#451 — The One Resolution That Matters Most

Happy New Year everybody! This is Sam Harris. As another year begins, many of us will resolve to exercise more and sleep better and eat more sanely. Of course, these are all good things to do. But there's a prior commitment, whether one makes it consciously or not,

that will determine the quality of everything else. And that's the commitment to take care of your mind. As has been widely discussed, we are living through a all out war for our attention. Most of the digital economy has been engineered to keep you clicking and scrolling and sharing, and doing these things in a continuous state of agitation or outrage.

And even when the mood is different, let's say you've been captured by something genuinely amusing, that cat sleeping on top of that dog, sleeping on top of that tiger, the result is now a new normal of perpetual distraction. and fragmentation. We start a conversation and then reach for our phones. We sit down to read this is a book we really wanted to read and find that we just can't help but check our messages. We watch a film while simultaneously scrolling some digital timeline.

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