I recently listened to a podcast episode in which Andy Ihnatko asked and ruminated about the question:
Who would you be if you had nothing?
That hits on contentment, minimalism, personality and consumption. Meaty topics.
Generally, I’m not that puristic and/or thoughtful about my consumption. When I clean up or rearrange things, though, I’m extremely happy to ged rid off a ton of useless stuff. I’m studying law, so I need a lot of books, but if I didn’t my desk would be absolutely empty I (would like to) think. So, minimalism definitely has something to it. Not as end in itself, but as… I want to say ‘tool’ that makes you consider what you really need and don’t and therefore are better off without. Because all that stuff really takes a lot of space, not just physically, hint hint. That being said, I really like cars, tech, gadgets and other nice and mostly expensive things.
All of that leads to the discussion of happiness vs. contentment which is really fertile. Thinking about that area of tension helps you finding out which level of minimalism is right for you. At that stage, it’s not really minimalism anymore but a state in which you can be content. And that’s the basis for real, long-term happiness as far as I’m concerned.
So, now Twitter tracks you (an article in German with some nice explanations on what ‘cookies’ are) too, just like Facebook does. Of course they just do it to ‘improve your experience’.
Thing is: It doesn’t even matter if you believe that or don’t. The second your data is in the hand of some institution, everything that can happen will happen at some point, you know that. ‘We wouldn’t do that’ - yeah, okay. Maybe you get hacked and it doesn’t matter what you wouldn’t do (Hey, Sony!). Or some employee doesn’t take privacy all that seriously.
Good thing is: You can block the hell out of all those cookies (Wikipedia). Basically, there are (besides the cookie settings in your browser) a few plugins available for the most common browsers you should consider using.
lifehacker.com shows you how exactly.
I think this documentary is very interesting and fascinating.
It states that bipolar disorder is the most lethal mental illness, but most people suffering from it wouldn’t choose to get rid of it. I also didn’t know the first thing about Stephen Fry (my apologies), but he sure appears to be an interesting character.
YouTube video via
Thx to Iven for pointing me at this documentary.
I thought you may be interested in my Instapaper liked items’ RSS. Nothing fancy, but maybe interesting now and then if you miss something on twitter or don’t follow me there (Shame on you!).
You can get yours at the bottom of this page (This folder’s RSS).