You can play with your phone all day, or you can change the world. You don’t get to do both.

2 Jun 2022 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:46

A short YouTube monologue (uploaded by Clegg, dated June 2, 2022) arguing that solitude is essential for high achievement while habitual phone use and chasing social media likes produces addiction and undermines productivity and creativity. The speaker contrasts the life of "great geniuses" who spend long periods in solitude with the distracted behaviors of posting, checking, and playing on phones.

Chapters

Isolation, you can be out in the world. You can be a history maker and a productive legend. You don't get to do both. One thing all great geniuses do is they spend a lot of time in solitude. Solitude has a bad reputation in our society right now. We think if we're not with the cool crowd, if we're not checking our devices, if we're not posting selfies or other images, we are losing out. We have all these fears. And here's what really happens. As you start to play with your phone, as you start to get hooked on likes, as you start to spend most of your best hours of your greatest days.
Posting, checking, playing with apps, getting hooked, you actually become addicted.