Impossible HQ

A lot of here didn't really understand what i said, but that's kinda my fault.

All the responses seem to "consume" things, even though it could be articles, photos, news...

Perhaps my 2 last sentences where to much. But there is a difference between consuming and producing.

A tablet is for consuming, if you are enriching your life through consuming things (skype, facebook, articles, news, ...), then yeah. A tablet would be easier to do this.

But it's not for production and all of the examples you showed me are not for producing anything. It's merely for consuming things and i don't think creating a photo with some filters on it in 5 seconds is producing anything.

All the ones who are producing things (apps, books, ...), did a tablet really let you throw away your laptop or pc? (in my experience, it hasn't).

There is actually a "debate" going on because of this and i only showed my personal opinion. I even think that it started with this blogpost: http://impossiblehq.com/an-unexpected-ass-kicking . Read it, he sure as hell explained it better then me.

If i look at my mom, who hasn't been a pc fan ever.. She is an avid user of the tablet, but i don't see her producing anything. But yeah, she sure does consume a lot and it has helped her join the digital world..

If i would have known some people referenced their dads who haven't ever produced on a pc, i would have explained it differently... But hell, you can't say anything in a quick post, i presume.

Didn't mean to…

Very true. I think I was mostly attempting to point out "Shiny Object Syndrome" and how it applies to financial markets, and how quickly (in today's world) it can reinforce itself given the real-time nature of how information is distributed and consumed.

http://impossiblehq.com/shiny-object-syndrome/

As soon as all day traders (not just my circle of friends, but every single active investor in the world) get word that the new big trend is going to be real estate in Brisbane Australia, that's where we're going to put our money, which is going to push the price up, which in turn is going to attract additional investors, which is going to push the price up even more, etc..

That is until the market starts to turn. In which case all people who have bought into the real estate market craze in Brisbane Australia (who don't actually live in Brisbane Australia) pull their money out, which in turn causes prices to drop, which in turn causes everyone else to start pulling their money out. Because they all knew it was way over priced. It's not their fault after all. It's not illegal. They were just riding the bull as long as they possibly could. Doesn't matter what kind of devastation they leave behind because they don't live there and won't feel its effects.

Oh, and by the way... Now that the Brisbane Australia bubble has popped, I heard the next big thing is going to be tulip bulbs. Great, I'm all in!

> I'm looking to "cut my losses" soon, so to speak

I don't know what to say to this, other than reconsider what other options there are that may allow for further opportunities to feel privileged to be alive; big things, small things, simple things, complex things.

> It may also mean that "we" failed to give these "kids" proper upbringing. I, certainly, did fail

Sounds like you're being too hard on yourself. There are uncountable facets to upbringing, and "proper" is indefinable. I'm happy with how my kids are turning out, but I'm yet to see what the 'jungle of the real world' will bring out of them once they've launched into it on their own. Like that Chinese proverb, "we'll see".[0]

> It is far better to live a short but free life than a looong but thoroughly mandated and controlled.

I'll just say that things are more nuanced than that; those are the two extremes within which a whole spectrum exists.

I don't want to stamp my opinions, borne from my personal life experience, upon your opinions formed from a life experience I am entirely unfamiliar with. Good luck with whatever you choose is the right thing for you and your loved ones.

[0]: https://impossiblehq.com/well-see/

Very low barrier. Once every couple of years (For the 20 or so).

The first two days the first time you do it are a not comfortable. But other than that, it's no big deal - around the beginning of the 3rd day, you just lose your appetite and food is not appealing anymore for a while.

It only seems like insurmountable because, if the discomfort you feel for a few hours of unsatisfied appetite continued similarly (linearly, parabolically, exponentially - whichever way it feels to you), then it would actually have been insurmountable. But that's not the case.

It's like cold showers - a guy on this board, joel_runyon, advocates 40 days of only-cold showers[1] as, if I understand it correctly, part-physical-part-psychological therapy. Regardless of any specific merits, the only possible cost is a slight discomfort - yet it seems insurmountable to some people.

[1] http://impossiblehq.com/cold-showers-excuses

I tried cold showers for at least a month. I can confirm it gets easier & feels less painful over time, and there is a kind of rush that you get from it.

But ultimately I stopped. Partly because my hair never washed right in the cold water, but mostly because the showers were making me grumpy & irritable for the rest of the day. I didn't enjoy that feeling, I didn't particularly enjoy the showers, and I didn't notice any productivity or health benefit.

I first heard about cold showers from Joel Runyon, so I'll give him a link [1]. But it quickly went from blogs about "here's a self-motivation idea I'm trying" to "here is my TEDx talk and Cold Shower Therapy™ email course and download the Cold Shower Therapy™ app on the App Store".

[1] http://impossiblehq.com/cold-shower-therapy/

I agree. Most consumer electronics (phone and tablets) are non developer friendly - you cannot develop anything on them.

I find this quote by Russell Kirchner to be really good:

> They’re trying to get everyone to use iPads and when people use iPads they end up just using technology to consume things instead of making things

From https://impossiblehq.com/an-unexpected-ass-kicking/

There is also interesting observation made by Cal Newport in his book Deep Work [1] that teaching kids how to use iPads is counterintuitive as they - consumer products - are designed to be super easy to use and one should rather learn how to master hard things (e.g. programming).

[1]: http://calnewport.com/books/deep-work/