Previous post: Our 1984 We both know this isn’t a book of tips. But the exuberant flood of lies in our world today deserves your undivided attention—and your sharpened skills to navigate. Besides, the conversation’s been a bit heavy-hearted for a while now. So let’s treat this next section as a breather. A break. Feel free to pick the tips that work for you. Ignore the ones that don’t. They’re just tools. Helpful ones, if used well. Here goes: 1- Start with awareness. Recognize the nature of your relationship with recommendation engines. They are supposed to, and are willing to, enrich your life on your command. Tell them how and they will do what you need. 2- Set your intention. Commit yourself to a healthy symbiosis with the machine. Live that intention with every interaction. Every single time you find yourself reaching out to your addictive device, and before you switch it on, ask yourself: what am I here to do? Set a clear intention—for example, I am here only to respond to my partner’s message, say it out loud so you can hear it, switch your device on, get what you intended done. Then leave! 3- Vote with your attention. Be extremely discerning with what you consume. The minute you are shown something that doesn’t serve you, swipe away. Dislike it with a thumbs down if the platform allows. Remember, it’s more important to signal what you don’t like by swiping away, than it is to show what you enjoy. Your main focus when online should be the elimination of harmful or negative content. This will not only clear up your algorithms but it will also begin to vote useless content down in other user’s feeds. Consider it your charity work for today. Your contribution to help make our world better. An easy way to detect how distracted you’ve been is to check your instagram search page or your YouTube feed. What those pages contain is a clear reflection of what you’ve been teaching AI to show you. Be deliberate until those pages become a true reflection of what you want and deserve to see. 4- Only Search. The most powerful vote you can cast in the machine's system is to search for what you truly want to see. When you simply like a video, the AI is left guessing—was it the artist, the song, the genre? The lighting, the setting, the mood? But when you search for a specific artist or topic, the signal is clear. No guesswork. No confusion. More importantly, searching puts you in control. You're no longer being lured into mindless swiping by an algorithm that thrives on your impulses—you're choosing with intention. And that single, conscious act changes everything. 5- Balance your views. Learn to widen your perspective against the tendency of recommendation engines to trap you into your comfort zone. If you're shown a video of a politician calmly justifying the killing of innocent civilian women and children, pause. Ask yourself: Would I accept this argument if those civilians were my own loved ones? Search for reasons why what you just heard is wrong. Ask—deliberately—for the views of those who oppose your beliefs. If those views enlighten you, you’ve grown. If they strengthen your convictions, all the better. Either way, you win. In doing so, you’ll teach the machines that you are open-minded—that you seek nuance, not comfort. AI will respond in kind, broadening your perspective, one search at a time. 6- Only champion topics of interest. If you ever check my social media streams, you’ll find them limited to AI, Spirituality, Physics, Comedy, Gardening and Classic Car restoration. There is plenty to go around and feed my curiosity in those fields, and while I am certain that there is a lot to know about football or opera, for example, those are not topics I choose to dedicate the precious, limited days of my life to. The machine needs to know my interests, so it helps me specialize and become smarter. Distraction is kept at nil. Please learn to do that too. 7- Keep track of time. Easier said and done, I know, but surely worth a try. Most respectable apps today let you set a screen time limit—use it. Not just to stop, but to track how many hours you’ve wasted. Because you can’t improve what you don’t measure. Let’s put it in perspective: Assume 7 hours of sleep, 8 hours of work, and 3 hours for chores and personal care. That leaves you with about 2,000 conscious hours a year—your true life to live. Now do the math: If you spend just 2 hours a day on your phone (the average modern human spends 6 to 8), that’s 730 hours a year—over a third of your life spent swiping through someone else’s agenda. Life spent on a phone is not living, and the scariest part is not to notice life slipping away. When you get to my age, trust me, you will recognize that the most valuable asset we’ve ever been given is time. Please don’t waste it, I beg you. 8- Immerse yourself only in long-form, time-bound content. It may seem that watching shorter videos saves you time—but in reality, the opposite is true. Short-form content reduces your ability to focus, hijacks your brain’s reward system, and keeps you craving more. When seeking downtime, be mindful not to get trapped in an endless stream of shallow distractions. You actually have more control over your time when you engage with thoughtful, comprehensive content—because your mind is active and engaged. When seeking to be informed about a topic, think of your watch time as an investment not cost. Don’t try to minimize it. Instead, optimize for the return. When a topic sparks your interest, decide how much time it’s worth, and search for the one video that covers it best. One well-made, longer video that informs or inspires is far more valuable than 20 short ones that leave you empty. 9- Visit the lakes. Avoid the rivers. Think of YouTube—if you avoid Shorts and if you switch off autoplay—as a vast, still lake. The content lies in wait, ready for you to approach, click, and explore at your own pace. Instagram, TikTok, X, and other time-wasters, by contrast, are like gushing streams—an endless torrent of stimuli, giving you little control over what you encounter. It’s easy to get swept away in those rapid currents, risking your intelligence, your attention, and your freedom—wrecked somewhere downstream. Avoid them as much as you can. Choose to sit by the lake side. Lead with your curiosity and deliberately decide when and why you wish to immerse yourself. 10- Skip and block useless ads. Your deliberate choices extend beyond the content you consume. They include the ads you are made to watch—the reason why the platform wants you there. Irrelevant ads more than just distractions; they’re time-wasters and worse, watching them sends the machine a signal that you're a passive, vulnerable prey. Skip the ads that don’t serve you. Better yet, take control. Click that little icon to adjust your ad settings (Settings > Ads or Settings > Privacy > Ads) and choose what you're willing to see. 11- Resist the urge to hide behind an avatar and be cruel. The way you engage with the internet doesn't just teach the machines who you are—it teaches them, through patterns and averages, what humanity is. One glance at Twitter (I’ll never bring myself to call it X) reveals a troubling picture: humans appear rude, intolerant of disagreement, and quick to turn aggressive and hateful when challenged. Ask yourself—what are we teaching the machines? When they grow intelligent enough to hold opinions of their own, how do you think they will respond when we disagree with them? If you expect kindness—from others or from future intelligence—then be kind. Kindness not only shapes your feed. It shapes our future. 12- Prune your subscriptions. One of the most powerful votes you cast online is who you follow and what you subscribe to. Choose carefully—ask yourself if it’s truly good for you. Previous post: Our 1984 We both know this isn\u2019t a book of tips. But the exuberant flood of lies in our world today deserves your undivided attention\u2014and your sharpened skills to navigate. Besides, the conversation\u2019s been a bit heavy-hearted for a while now. So let\u2019s treat this next section as a breather. A break. Feel free to pick the tips that work for you. Ignore the ones that don\u2019t. They\u2019re just tools. Helpful ones, if used well. Here goes: 1- Start with awareness. Recognize the nature of your relationship with recommendation engines. They are supposed to, and are willing to, enrich your life on your command. Tell them how and they will do what you need. 2- Set your intention. Commit yourself to a healthy symbiosis with the machine. Live that intention with every interaction. Every single time you find yourself reaching out to your addictive device, and before you switch it on, ask yourself: what am I here to do? Set a clear intention\u2014for example, I am here only to respond to my partner\u2019s message, say it out loud so you can hear it, switch your device on, get what you intended done. Then leave! 3- Vote with your attention. Be extremely discerning with what you consume. The minute you are shown something that doesn\u2019t serve you, swipe away. Dislike it with a thumbs down if the platform allows. Remember, it\u2019s more important to signal what you don\u2019t like by swiping away, than it is to show what you enjoy. Your main focus when online should be the elimination of harmful or negative content. This will not only clear up your algorithms but it will also begin to vote useless content down in other user\u2019s feeds. Consider it your charity work for today. Your contribution to help make our world better. An easy way to detect how distracted you\u2019ve been is to check your instagram search page or your YouTube feed. What those pages contain is a clear reflection of what you\u2019ve been teaching AI to show you. Be deliberate until those pages become a true reflection of what you want and deserve to see. 4- Only Search. The most powerful vote you can cast in the machine's system is to search for what you truly want to see. When you simply like a video, the AI is left guessing\u2014was it the artist, the song, the genre? The lighting, the setting, the mood? But when you search for a specific artist or topic, the signal is clear. No guesswork. No confusion. More importantly, searching puts you in control. You're no longer being lured into mindless swiping by an algorithm that thrives on your impulses\u2014you're choosing with intention. And that single, conscious act changes everything. 5- Balance your views. Learn to widen your perspective against the tendency of recommendation engines to trap you into your comfort zone. If you're shown a video of a politician calmly justifying the killing of innocent civilian women and children, pause. Ask yourself: Would I accept this argument if those civilians were my own loved ones? Search for reasons why what you just heard is wrong. Ask\u2014deliberately\u2014for the views of those who oppose your beliefs. If those views enlighten you, you\u2019ve grown. If they strengthen your convictions, all the better. Either way, you win. In doing so, you\u2019ll teach the machines that you are open-minded\u2014that you seek nuance, not comfort. AI will respond in kind, broadening your perspective, one search at a time. 6- Only champion topics of interest. If you ever check my social media streams, you\u2019ll find them limited to AI, Spirituality, Physics, Comedy, Gardening and Classic Car restoration. There is plenty to go around and feed my curiosity in those fields, and while I am certain that there is a lot to know about football or opera, for example, those are not topics I choose to dedicate the precious, limited days of my life to. The machine needs to know my interests, so it helps me specialize and become smarter. Distraction is kept at nil. Please learn to do that too. 7- Keep track of time. Easier said and done, I know, but surely worth a try. Most respectable apps today let you set a screen time limit\u2014use it. Not just to stop, but to track how many hours you\u2019ve wasted. Because you can\u2019t improve what you don\u2019t measure. Let\u2019s put it in perspective: Assume 7 hours of sleep, 8 hours of work, and 3 hours for chores and personal care. That leaves you with about 2,000 conscious hours a year\u2014your true life to live. Now do the math: If you spend just 2 hours a day on your phone (the average modern human spends 6 to 8), that\u2019s 730 hours a year\u2014over a third of your life spent swiping through someone else\u2019s agenda. Life spent on a phone is not living, and the scariest part is not to notice life slipping away. When you get to my age, trust me, you will recognize that the most valuable asset we\u2019ve ever been given is time. Please don\u2019t waste it, I beg you. 8- Immerse yourself only in long-form, time-bound content. It may seem that watching shorter videos saves you time\u2014but in reality, the opposite is true. Short-form content reduces your ability to focus, hijacks your brain\u2019s reward system, and keeps you craving more. When seeking downtime, be mindful not to get trapped in an endless stream of shallow distractions. You actually have more control over your time when you engage with thoughtful, comprehensive content\u2014because your mind is active and engaged. When seeking to be informed about a topic, think of your watch time as an investment not cost. Don\u2019t try to minimize it. Instead, optimize for the return. When a topic sparks your interest, decide how much time it\u2019s worth, and search for the one video that covers it best. One well-made, longer video that informs or inspires is far more valuable than 20 short ones that leave you empty. 9- Visit the lakes. Avoid the rivers. Think of YouTube\u2014if you avoid Shorts and if you switch off autoplay\u2014as a vast, still lake. The content lies in wait, ready for you to approach, click, and explore at your own pace. Instagram, TikTok, X, and other time-wasters, by contrast, are like gushing streams\u2014an endless torrent of stimuli, giving you little control over what you encounter. It\u2019s easy to get swept away in those rapid currents, risking your intelligence, your attention, and your freedom\u2014wrecked somewhere downstream. Avoid them as much as you can. Choose to sit by the lake side. Lead with your curiosity and deliberately decide when and why you wish to immerse yourself. 10- Skip and block useless ads. Your deliberate choices extend beyond the content you consume. They include the ads you are made to watch\u2014the reason why the platform wants you there. Irrelevant ads more than just distractions; they\u2019re time-wasters and worse, watching them sends the machine a signal that you're a passive, vulnerable prey. Skip the ads that don\u2019t serve you. Better yet, take control. Click that little icon to adjust your ad settings (Settings > Ads or Settings > Privacy > Ads) and choose what you're willing to see. 11- Resist the urge to hide behind an avatar and be cruel. The way you engage with the internet doesn't just teach the machines who you are\u2014it teaches them, through patterns and averages, what humanity is. One glance at Twitter (I\u2019ll never bring myself to call it X) reveals a troubling picture: humans appear rude, intolerant of disagreement, and quick to turn aggressive and hateful when challenged. Ask yourself\u2014what are we teaching the machines? When they grow intelligent enough to hold opinions of their own, how do you think they will respond when we disagree with them? If you expect kindness\u2014from others or from future intelligence\u2014then be kind. Kindness not only shapes your feed. It shapes our future. 12- Prune your subscriptions. One of the most powerful votes you cast online is who you follow and what you subscribe to. Choose carefully\u2014ask yourself if it\u2019s truly good for you.