The Art of Bitfulness. Keeping Calm In The Digital World (Book Review)

 

Image courtesy: The Financial Express

Keeping Calm in the Digital World: The Art of Bitfulness

In today’s hyper-connected digital landscape, the ability to maintain a balanced relationship with technology has become both a necessity and a challenge. With every beep, notification, and endless stream of information, our attention is fragmented, our time consumed, and our mindfulness traded for bytes and bytes of digital content. The need to reclaim our focus and redefine our relationship with technology is urgent.

Many books have explored this contemporary issue, but The Art of Bitfulness by Nandan Nilekani and Tanuj Bhojwani stands apart. Written by seasoned technologists, this book offers a refreshingly nuanced perspective. It is not anti-technology but “pro-you,” advocating for a mindful approach to digital engagement. True to its name, Bitfulness draws inspiration from mindfulness, presenting a minimalist, thoughtful approach to navigating the digital world.

Understanding the Problem

The book begins by dissecting the design of modern technology and its inherently addictive nature. As the authors point out, our relationship with technology often mirrors a toxic friendship: it indulges our vices and demands more than we can give. Steve Jobs once called the personal computer the “bicycle of the mind,” a tool meant to augment human thought. Today, however, our devices have evolved into extensions of our minds, amplifying not only our cognitive abilities but also our distractions.

The authors argue that instead of helping us focus, technology amplifies our minds’ tendency to wander. Our devices, originally designed to aid our thinking, have become gateways for businesses to extract attention and data, fostering a crisis that rivals the pressing issues of pandemics and climate change. This “third crisis”—how we go digital—threatens to create an imbalance of power in society, as monopolistic business models prioritize profit over public good.

The Individual’s Journey

In the second section of the book, the authors delve into strategies for individuals to regain control. They reference Timothy Gallwey’s The Inner Game of Tennis and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of “flow” to illustrate the importance of a quiet mind. A state of flow—where intention and attention align—is essential for meaningful engagement. Technology, however, often disrupts this state by design.

The authors propose the “Art of Bitfulness” as a way to restore balance. This involves:

1. Mindfulness: Cultivating awareness of one’s state of mind, toxic behavioral patterns, and the attention-driven internet business model.
2. Quieting the Mind: Engineering flow by reducing distractions, creating friction between context switches, and staying engaged in focused activities.
3. Defining the Self: Separating online identities, dividing work and leisure, and recognizing emotions to maintain boundaries.

These strategies are not just theoretical. The authors share practical tips, such as using devices for clarity and reflection through self-notes, organizing documents for long-term memory storage, and splitting accounts into Creator, Curator, and Communicator modes to improve focus and attention.

Reimagining the Collective Future

The book’s third section challenges readers to rethink the architecture of the digital world. It critiques the winner-takes-all models of blitzscaling and aggregation, which concentrate power and wealth. Instead, the authors advocate for decentralized systems, drawing inspiration from Satoshi Nakamoto’s vision for blockchain and public-good services like Aadhaar and UPI in India.

They call for a collective effort to redesign the internet as a shared resource that belongs to everyone and no one simultaneously. This vision aligns with the internet’s original purpose: a platform for curious humans to share knowledge across oceans. The authors argue that now is the time to architect a future where the internet serves humanity’s collective interests rather than corporate greed.

A Call to Action

In its concluding pages, The Art of Bitfulness offers a powerful reminder: “The future is not inevitable; it is a blank page. We need to decide as a collective what we’re going to write on it.” The book’s optimistic vision for a reimagined digital future is both inspiring and urgent.

In 2005, Stanford held a big event to commemorate the birth of the internet. They revealed a plaque acknowledging not one creator, but about thirty people working in different teams at different universities. The plaque acknowledges that even that list of thirty is incomplete. It says, Ultimately, thousands if not tens to hundreds of thousands have contributed their expertise to the evolution of the internet. 

This is a heartening representation of what the internet was supposed to be. The internet was supposed to be a way for curious humans to share knowledge with each other, even if they are oceans apart. The internet, our social networks, and our marketplaces are too important to be controlled by anyone. They should belong, simultaneously, to all of us, and to none of us. Now is the time we architect that future." - the authors.

The internet has the potential to be a tool for empowerment, collaboration, and democratization. However, achieving this vision requires deliberate action from individuals and society. By adopting the principles of Bitfulness, we can reclaim our time, attention, and agency in the digital world. It is time to architect a future where technology serves as a trusted ally, not a toxic friend.

References:

How can you reclaim control over technology: In conversation with Nandan Nilekani and Tanuj Bhojwani https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIgAz8VLcLo

The Widening Generation Gap and Shrinking Learning Gap

AI generated image

The generation gap, a term coined to describe the cultural, ideological, and technological differences between different age groups, has been a perennial issue throughout human history.

However, in recent times, the generation gap has widened significantly due to the rapid pace of technological advancement, rapid socio-cultural changes, and differences in the educational systems.

The technology divide creates a significant barrier to communication and understanding between the generations.

Cultural norms, values, and societal structures are evolving faster than ever before. These changes are disorienting for older generations, leading to misunderstandings and conflicts with younger generations.

The education system has evolved over time, and how younger generations learn, access information, and interact with knowledge has changed, thus creating a disconnect between generations.

Ironically, in this widening generation gap in my mind, the learning gap between generations is shrinking. 

Let me try to make my case: Our (older) generation to keep up their survival in the existential crisis are engaging in Digital Literacy, learning about Technology, and Upskilling themselves to stay relevant in the Gig economy. The school and college-going younger generation are also learning these topics as part of their formal syllabus.

This thought came to my mind because a few days back I saw my 9th-grader son (Kanishk) preparing for a mid-term exam. The exam subject was Artificial Intelligence & Python Solutions and Employability Skills.

In my mid-40s I am also exploring courses on AI, ML, Data Science, and Employability and career enhancement skills and my teenage son is studying the same topics in his school.

When I was a school-going teenager, I am reasonably sure my father was not learning the same topics that I was at school. And now in just one generation, my son’s school topics and my L&D topics are the same. Quite an interesting time, we are living in.

That’s why I feel, our generation gap is widening while our learning gap is shrinking. What’s your opinion?

The Relationship between Humans and Machines

 

Oppy (image credit npr.org)

In today’s age of technology, the relationship between human beings and machines is more intertwined and inseparable than ever. Like every other relationship, the human-machine relationship also evokes many emotions. 

The probability of machines making us redundant and taking over our jobs evokes fear in us. The rapid pace of technological progress intrigues and interests us. Remember how ChatGPT caught everyone’s attention and became a top trending topic. Technologies have also caused many concerns like data privacy, deep fake, and security state which evokes anger, disgust, and sadness in varying degrees.

Is Love and bond also possible between humans and machines?

The movie HER written and directed by Spike Jonze (2013) explores this theme. It tells the story shortly, about a lonely writer who develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every need.

For the sake of argument, this story (movie) is a fiction. So is love between humans and machines possible in real life?

Goodnight Oppy, the documentary film directed by Ryan White (2022) tells a real-life fascinating story of humans and machines. The film follows Spirit and Opportunity, the Mars Exploration Rovers (robots) and their creators (NASA scientists and engineers) 15 years of long association and the remarkable bond forged between a robot and their humans millions of miles away.

The NASA scientists interact with Spirit and Oppy (nickname of Opportunity) as if they are real people with their own personalities and feelings. The NASA team had created human-like rituals of playing songs “Walking on Sunshine” and “Here Comes the Sun” to wake up (rebooting, restarting) the robots after their power-down periods. 

Several of the NASA team members involved in this project were in their younger days and over the long period of 15 years they grew through their lives and spent this significant time of their professional life with these robots. They developed a special connection with the robots, like a parent with their child. 

With the robots getting older, the scientists referred to them as aging, a malfunctioning robotic arm was related to arthritis and the falling memory of the robot was relatable to a scientist’s grandmother suffering from Alzheimer’s in her old age.

As a viewer, you do feel the joy, the love, the triumph, the anguish of the NASA scientists for their robots Spirit and Oppy over these long years of relationship with them. It’s a unique documentary because of the uniqueness of the topic it explores – Love and Bonding between humans and machines.

In this omnipresent era of technology, the human-machine relationship is the subject of research and exploration. 

This documentary offers us a unique lens to look beyond our commonly experienced emotions towards machines and to wonder if love and bonding are possible between humans and machines? Goodnight Oppy tells a real-life story and shows love and bonding between humans and machines is plausible.

Where to watch? Goodnight Oppy is available on Amazon Prime.

Scrolling All the Way: How Technology affects our Attention

 

Image by Chen Pixabay

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a person in possession of a smartphone must be checking the notifications first thing in the morning. In fact, every day we see ourselves briefly scrolling through the Explore section on Instagram, going through reels after reels, posts after posts, until we choose to get out of the bed.

However, a question remains - how “brief” is this ritual of “briefly” scrolling through social media platforms every day in the morning, or at any given time in the day? What is the nature of the content that we see? Moreover, how do our smartphones have our attention all the time?

But wait…

Before we head into the details, let’s take a deep breath. Inhale as much air as you can. And then exhale it all slowly.

Now, with a clear mind, think about the reasons that drive you to access your phone as soon as you wake up. It might be for:

• The unread messages from your friends

• Checking whether your latest post/reel got a lot of likes

• If your status update was viewed by someone you are interested in

• To go through the sale items at an online store

• To watch a new episode on an OTT platform

                                                                                    …and the list goes on.

We may have more than one reason to check our phone immediately in the morning, but it is the finer nuances that turn normal activities into priorities. What if you were told that these actions would not be affected in any way if you check them after you freshen up and have your breakfast?

Yes, perhaps a product on sale would go out of stock by then, but it is this sense of urgency that often motivates us to check our phone at every moment. And now, this habit (or ritual, rather) is benefiting innumerable businesses and organizations as we speak. Especially if that involves social media.

Social media platforms are quite a funny place. They turn videos into crass visuals, an incident into memes, and repetition a trend. Come on, as soon as a person does a somersault to a funny song and uploads it on Instagram or TikTok, you would drown in a sea of reels made by different people but doing the exact same thing - the same somersault act with the same song playing in the video.

The absence of originality, or even change for that matter, has affected our choices and perceptions in such a manner that the bombardment of the same type of content by hundreds of other creators would still make us laugh. Because we will still see those videos while we have a meal or when we are commuting. We watch because we pay our attention to them. Or rather, we pay with our attention.

But wait. What do we pay for?

Human Attention and Data Algorithms

What we see on social media influences our opinions, beliefs, and (thus) our tendency to stay hooked on the platform for hours while it would seem like a couple of minutes to us. So, in most cases, we pay for entertainment, amusement, or even knowledge on online platforms with our undue attention.

As a matter of fact, our attention span has lowered down significantly since the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020. As digital consumption reached an all-time high, there was a surge in content generation (not creation, exactly) on social media platforms as well as other websites, all of which had one goal in particular - to gain a lot of viewers for as long as possible.

How can you commodify attention?

In order to understand how Attention is becoming an important global commodity, let’s look at the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). The YPP invites creators to join the platform to boost their businesses to greater heights. In order to be eligible for their monetization policy, the YPP states that your YouTube Channel must have either of the two criteria fulfilled:

Your channel (with long-form videos) must have 1,000 subscribers with 4,000 authentic public watch hours in the last 12 months,

OR

Your channel (short-form videos) must have 1,000 subscribers with 10 million authentic public Shorts views in the last 90 days

For more details regarding the YPP, click here.

As you can see, the number of views that the videos in your channel get is a deciding factor. Although you may have 1k subscribers, what matters is how much the subscribers are looking forward to your content. In short, YouTube implies that the creator must have the audience’s attention at all times. This need for more views had already come into being since 2018, before the pandemic.

In a way, an Attention Economy has come into being, as a byproduct of a world that is neck-deep into information; information that is endless and unchecked. With the inception of the internet, there has always been an undeterred focus on increasing the amount of content that is available. After all, the human mind tends to look for more options to make better judgment.

However, Herbert A. Simon looks at this from a different angle. He says that there is no dearth in the amount of information on the web. Rather, there is a scarcity of attention for the information that is available online. In his work Designing Organizations for an Information-rich World, he writes;

“What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.” (Simon, pp. 37-52)

How does Data demand your attention?

It’s pretty simple. It just reduces the length, structure, and duration of the content. That way, the reader can read or watch the content without the concern of spending “too much time in it”. When, ironically, they are spending the same time, or more, to watch one 30-minute video or a 6-page text.

The Attention Economy, thus, has influenced Marketing and Sales strategies to a great extent. For instance, the SEO mechanism necessitates the use of short sentences. Also short paragraphs, with a certain group of keywords. But the article should make sense. Just like how this article has been written. Into chunks of paragraphs so that we can hold on to you until your attention runs out!

Thus, the new approach to digital consumption is to seek for more attention and find ways to allot it among the excess data available. In other words, as the Explore section on Instagram helps you discover new creators, memes or trends regularly, the algorithm bombards you with the same somersault video being made by other 638 creators. That way, the trend would keep on going until another “quirky” video (within a week or less) pops up and eventually becomes another new trend.

Rationing your Attention

Yes, you read it right. As our senses and minds are being overwhelmed by the overabundance of content on the web - textual or visual, premium or free -, it is high time that we took control over the quantity and quality of content that we should expose ourselves to. And certainly, you can bring in small changes in your daily routine and habits that would eventually culminate into a greater change in your online activities.

Some of the recommended ways to ration your attention for the sake of your mental and emotional well-being are:

• Set up app timers that would block your apps as soon as you spend the specified duration of time on a particular day. Apps like Digital Wellbeing allow you to regulate your screen time on certain apps - social media, shopping, gaming, etc.

• Using productivity apps like Forest is a healthy way to mitigate the amount of time you spend on your phone. You can set a timer of an hour or so on the Forest app, and choose to do a chore, read a book, or do something to amuse yourself. After all, you can’t use your phone until the timer on the Forest app comes to an end!

• Yoga and Meditation. Yes, the same suggestion over and over again when it comes to health and wellness. But it is true that meditation is beneficial for your mind and body. So, maybe spare some time in yoga instead of YouTube when you wake up in the morning?

• Develop your weekly routine so that it can accommodate a couple of hours at night for social detox. Well, it is best to stay away from gadgets a couple of hours before you go to bed. Also, social detox is one of the best ways to work on your digital consumption. So, good sleep and good health, guaranteed.

The longer the views, the better the returns. And by returns, it simply means recognition, popularity, and finances for certain. After all, special award ceremonies hosted by social media platforms would not have happened if Attention was never commodified by businesses.

With each passing day, as new trends and newer gadgets enter the market, we find our attention span decreasing at an alarming rate. Likewise, our interests too are changing at the same pace. As we jump from one trend to the other, our minds are barely given enough space to process and defuse the sheer stress of information overload that has not become the new normal.

Being spammed with 15-20 odd notifications at an hourly rate not only delivers priority notifications but also bombards us with information that is unnecessary. This excess of information that we receive to us via news alerts or WhatsApp forwards is actually cluttering our brains with data that is not really required in the long run. Thus, the need to ration your attention is quite crucial for the well-being of your intellect and emotional quotient. Be it productivity or leisure, one must prioritize the kinds of content that you want to expose yourself to, so that your mind can get a breather to process information that is necessary.

Hence, in a world that seeks to rise in views and likes over quality and originality, let’s take a moment to ponder over how the content affects you. Does it actually leave a good impression on you, or do you laugh at the meme because many people find it “relatable”? Do you actually want the shirt you see online, or is it for the good reviews it has received from past customers?

After all, manipulation is an age-old technique of entrapment. Thus, it is better to think about what you actually like, than go with what the herd wants.

Citations:

• Simon, Herbert A (1971). Designing Organizations for an Information-rich World. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 37–52. 

Blog collaborator: Apurba Ganguly (she/her) is an English literature student, pursuing B.Ed (English). She has been eager to understand the intricacies of Memory Studies and Visual Narratives.