Dr. Frederik G. Pferdt argues that scrolling news constantly doesn't equal meaningful action. He proposes a 24-hour break from global feeds to replace consumption with concrete acts: call someone, help, cook, fix something. Small embodied actions shift your chemistry more than staying informed.
Chapters
Can I ask you something? Have you noticed how some mornings the world already feels loud before we even had coffee? You open your phone and it's all there: war, climate, politics, markets, your notifications, everything. And sometimes you don't even remember what you read. You just feel it. That little tightening that's happening, like your body is getting ready for something. And I was talking to someone recently, a leader I really respect. She told me she falls asleep with the news playing in the background. And I asked her why. And she said something interesting. If I don't stay informed, I'm not doing my job. And that really stayed with me because I think a lot of us feel that if we know more, we are doing more. But are we really? Or are we just carrying more? Your nervous system reacts the same way whether something is happening next door or across the world. It doesn't sort by geography. It just reacts. And if that happens every day, you start to feel small, like you're plugged into everything and steering nothing. That's a heavy place to live. So maybe the better question isn't what's happening out there. Maybe it's simpler. What can I do next. Not the whole future, just the next step. I saw something this weekend that reminded me of that. At the Super Bowl halftime show, this huge message flashed across the stage: "The only thing more powerful than hate is love." And for a second, the energy shifted. Joy didn't feel soft. It felt powerful. And I thought about something else. My mother recently stood in a square in Germany at a demonstration against racism, and my son walked in a protest in Santa Cruz. Two different places, same move. They showed up. They moved their feet. And that's the difference. Scrolling feels like participation. Showing up changes you. When you move, your chemistry changes. Even small acts like helping someone, fixing something, reaching out, they shift you. And you feel less like a spectator, more like an author. And I was walking through Wall Street recently in New York and had a conversation with my friend Marcus that made this even clearer. Markets go up, markets go down. And someone said something simple: if your happiness depends on the number, you'll suffer twice. And that applies to more than money. If your sense of self rises and falls with the headlines, with reactions, with outcomes, you'll feel every single swing. But if you stay anchored, the world can move without taking you with it. So here's what I'm trying. For 24 hours, I pause the global feed. And instead of absorbing, I create. One small thing. Call someone. Help someone. Cook. Write. Fix something. It doesn't solve everything, but it changes me. And when I change, the way I show up changes. Maybe the future doesn't need more informed spectators. Maybe it needs more grounded participants. So when things feel overwhelming, I come back to this: What can I do? Do next, just the next thing, and then do it. That feels lighter. That feels real. What is your next step?
