[antifragile 4 🔥] John Mayer on “Ouija boarding” creativity, paradigm shift on kids' screen time, mean world syndrome, traveling vs arriving

#33: a weekly 4-item newsletter created to inspire dads to use the challenges of fatherhood as fuel for building an incredible life & an antifragile mind.

Welcome to the 33rd edition of the antifragile 4 🔥.

It’s a weekly 4-item newsletter created to inspire dads to use the challenges of fatherhood as fuel for building an incredible life & an antifragile mind. Some weeks will have a theme, others will meander. Expect it every Friday.

This week, we’re meandering.

Here is this week’s antifragile 4 🔥:

1. John Mayer 🎸 on “Ouija boarding” creativity

2. a paradigm shift 📱 on managing kids’ screen time

3. a phenomenon 😱 that makes the world seem much scarier than it is

4. Robert Pirsig 🏍️ on traveling vs. arriving

+ AI Image of the Week 🤖 🎨

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1.) John Mayer 🎸 on “Ouija boarding” creativity

This is one of my new favorite videos.

True creativity is simply becoming a medium for ideas (where those ideas come from, who knows). Or, as John Mayer says, “Ouija boarding-it”.

But to allow those ideas to flow freely out of you takes a ridiculous amount of bravery.

Watching him in this video made me realize just how stifled my creativity is. Never have I simply turned the faucet of ideas on like this and let them flow uninhibited out of me. Not in music, not in writing, not in art…not in anything except maybe business.

Because to turn the faucet on, you need to have zero concern for what anyone thinks. That’s the bravery. Even if there’s no one present while you’re creating.

I’m considering this a poke to make time to truly “Ouija board-it”. And see what kind of weird, wonderful ideas flow through.

Thanks to antifragile dad Chaz for sharing!

2.) a paradigm shift 📱 on managing kids’ screen time

I’ll start this section by admitting I have zero real-world experience with kids’ screen time issues. We’re not there yet, as our 2-year-old loses interest at exactly the 6-minute mark of whatever show we put in front of him (which is quite inconvenient on 11-hour flights to Argentina 😵‍💫).

But we’ll be there eventually. And that’s when this post/video on The Psychology of Screens from educator Ana Lorena Fabrega may come in handy.

I love how she explains screen addiction in terms of our most basic needs (agency, competency, relatedness) - and how frequently kids are ONLY able to satisfy these needs digitally. Plus she has actionable steps you can take with your kids. Really good stuff.

(Ana’s newsletter - Fab Fridays - is on hiatus but is one of the best educational resources on the internet. Her book - The Learning Game - is fantastic too.)

3.) a phenomenon 😱 that makes the world seem much scarier than it is

Mean World Syndrome, coined by George Gerbner in the 1970s, is the phenomenon where prolonged exposure to negative news and media leads people to perceive the world as more dangerous, hostile, and violent than it actually is.

This is not new. It simply puts a name to something all of us already knew.

But for me, it’s also a reminder that the information I consume helps subconsciously construct my view of the world. And I’d rather have that view based on love rather than fear.

4.) Robert Pirsig 🏍️ on traveling vs. arriving

I'm happy to be here, but still a little sad to be here too. Sometimes it's better to travel than to arrive.

Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

The destination is nice. But so is the journey.

Enjoy the journey.

AI Image of the Week 🤖 🎨

Ouija board shaped like a guitar riding a motorcycle through some zen mountains.

Weird and wonderful this week.

Two last things for you this week:

1. Ouija board some kind of creativity. See what kind of weird, wonderful stuff comes out.

2. Be fire and wish for the wind 🔥

With love,
Chris

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