All right, what do we got here? Do a couple more questions. Always check out our time. Let's do a couple more questions here. This one comes from Maria. Maria says, "My goal is to read more. I replace checking my phone with reading books. However, with more technical books, it's hard to jump in and out.

So I find I struggle to make progress. If I only have five to ten minutes, such as waiting in a line, it takes some time to remember where I left off conceptually and I have to re-read a couple paragraphs before I know what specific point is discussed. And by the time I have caught up, I need to put the book down." Well, Maria, I like that you are using a higher quality cognitive alternative to just looking at your phone when you're bored in line.

Reading is a great option. The solution to your particular issue with this strategy is don't read highly technical books in this context. Different activities are better suited for different situations. So if you're reading in line, novels, as well as episodic or biographical nonfiction, this is really good for jumping in and out.

I usually have some sort of biographical or episodic nonfiction I'm listening to on Audible, so I can turn that on when, "Oh, I need to go, whatever, put my laundry in," one of these quick five to ten minute things. I mean, I find business biographies, for example, where it's the story of whatever, "Universal's Rise" or the CBS's "Moment of Success" during the early 2000s, those are really well suited to jumping in and out because when I say episodic, I mean they're talking about this show, they're talking about this thing that happened, they're talking about that thing that happened.

It's sort of individual stories, you can come in and out, you don't have to keep up with highly technical things. Novels can be the same way. Jump back in into the action, it's interesting until you jump back out. If you're reading in line, you might also consider our good friends over at Mouse Books.

This is a product that I like quite a bit. I've known Brian and Dave in particular for a long time now. Mouse Books produce these pocket-sized, condensed, or abridged versions of famous books or short stories. They look like a Field Notes notebook, if that's useful. I think they might use the same printer who does the Field Notes notebooks.

So anyways, it's a little bit smaller than a standard smartphone. The idea is you can have that in your pocket wherever you have your phone. So in any instance, when you would pull out your phone, you pull out a Mouse Book instead. So I think that's a cool way to have some more erudite exposure to the world of literature and philosophy while you're waiting in line.

Anyways, good for you. And the reason why I don't want you to look at your phone in that situation is not that it's just by default bad. It's not the phone that is bad. It is these attention economy companies that dwell on your phone and can play your brainstem like a harpsichord.

The TikToks of the world, the Instagrams of the world, the Twitters of the world. That just gets its hooks into your brain. That's what I want you to get away from being the default. So if you're taking out your phone to work on a wordle, I don't think that's so bad.

But if you're slack jaw, the drool coming down the side as you're on TikTok videos, not good for you. (upbeat music)