In a recent episode of his Deep Questions podcast, Cal Newport introduces an idea he calls the slope of terribleness for curated conversation platforms (i.e., social media).
He describes three common harms people complain about with platforms like Twitter/X, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, etc:
- Distraction - there’s an addictive element to these platforms that causes us not to do other things that are important in our lives
- De-moderation - the platforms create an “us against them” tribal mindset where there’s no room for good faith or humanity on the side that we’re fighting against
- Disassociation - when de-moderation is taken to the extreme, it can create disassociation from ethical norms and encourage violence (and create numbness when we are exposed to it)
He plots these on a diagram he calls The Slope of Terribleness, which shows how these platforms can lead to some pretty dark places.
While I generally agree with his premise, I believe the real problem here isn’t the platforms themselves. It’s the way we use them.
How to Stop the Slide
I don’t really like the term “curated conversation platforms” that Cal uses here.
I get what he’s saying, but I really don’t think text-based social media is the place to have a conversation. There’s no meaningful dialogue happening there.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t find anything useful.
The trick is to be intentional about what you’re looking for.
If you don’t have any kind of filter for the Information you’re feeding on, it can have a ripple effect on the quantity and quality of the Ideas you have and even the Actions you engage with.
I call this The Default Life.
This is the one that is susceptible to the Slope of Terribleness Cal describes.
But life doesn’t have to be this way.
I have a framework I call The PKM Stack, which helps facilitate the flow of information into and out of your PKM system by anchoring it in your Identity (your vision & values). When you get clear on this, it helps you align your Actions, your Ideas, and even acts as a filter for the Information that you consume.
Using the PKM Stack, we can flip the script on the default life and live a life of intention and meaning.
Instead of feeding the FOMO (and sliding down the slope), you can focus on what is useful and discard the rest.
3 Filtering Questions
One of the things I picked up from the late Jim Rohn is that we need to guard our minds against negative influences.
And we can all agree that (most) social media tends to be pretty negative.
But the answer isn’t just to remove things indiscriminately. It’s to figure out what’s useful and decide for ourselves where we want the boundaries to be.
One of the ways I do this is by using three of Jim Rohn’s filtering questions:
- Who am I allowing to speak into my life?
- What effect is that having on me?
- Is that OK?
And while the Internet wasn’t a thing when he first shared these, I believe they are even more important in the information age.
With so much information around us, having effective filters is more important than ever.
That doesn’t mean you live in an echo chamber. It just means no one can live rent-free in your head unless you invite them in.
If we have this mindset going in, it completely changes our relationship with social media.
When we know what we’re looking for and how it’s useful for us, we can ignore the junk that used to set us off and find the good stuff that helps us do more of what really matters.
The Bottom Line: Curate Your Information Sources
Ask these three questions about the sources of information you regularly consume. This could apply to:
- News sources
- Social media platforms
- Podcasts
- Newsletters
- YouTube videos
Do an audit of the voices you regularly give a platform to in your mind, and remove the ones that are no longer helpful or positive.
I did this myself recently. I unsubscribed from a tech podcast I’d been listening to for years because the hosts have gotten extremely negative and bitter about political events. It had nothing to do with ideological differences. It had everything to do with how I felt after listening to an episode.
When I asked these questions, I realized listening was actually having a net negative effect on my life and making me more anxious.
So I unsubscribed. And to be honest, I don’t really miss it.
I also cut out most text-based social media. I’m basically off of Twitter/X entirely now, as I’m not a fan of the notifications for “recommended” content (I want complete control over what notifications the platform I use sends me). Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads never really picked up steam for me, and that’s ok.
The one exception for me is LinkedIn. The vibe there has overall been much more pleasant for me, and I find it more useful than other social media platforms. So if I were to pick one text-based social media platform going forward, that’s probably the one I’d choose.
There’s so much information in the world today that you can’t possibly keep up with it all anyway. So you need to decide for yourself what’s worth investing your limited time, energy, and attention in.
Feel free to discard the rest.
