- Published on
How to Prepare for the Next Technological Revolution
- Authors
- Name
- Ronald Luo, MSc
Introduction
You've been here before. There is a familiar buzzing of refrigerators - a bustling of strangers. Clerks greet you with a smile as you enter the store. Like a traffic jam in Tokyo, the checkout lanes are endless, the aisles busy, and the scents volatile. Of course, it is the grocery store that I'm referring to. Headphones in and Facebook, Instagram, or Gmail open, well let's be honest, in these moments - you're probably not thinking about the greatest technological revolution of the east, but as we examine the technological trajectory of our future, I hope to convey my appreciation for deep work and how these topics are seamlessly related.
Subscribe to PewDiePie
At the beginning of 2019, an interesting internet phenomenon came to light. Swedish Youtuber, Felix Kjellberg has long held the title as the individual creator with the most subscribers. Having created his channel in 2010 and dedicated himself to posting daily content, analytics url reveal that his channel, PewDiePie gained an astounding 60 million subscribers over an eight year career. Nowadays, he is known for making react, lets-play, and gaming videos. Not far behind him at the time was T-Series, an Indian record label and film production company that launched Bollywood film trailers and music videos. In March of 2018, T-Series had amassed 40 million subscribers, and was growing at an unprecedented rate of 3.3 million subscribers per month url . Soon enough, T-Series would pass PewDiePie as the channel with the largest total number of subscribers. As the two channels subscribers grew closer than ever, something had to be done.
In late 2018, Felix was made of aware of T-Series and had jokingly declared war on the channel, but by 2019, "subscribe to PewDiePie url " had become known to all. Printers url were hacked, billboards url were put up, and PewDiePie was pushed into the spotlight of the internet. Some people subscribed to PewDiePie because they genuinely enjoyed his content, while others did it because of their stance that Youtube belonged to "individual creators." By the end of the war, the two channels had each amassed 100 million subscribers. On 27, March 2019, T-Series finally surpassed PewDiePie, and later on the 28th of April, PewDiePie released a video calling for his supporters to stop their efforts.
In the end, PewDiePie never could have beaten T-Series, but the race became ingrained in internet history as a testament to the waves that individual creators were capable of generating. Perhaps there are more pressing questions to consider however. With the world becoming ever so connected, how will our online experiences differ in the coming decade? What can we expect from the job market, and how best can we prepare for these changing demands? Finally, why is it that our internet experiences don't feel particularly different? You would imagine, for instance, that there would be greater news in regards to the greatest technological revolution of our time. These are the ideas that Cal Newport tackles in his novel, Deep Work, which I wholeheartedly enjoyed. In this article, I piggyback on some of Newport's ideas. For the full experience however, I would highly recommend giving Deep Work url a try.
Deep Work by Cal Newport CoverThe technological revolution is not over, it's just getting started Just 7.5% url of India's population was connected to the internet in 2010, in contrast to 76% url of Americans that were connected that same year. Today however, with over 40 million url new internet users added to the pool, India represents one of the largest growing online markets in the world. It may be surprising to learn then, that only about 50% of India is connected to the internet today. But weighed against a population of 1.3 billion, internet users in India represent twice that of the United States. In other words, the ratio of Indian internet users currently outweighs American internet users 2:1, but that difference is only expected to grow. It can be so easy to forget about the rest of the world, but this illustrates an important point. When we think about the information revolution, many of us are quick to picture the late 1950s to 2000s when it is current day that technological revolutions continue to take place. As highlighted by the insurmountable growth of channels like T-Series, more people are coming online than ever before.
Deep work is valuable in an information economy
In his novel, Deep Work, Cal Newport argues that focused attention is a relatively new demand placed on the everyday worker. "In an industrial economy..." he writes, "workers could do just fine without ever cultivating the [need to work deeply]. They were paid to crank widgets - and not much about their job would change in the decades they kept it." And indeed if you asked my grandparents, they would tell you that they, and many of their friends and colleagues only needed to graduate from high school. In the information economy however, many students increasingly look to higher education to achieve their career goals. To be clear, I am not making any judgement calls here - I am simply stating that many of the ideas in the novel reflect my personal experiences.
In programming, Newport makes the claim that many of the technologies and languages developers use today did not exist ten years ago, and the same technologies today will likely be outdated in the upcoming decades. Additionally, he argues that in the age of connectivity, "creating something useful [is of extreme value, because] its reachable audience (e.g., employers or customers) is essentially limitless - which greatly magnifies your reward." Newport points to Instagram url , who had just thirteen employees when it was bought by Facebook for one billion dollars back in 2012. "On the other hand," he writes, "if what you're producing is mediocre, then you're in trouble, as it's too easy for your audience to find a better alternative online." In other words, Newport is saying that as the global population comes online, everyone is becoming less limited by regional talent, and employers are open to choose between the best workers around the globe. Put together, these facts illustrate the importance of focusing deeply on your work.
Deep Work: Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate. Shallow Work: Noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend to not create much new value in the world and are easy to replicate. "Hold on a second." You argue, "I'm not a programmer. I'm not going to be responsible for the next Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. How does this apply to me?" Newport responds, "whether you're a programmer, writer, marketer, consultant, or entrepeneur," your situation is essentially the same: "To succeed you have to produce the absolute best stuff you're capable of producing, [and] that requires depth." To put it another way, if you work in a field where there is a clear separation in quality between beginners and experts, deep work will probably apply to you. There is one more point to consider here, as economist Sherwin Rosen puts it in his 1981 paper url: “Hearing a succession of mediocre singers does not add up to a single outstanding performance.” In other words, if you are so good at something that others cannot help but pay attention url or give you money url , then what you have is something that cannot be duplicated. Therefore, what lies ahead may be something of great value.
Closing thoughts
Let's bring it back to the grocery store. You're standing in line, scrolling through Gmail, probably not thinking about the greatest technological revolution of our time. In an age where populations are coming online faster than ever before and technology shapes our every waking moment, Cal Newport reminds us of the importance of deep work, and the distractions that connectivity can bring. In this article, we have discussed the movements that can be generated along with such connectivity, and along with it the change to our working and social lives. When attentional resources are so easily drained by the media we bring in, an understanding of deep work has given me the freedom to pursue more meaningful tasks. Shutting down our phones may not make much of a difference if we do it once, but a dedication to deep work over a lifetime can be a game changer. I hope that if you have made it this far, you too are looking to give the book and try and will find an appreciation for deep work.
👋 Thanks for making it to the end!