Ten Reasons for Doing Nothing: connecting ideas from Jenny Odell and Jaron Lanier

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In this essay I sought to compare and contrast ideas found in Jenny Odell’s “How to Do Nothing” as well as Jaron Lanier’s “Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now”. While Odell never explicitly mentions Lanier’s writings, she does mention him twice throughout the book. Upon further research I thought “Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now” would be appropriate to analyze, as it has many parallels with that of Odell’s recommendation of disengaging from the “attention economy”. Both authors are incredibly different in their approach, but share similar viewpoints. Odell is not nearly as persuasive as Lanier. Odell’s book is more geared towards giving readers advice on maintaining a better balance between work and play, as well as their relationship with technology, whereas, Lanier is much more determined to convince readers specifically to  delete all social media, leaving much less room for interpretation.

Lanier lays out the book in ten arguments serving as individual chapters, with various smaller sections within the larger chapters. For example, ‘in the chapter titled “Argument One: You Are Losing Your Free Will”. Lanier says, “People are keenly sensitive to social status, judgement and competition…Social concerns are not optional features of the human brain. They are primal.” Lanier uses the examples of the Milgram Experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment, to expound upon the idea that normal people can be coerced into doing things through social pressure. He says “On social networks, the manipulation of social emotions has been the easiest way to generate rewards and punishments.” Rewards on social media come from validation, such as getting a certain amount of likes, reposts, or complimentary comments, whereas punishments can come from the opposite: not enough likes, reposts, or mean comments.’

My Periods of Removal

In Jenny Odell’s How to Do Nothing, the central recurring theme she expounds upon is the idea of “removal” or “detox” from the attention economy. It is so easy to become completely overwhelmed with work, school and technology. It is imperative that individuals take time to “do nothing” and learn a healthy balance between productivity and relaxation, as an act of self care and maintenance. In this essay, I recount several experiences, all involuntary, where I underwent some sort of removal or detox, and learned to be better at “doing nothing”. 

The goal of this essay was to adequately express the variety of “removal periods” I went through, the different lessons learned, as well as to reiterate the point made by Odell, that true detoxification takes much more than a mere weekend getaway. The first experience I mention was a time where I was without my phone for two days, the second being a serious prolonged injury, and the third being my adjustment to life during quarantine due to Covid-19. While all extremely different, each experience was essentially a “removal” from some facet of my typical life, where I learned a lot about myself, and altered the way I saw the world.

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https://medium.com/@maskey/my-periods-of-removal-f7c1a7460fb7

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Technology is Addicting

In a society where so much of our precious time and energy is spent online, or at our jobs, it is important to take a step back in order to re-center ourselves, and recognize what is truly important in our lives. Odell illuminates the importance of removing one’s self from the “attention economy”, in other words, disengaging from social media and investing that time or effort into something else meaningful. In chapter two, Odell writes about the experience of Levi Felix, “In 2008, at the age of twenty-three, Felix had been working seventy-hour weeks as the VP of a startup in Los Angeles when he was hospitalized for complications arising from stress. Taking this as a wake-up call, he travelled to Cambodia with Brooke Dean, his girlfriend and later wife: together, they unplugged and discovered mindfulness and meditation of a distinctly Buddhist flavor.” Feeling immensely overwhelmed, Felix recognized his need to disconnect and go through some sort of “digital detox”. This story resembles that of Odell’s father’s experience she writes about in chapter one, he takes off from work for two years where he is able to spend time doing things he enjoys and deems “productive”, contrary to societal standards. After this time off, Odell’s father is described as having a new sense of clarity and creativity, which greatly benefits him when returning to work where he is able to create several new patents. 

Neither Odell nor Felix are advocating for people to completely quit using technology and social media all together, rather both urge individuals to use it more sparingly. “Felix was particularly concerned with the addictive features of everyday technology. While he wouldn’t disavow technology entirely, claiming to be a ‘geek, not a Luddite,’ he thought that people could at least learn a healthier relationship to it.” When hearing the word “addiction” most of us tend to think about drug and alcohol abuse, however it has become more apparent that a great deal of individuals are addicted to their phones, computers, and social media. It can be difficult to recognize such addiction in one’s self due to the fact that technology and social media are so prevalent, useful, and normalized in everyday life. Various studies and articles have outlined the similarities between drug or alcohol addiction with that of technology. While seemingly very different, each causes the user to experience neurological complications, psychological disturbances, and social problems. Odell says, “In other words, digital distraction was a bane, not because it made people less productive, but because it took them away from the one life they had to live.” 

In my own personal experience, I’ve gone on several family vacations where the wifi and internet connection were sparse, meaning there were less opportunities to go on my phone or computer. This proved to be beneficial in that I was more engaged with the people around me, and was able to enjoy different activities without distractions. However, as Odell mentions “I’ve already written that the “doing nothing” I propose is more than a weekend retreat.” Of course it was easier for me to disengage from the “attention economy” while on vacation, as I was constantly busy exploring, going to the beach, and spending time with family; in other words I probably would not have been on my phone regardless of wifi or internet connection. Another experience, perhaps the most eye-opening, occurred several months ago. During my senior year, I took a psychology elective course where we learned about numerous topics, one being addiction. My teacher described the word in layman’s terms, saying that addiction (to anything) is the point at which your indulgence makes your life unmanageable. Odell urges readers to actively restrain from indulging in the “attention economy” and claims that “distractions keep us from doing the things we want to do …long term, they keep us from living the lives we want to live.”

In this class, we performed an experiment where our teacher took everyone’s cellphones for two days. Our job was to document how we felt, or what we did and thought during this time. My experience was quite strange as it included many ups and downs. During the time this social experiment was conducted, I was on crutches because I had previously broken my ankle, meaning I was already feeling very physically limited. Without my phone for two whole days, not only did I feel physically limited, but also socially limited. I couldn’t text friends, check up on social media, or even google something I was curious about. While these factors were upsetting, contrarily I was also able to focus better on my homework without the distraction of my phone by my side, and was able to converse more openly with the people around me, rather than friends over text. I realized that although not completely enjoyable, the mini “digital detox” I went through was beneficial to me, and I began to limit my use

“Nothing” Matters!

In Jenny Odell’s “How to Do Nothing”, she highlights the importance of self preservation. In an ever technologically evolving world, it can be easy to get to get caught up in the latest online fads and trends. These days, individuals often attempt to monetize every aspect of one’s life. It seems as though now, success and productivity is measured by how much money someone makes, rather than the maintenance of mental health and happiness. On page eighteen, in response to a company statement regarding a change in work hours, Odell says “…there is nothing to be admired about being constantly connected, constantly potentially productive the second you open your eyes in the morning–and in my opinion, no one should accept this, not now not ever.” The nuanced idea of “doing nothing” does not truly mean people should not do productive, but rather to detach oneself from overstimulation, whether said overstimulation comes from social media, the news, work, or perhaps even other people. To “do nothing” is an act of grounding and granting yourself mental clarity. To refrain from over indulging in the “attention economy”, as Odell calls it, is to grant yourself more autonomy over what you choose to do with your own time and energy. Page twenty two reads, “…having recourse to periods of and spaces for ‘doing nothing’ is of utmost importance, because without them we have no way to think, reflect, heal, and sustain ourselves– individually or collectively”. 

Odell incorporates various supplementary sources that argue in some way or another, the importance of “doing nothing”. For example, she recounts the time period in which her father “went through his own period of removal” (p.10). After quitting his job, Odell’s father “read a lot, rode his bike, studied math and electronics, went fishing, had long chats with his friend and roommate, and sat in the hills where he taught himself the flute.” (p.10) After this interval of time, he returned to his previous job with a new mindset and sense of inspiration, making it possible for him to work his way up within the company. While what Odell’s father chose to do in those two years may not seem conventionally productive, it proved to be a period of self realization and growth; in reality it was quite productive because he developed as a person, and was better at his job afterwards. Upon returning to work, he was described as having a “renewed energy and a different perspective.”(p.11) In explaining her father’s newfound creativity and clarity, Odell quotes John Cleese, who says that the five required factors for creativity are “1.Space 2.Time 3.Time 4.Confidence 5.Humor”. In her father’s case, he had two years where he essentially “did nothing” in the sense that he was not working and making money, and he was able to truly foster a new sense of creativity. 

The act of “doing nothing” and the refrain from engaging in the “attention economy” is an act of resistance in this capitalistic society. On page twenty three, Odell references a quote from a book by Gabrielle Moss, “self care is poised to be wretched away from activists and turned into an excuse to buy an expensive bath oil.” Self care is most commonly considered as solely aesthetic, encouraging and convincing people to spend money on tangible items meant to make them feel better about themselves. In reality, self care spans beyond the physical plane; taking care of your mind and your emotional well being is just as equally, if not more important than maintaining your physical appearance. Disconnecting from social media, refraining from watching the news constantly, and differentiating between time for leisure and time for work are several ways to “do nothing” in order to care for yourself. Odell describes her love for going to the Rose Garden near her house in Oakland, as well as interacting with and watching birds. These simple acts are what she considers “real”, and seem almost meditational for her. 

By allowing yourself to freely think without constant stimulation, you become more aware of your surroundings. On page eight, Odell describes her gradual ability to differentiate between various bird songs. She compares this to when she realized her mom spoke three languages, as opposed to only two, which she had previously thought. “This type of embarrassing discovery, in which something you thought was one thing and is actually two things, and each of those two things is actually ten things, seems like a simple function of the duration and quality of one’s attention. With effort, we can become attuned to things, able to pick up and then hopefully differentiate finer and finer frequencies each time.”