Freedom Matters

This week, we welcome back Catherine Price, founder of ScreenLifeBalance.com and author of How to Break Up With Your Phone and The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again.

In this light-hearted episode, we explore what exactly 'fun' is and talk about how to make space for more of it in our lives! We cover:

For more fun you can also sign up for Catherine's newsletter at HowToHaveFun.com https://howtohavefun.com/, where you can access:

You can also follow Catherine on Twitter (@Catherine_Price) and Instagram (@_CatherinePrice)

Catherine Price: https://www.screenlifebalance.com/

Host and Producer: Georgie Powell https://www.sentientdigitalconsulting.com/

Music and audio production: Toccare https://spoti.fi/3bN4eqO

This week, we talk with with Anna Lembke, a clinician scholar and leading global expert in addiction. Anna recently appeared in the Netflix Documentary, The Social Dilemma, and in August 2021, released the book Dopamine Nation, exploring how to moderate compulsive overconsumption in a dopamine-overloaded world.

Her view is that, for many of us, our technology use is contributing to our pleasure-seeking habits, tipping our neurological balance and making us miserable. This is an episode rooted in science, which is too important to ignore. We discuss:

Anna Lembke is professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. A clinician scholar, she has published more than a hundred peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and commentaries. She sits on the board of several state and national addiction-focused organizations, has testified before various committees in the United States House of Representatives and Senate, keeps an active speaking calendar, and maintains a thriving clinical practice.

In 2016, she published Drug Dealer, MD – How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016). Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (Dutton/Penguin Random House, August 2021), an instant New York Times Bestseller, explores how to moderate compulsive overconsumption in a dopamine-overloaded world.

To learn more about Anna: https://www.annalembke.com/

Host and Producer: Georgie Powell https://www.sentientdigitalconsulting.com/

Music and audio production: Toccare https://spoti.fi/3bN4eqO

This week, we talk with with Oliver Burkeman. He is the author of "Four Thousand Weeks", a book about making the most of our radically finite lives in a world of impossible demands, relentless distraction and 'productivity techniques' that mainly just make everyone feel busier.

It’s a longer episode than usual because it is packed with wisdom. We discuss:

And so much more….

Oliver is the author of The Antidote: Happiness for People who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking and Help! How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done. He wrote a long-running column for the Guardian, This Column Will Change Your Life, and has a devoted following for his writing on productivity, mortality and the power of limits.

To buy Four Thousand Weeks: https://www.oliverburkeman.com/books

To follow Oliver & his thoughts: https://www.oliverburkeman.com/the-imperfectionist

Host and Producer: Georgie Powell https://www.sentientdigitalconsulting.com/

Music and audio production: Toccare https://spoti.fi/3bN4eqO

Do you sometimes feel like you are not in control of your day? Before you realise it, your plans and time have been hijacked by a diversion and you don't know why. If so, you are not alone.

This week, we speak with Adam Alter, author of Irresistible and Drunk Tank Pink. He is a social psychologist and expert in the effects of subtle environmental cues on human cognition and decision making.

In this episode, we discuss:

Adam is a Professor of Marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business and the Robert Stansky Teaching Excellence Faculty Fellow, with an affiliated appointment in the New York University Psychology Department.

He is the New York Times bestselling author of Irresistible, which considers why so many people today are addicted to behaviours including incessant smartphone use, video game playing and online shopping; and Drunk Tank Pink, which investigates how hidden forces in the world shape our thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

More on Adam: http://adamalterauthor.com/

To purchase Irresistible: http://adamalterauthor.com/irresistible

To purchase Drunk Tank Pink: http://adamalterauthor.com/drunk-tank-pink

Host and Producer: Georgie Powell https://www.sentientdigitalconsulting.com/

Music: Toccare https://spoti.fi/3bN4eqO

If habits are meant to be useful, why then do we form bad ones? And just how can we resist the hook of technology, to be indistractable?

This week we're in conversation with Nir Eyal. Nir is the author of two bestselling books, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products and Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life.

Nir previously taught as a Lecturer in Marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford.

Nir co-founded and sold two tech companies since 2003 and was dubbed by The M.I.T. Technology Review as, “The Prophet of Habit-Forming Technology.”

In this episode we discuss:

Nir Eyal: https://www.nirandfar.com/

To purchase Indistractable: https://www.amazon.com/Indistractable-Nir-Eyal/dp/194883653X?tag=thekerne-20&geniuslink=true

For a summary of Indistractable: https://www.nirandfar.com/skill-of-the-future/

Distraction guide: https://www.nirandfar.com/distractions/

This episode is part of of a new mini-series, which explores 'who's in control - the tech, or us?'. Look out for episodes with Nicholas Carr, Adam Alter and Anna Lembke, when they will be sharing their own views.

Host and Producer: Georgie Powell https://www.sentientdigitalconsulting.com/

Music: Toccare https://spoti.fi/3bN4eqO

Is the internet making us stupid? What is the difference between information and knowledge, and just why is attention so important?

This week we're in conversation with Nicholas Carr. Nick is an acclaimed writer whose work focuses on the intersection of technology, economics, and culture. In 2008, he wrote an article for The Atlantic entitled "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"  His subsequent book, The Shallows – What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, was the first of its kind, calling on us to question the value of the internet and the impact that it was having on our brains.

A New York times bestseller when it was first published and now hailed as a modern classic, The Shallows won the Pulitzer Prize and has been translated into 25 languages. It remains a touchstone for debates on technology's effects on our thoughts and perceptions. And a second edition of the shallows was published in 2020.

In this episode we discuss:

This episode is part of of a new mini-series, which explores 'who's in control - the tech, or us?' Look out for subsequent episodes with Nir Eyal and Anna Lembke, when they will be sharing their own views.

Nicholas Carr: http://www.nicholascarr.com/

Host and Producer: Georgie Powell https://www.sentientdigitalconsulting.com/

Music: Toccare https://spoti.fi/3bN4eqO

What can an award-winning Hollywood composer teach us about productivity?

In this episode, we welcome Jack Wall. Jack is known for his epic scores for dozens of leading video games including Mass Effect, Myst, and most notably, Call of Duty - the largest interactive entertainment property in the world. A multi-time BAFTA and ASCAP award nominee, he writes for the supernatural drama TV series Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments on Disney/Freeform, and for numerous other series.

In this episode we discuss:

The music throughout this episode is courtesy of Jack Wall and Activision. It features excerpts from Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War, which Jack composed and recorded in the midst of the pandemic in 2020.

Jack Wall: https://www.jackwall.net/

Host and Producer: Georgie Powell https://www.sentientdigitalconsulting.com/

Theme Music: Toccare https://spoti.fi/3bN4eqO

What if we didn't just treat work as a series of sprints, but our whole life? What if we applied the same process of reflection that we do at the end of our projects, to our whole life?

In this episode, we welcome John Zeratsky, a co-founder and general partner at Character, where he supports technology startups with capital and sprints. He is the bestselling author of Sprint, Make Time, and former design partner at GV. Previously, John was a design leader for YouTube, Google Ads, and FeedBurner, which was acquired by Google in 2007.

In this episode we discuss:

For more from John: John Zeratsky https://johnzeratsky.com/

For more on Sprint: The Sprint Book  https://www.thesprintbook.com/

For more on Make Time: Make Time https://maketime.blog/

Host and Producer: Georgie Powell https://www.sentientdigitalconsulting.com/

Music: Toccare https://spoti.fi/3bN4eqO

What if we did something that scared us every single day? How would that reset our perspective on life? What could we achieve?

In this episode, we welcome Holly Ransom, an expert in disruption and future leadership. As the founder and CEO of Emergent, she helps individuals and teams formulate the questions to find their strategy for making effective change.

Named one of Australia’s 100 Most Influential Women by the Australian Financial Review, Holly is also widely recognised as one of the world’s top female keynote speakers. She has delivered a Peace Charter to the Dalai Lama, interviewed Barack Obama on stage, was Sir Richard Branson’s nominee for Wired Magazine’s ‘Smart List’ of Future Game Changers to watch in 2017, and was awarded the U.S. Embassy’s Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Leadership Excellence in 2019.

Her new book, The Leading Edge, brings the real-world leadership lessons of so many diverse thinkers and pioneers she’s met to the fore.

In this episode we discuss:

For more from Holly:

Host and Producer: Georgie Powell https://www.sentientdigitalconsulting.com/

Theme music: Toccare https://spoti.fi/3bN4eqO

What if laziness doesn't exist? What if it is just a social construct, that is getting in the way of us all living our best lives?

In this episode, we welcome Devon Price, the author of the books Laziness Does Not Exist (with Simon & Schuster) and the forthcoming Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity (with Penguin Random House, out next year).

They are a social psychologist and clinical assistant professor at Loyola University Chicago. Devon's work has appeared on CNBC, Huffpo, the Financial Times, Lithub, Jacobin Magazine, and on NPR. They write regularly at devonprice.medium.com.

In this episode we discuss:

For more from Devon:

https://devonprice.medium.com/

This episode features the music of Tanajah! Hear more here: https://spoti.fi/3bNWJQs

Headshot photo credit: Collin Quinn Rice https://www.collinquinnrice.com/

Host and Producer: Georgie Powell

Theme music: Toccare https://spoti.fi/3bN4eqO