I’ve cut back on a bit on drinking and smoking cigarettes over the years. I still do both sometimes! I’ve exercised some discipline to do it less than I used to, though. It’s got me thinking about discipline more generally.
I believe living in the USA in 2025 requires a alot of discipline to keep a steady head. There’s some distractions and not-great-for-you activities to do. It feels kind of cyberpunk to me. A lot of it is technology-based, leans on dopamine-hits and enables wealth disparity by networks who own the services.
New items that increase the “discipline requirements” of modern USA:
I try to limit these things. Stare at the wall instead. Spend time with your loved ones. Read a book. Play the guitar. Get some productive things done for work. It makes me sad when I see kids on iPads. I think their parents are setting them up badly.
I go on the computer outside work for software / music / learning stuff, though :). I try to limit it to that, not always successful (youtube, social media, etc)! It’s tough, and I am old enough that iPhone came out when I was 15ish. I think potential big difference with iPad babies, etc.
Negatively, I think the addictive parts of this are going to have big effects downstream. What are the those? I’ll give an example. People I speak with often don’t read books stating something like “I don’t have the attention span”. Maybe not a big deal, but could be important long term.
There’s a lot of positives too with sharing of knowledge! What are the odds on Packers to win superbowl pre-week 1 vs Detroit Lions? lol (it’s +1400, 14x your money if we take the Lombardi home in February 2026)