It’s the end of the financial year, and I have been busy running webinars for various organisations in New Zealand and Australia. And, of course, migrating Noise Reduction to Substack - you may have noticed a bit of a difference to this weeks newsletter. You can continue to read my newsletter via email, or you can use the new Substack app. The choice is entirely yours.
I’ll have more news next week, but I think just changing platform is enough for now. Let’s get on to this week’s food for your brain.
Life is too short - choose who you spend time with wisely
Millennials are re-thinking work. You too?
When a 25-year old gives up a lucrative career because she doesn’t derive satisfaction from it, it may strike us as a privileged position to take. But what if she’s on to something?
War in Ukraine
“He is a man who always wants to demonstrate a kind of implacable determination, but also in the form of seduction, almost gentleness. An agreeable tone alternates with brutal outbursts, which are thereby made more effective.”
A fantastic background piece from The New York Times which I have made free for you to read.
There’s lots more below the paywall fold for subscribers and you’ll also get access to my 30,000 Days project too. Thanks to all my paid subscribers who make all this possible.
Hard to miss
Everyone had something to say about that incident at the Oscars this week. This New York Times piece encapsulates a few different takes to get you up to speed, to cut through a lot of the chaff that has been seen and said. It’s available as audio at the link too.
“Now, we can’t have everyone respond to jokes with violence. But this idea that we’re all supposed to have the thickest skin in the world all the time so that comedians can do whatever they want — well, I reject that.”
Beware when you share
More on disinformation and modern warfare
A big digital deal to protect us?
The European Union reached an agreement on landmark digital rules to rein in online “gatekeepers” such as Google and Facebook’s parent, Meta. Find out the details we know so far. This could be big because the legislation looks like it has teeth.
Dumbphones are smart
I haven’t quite gone this far, but I have got a smaller smartphone compared to the huge “Dad phone” iPhone 11 Pro Max I was using until about 6 months ago. Simplicity can be good. Dumbphones are coming back and I’m here for it.
Behaviour Insights
“I’m a big fan of having a big toolkit of coping strategies. I believe that avoidance has its place – if you need to just pretend nothing has happened, and cheer for your son’s football game for 45 minutes – that’s a great moment to choose avoidance.”
Read Mary-Frances O’Connor’s interview about her new book, The Grieving Brain.
Want to live long and prosper?
Find out a lot about longevity in this primer, with a ton of links and references too.
Reawakened nuclear anxiety
My childhood nuclear attack anxiety has been making itself known to me again, in all kinds of ways.
"Just because you get into a harmful cycle or an undesirable cycle doesn't mean that you can't reset or rewire that habit."
If you’ve been doomscrolling about this, here are some tips to cope with what you might have uncovered.
Fun Stuff
Could you draw the Starbucks logo from memory? See what happens when 150 people were asked to do just that - and other logos too.
That’s it for this week. Please share if you’ve found this useful, cool, and entertaining. You can also leave me a tip here too. At the moment, Noise Reduction remains free, but I’m always open to appreciation or the monetary kind.
Cheers, and take care out there.