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A review by fadoua_05
Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig
4.0
Thoroughly enjoyed this book two years ago . Somehow I forgot to talk about it . Last year I watched a documentary called ‘The social Dilemma’ and somehow it reminded me of this book .
I believe in the toxicity of our phones and I’ve worked hard over the years to fight the addiction . This book to me was a reminder of all the reasons why I’ve tried to stay away from my phone and social media in particular.
Also , I have a huge respect and appreciation for the author for sharing his experience and struggle with social media addiction and mental illness.
“In T.S. Eliot’s phrase from his Four Quartets, I was ‘distracted from distraction by distraction’.”
“As Montaigne put it, ‘He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.’
– Suicide. ”
“Technology, in its baggiest sense, just means tools or methods. It could mean language. It could mean flints or dry sticks used to make fire. According to many anthropologists, technological progress is the most important factor driving human society.”
“An ode to social media
When anger trawls the internet,
Looking for a hook;
It’s time to disconnect,
And go and read a book.”
“we are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful who we pretend to be’. ”
“The chief executive of Netflix, Reed Hastings, believes that sleep – not HBO, not Amazon, not any other streaming service – is his company’s main competitor. ‘You know, think about it,’ he said at an industry summit in Los Angeles back in November 2017, cited in Fast Company. ‘When you watch a show from Netflix and you get addicted to it, you stay up late at night . . . we’re competing with sleep, on the margin. And so, it’s a very large pool of time.”
“as C.S. Lewis once put it, ‘The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken”.”
“If you’re feeling bad about yourself, stay away from Instagram.”
“As with living in Ibiza, or in a religious cult, it is hard to see the things we may have problems with if everyone has the same problems. If everyone is spending hour after hour on their phones, scrolling through texts and timelines, then that becomes normal behaviour. If everyone is getting out of bed too early to work 12-hour days in jobs they hate, then why question it? If everyone is worrying about their looks, then worrying about our looks is what we should be doing. If everyone is maxing out their credit cards to pay for things they don’t really need, then it can’t be a problem. If the whole planet is having a kind of collective breakdown, then unhealthy behaviour fits right in. When normality becomes madness, the only way to find sanity is by daring to be different. Or daring to be the you that exists beyond all the physical clutter and mind debris of modern existence.”
“The brain, as Emily Dickinson put it, is bigger than the sky. ”
I believe in the toxicity of our phones and I’ve worked hard over the years to fight the addiction . This book to me was a reminder of all the reasons why I’ve tried to stay away from my phone and social media in particular.
Also , I have a huge respect and appreciation for the author for sharing his experience and struggle with social media addiction and mental illness.
“In T.S. Eliot’s phrase from his Four Quartets, I was ‘distracted from distraction by distraction’.”
“As Montaigne put it, ‘He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.’
– Suicide. ”
“Technology, in its baggiest sense, just means tools or methods. It could mean language. It could mean flints or dry sticks used to make fire. According to many anthropologists, technological progress is the most important factor driving human society.”
“An ode to social media
When anger trawls the internet,
Looking for a hook;
It’s time to disconnect,
And go and read a book.”
“we are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful who we pretend to be’. ”
“The chief executive of Netflix, Reed Hastings, believes that sleep – not HBO, not Amazon, not any other streaming service – is his company’s main competitor. ‘You know, think about it,’ he said at an industry summit in Los Angeles back in November 2017, cited in Fast Company. ‘When you watch a show from Netflix and you get addicted to it, you stay up late at night . . . we’re competing with sleep, on the margin. And so, it’s a very large pool of time.”
“as C.S. Lewis once put it, ‘The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken”.”
“If you’re feeling bad about yourself, stay away from Instagram.”
“As with living in Ibiza, or in a religious cult, it is hard to see the things we may have problems with if everyone has the same problems. If everyone is spending hour after hour on their phones, scrolling through texts and timelines, then that becomes normal behaviour. If everyone is getting out of bed too early to work 12-hour days in jobs they hate, then why question it? If everyone is worrying about their looks, then worrying about our looks is what we should be doing. If everyone is maxing out their credit cards to pay for things they don’t really need, then it can’t be a problem. If the whole planet is having a kind of collective breakdown, then unhealthy behaviour fits right in. When normality becomes madness, the only way to find sanity is by daring to be different. Or daring to be the you that exists beyond all the physical clutter and mind debris of modern existence.”
“The brain, as Emily Dickinson put it, is bigger than the sky. ”