit more than I have in a long time.

We’re also going to go over how to make progress and do work that feels like play to you.

If you don’t already know, Curiosity Quench is the name of the app I’m making. there’s a 85% chance if you’re reading this, you’ve signed up already… but incase you haven’t… idk I got nothing, just read this if you have the time. If you would rather create something or work on a creation of some sort, then please go do that by all means. (We’re all about creating cool s**t > consuming cool s**t, over here)

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 59 seconds

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Creation log update

First, I’ve been making a lot of progress with the app to destroy tikt0k and end doom scrolling, so I’m going to put it here so you can see I haven’t been completely consumed by consumption. In the last week at Curiosity Quench.We hit 3000 USERS!! I’m finally making Curiosity Quench into an app for mobile (iOS and Android alike)

I’ve spend the last week learning a new programming language5 days after starting I already have all the functionality working on the mobile app version! Now I just need to make it look less ugly (and add more confetti 🎊).

FREE MODE is making it’s return with the mobile version. All paying users will be able to sign in with the same email and use premium features + I will grant a TON of credits to last them a near lifetime.

Something else I’ve been working daily on is a second book “Consumption Control” putting my key lessons from making this app and your guys feedback into it in a fun and interactive way so we can help millions more people as well as the millions we will help with the app.

Speaking of books, My 1st Book “You Were Built to Create Cool S**t” sold 356 copies this week! Most of which were from offering it now on a cryptocurrency platform (blockchain) known as Cardano. People are enjoying the book 🙂.

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Re: Addicted and still making progress

The truth is: Social media is highly addictive. It’s not just you or your grandma who falls into its Venus fly trap like apparatus. All human beings by their natural nature are susceptible to it’s grasp.

Being human myself, I fall into the above category. Ironically enough, the place I open on my phone most lately has been Instagram. For the last year before I started trying to end doom scrolling, it was always twitter I went to. The tides have changed here now because I open Instagram to get my dopamine hits. This is where all my vanity metrics come from. The shiny likes and big numbers, they are fuel to the fire of social addiction.

It feels like you’re on the progress track because it feels so good to see the likes roll in. But then I check how many people I’ve helped, wait no: I cant check that! It’s not sitting conveniently on a tally like my follower count is. So I open the comments of Instagram to get my feeling of importance, to see I’m helping people. And then I get stuck in the old fashioned dopamine shiny numbers trap. I end up checking my Instagram — an app I opened maybe 20 times all of last year — 20 times a day! Downtime? Instagram check. Poop time? Instagram check. Wakeup? No, we do not go on social media, not until we’ve paid our dues (do the f**king work).

And there it is, this is the reason why I’ve been still able to make progress while being a dopamine addict after hours. Priorities. Writing this out now also makes my habit to check Instagram a lot less attractive. The good part is I rarely mindlessly scroll, I know how much time can be sucked away from me doing so, and I can think of a million better ways to spend such time. I am addicted to social media not because of it’s contents, but the feeling I get when I see shiny likes and nice comments on my page.

This is a new dilemma(checking social media numbers and likes) on top of the dilemma I’m trying to solve for others (doom scrolling). The truth is, the first half of the problem for me has been solved. I create more than I consume and I rarely ever scroll into doom. The guide and thesis (free) I wrote on this has helped people, and it’s the exact blueprint that I used to be where I am now.

But there remains more to improve upon. There is more wiring yet to be rewired properly. This is the quest we are on, to become someone new, someone better than yesterday. If we can do our best today, and can continue to do our best, soon our new best will be beyond what we could imagine beforehand

Work that feels like play

A big part of making progress was always prioritizing the work. This was easier for me in the last year of my life because… Work for me is actually fun nowadays. It’s fun because it’s inline with my longer term vision and curiosities. Curiosity: It seems that’s a key part of all of the puzzles I’m out to solve.

“Do what feels like play to you, but looks like work to others” - Naval Ravikant

Of course, work will not always be your first choice in a world with TikTok only two taps away, but (big but), there is something out there for every human that is their form of play work. Their form of work that does not really feel like work at all to them.

The only way to find this is to try a lot of things. And the best wat to try a lot of things that have a higher chance of being your “thing” is to to explore you curiosity.

I wrote 30,000+ words on this topic, but here’s the 30 word version of how to explore your curiosities:

You explore your genuine curiosities by letting your curiosity live and taking away unnecessary distractions (scrolling). Embrace boredom instead. If you have no ideas: Find books you want to read or topics you are interested in researching to help you get ideas. Act on those ideas in whatever means true to yourself and in totality you will be following your genuine curiosity.

Whenever you're up for it, there are 2 ways I can help you:

You Were Built To Create Cool S**t : Click to start, or don’t…

Curiosity Quench: Quench your curiosity, destroy your scroll —addiction— and get on a roll.