Welcome to episode 145 of the Nerd Journey Podcast [@NerdJourney]! We’re John White (@vJourneyman) and Nick Korte (@NetworkNerd_), two Pre-Sales Technical Engineers who are hoping to bring you the IT career advice that we wish we’d been given earlier in our careers. In today’s episode we share part 5 of our discussion on Deep Work by Cal Newport. We’ll focus on the 3rd rule of deep work, which is quitting social media. Does it mean what it sounds like it means? Listen to find out!
Original Recording Date: 10-24-2021
Topics – "Rule #3 – Quit Social Media", Format Reminder, The Any Benefit and Craftsman Approaches to Tool Selection, Law of the Vital Few, Quitting Social Media, Using the Internet for Entertainment
00:57- Part 5 of our Discussion on Deep Work by Cal Newport.

* Check out Part 1, Episode 141, where we discussed the “Why?” of the book (why deep work). Parts 2, Episode 142 3, Episode 143 were focused on the first rule of deep work, which was working deeply (the structure and the execution). Part 4, Epsiode 144 is focused on the second rule of deep work, embracing boredom.
* Format: We’ll do some summarization about why we’re talking about deep work, then summarize what we read in Rule #3, answer some questions along the way:

* Do we believe the point?
* Does it apply to each of us?
* Does it make us want to change?
* What we anticipate changing, if anything.

* One thing we realized is that we want to model how we’re going to try to read books that have a big impact on us from now on.

* Summarize big points.
* Take notes.
* Record our reactions.
* Record what we’re going to try to change.

2:37 – Why Are We Reading Deep Work?
The Deep Work Hypothesis
Deep Work: Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.

Shallow Work: Non-cognitively demanding tasks that are often done while distracted which are easy to replicate and do not create a lot of value in the world

The Deep Work Hypothesis: The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive.

* We found this compelling and wanted to bring the information to our listeners.

3:56 – Rule #3 Quit Social Media
The author shares points from author Baratunde Thurston’s 25 days disconnected from the Internet.
These tools fragment our time and reduce our ability to concentrate
There isn’t really a debate about this, and it especially impacts those who are trying to generate value through focus and concentration.
Knowledge workers feel powerless in their discussions of network tools and attention
The idea of the Internet sabbatical or sabbath gained traction in some circles. The tools aren’t evil, but we need a different approach to deciding which ones to use and to what degree. At the same time,