Kickoff For January 4, 2021
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Monday Kickoff, a collection of what I’ve found interesting, informative, and insightful on the web over the last seven days.
And welcome to a new year. After the horrors and trials and tribulations of 2020, here’s to this year being a bit more stable and sane.
Let’s get this Monday started with these links:
Online Life
What is the Small Web?, wherein Aral Balkan introduces us to the idea of taking control of our own data and privacy by building our own websites and web apps, and hosting them ourselves.
Is Social Media Good For Anything At All?, wherein Zach Baron talks to digital contrarian Jaron Lanier about the ills of social media and where social media could be leading us.
The Truth Is Paywalled But The Lies Are Free, wherein Nathan J. Robinson muses about access to information, and looks at the flaws in both the free access and paywall systems.
Work
Work Hard and Get Rich (Or More Likely, Die Trying), wherein Allegra Silcox explores the idea that the poor are poor because they’re lazy, and discovers that there isn’t much truth to support that idea.
Digital Piecework, wherein we learn that the touted flexibility of modern gig work us a sham, and that gig workers are doing a lot of unpaid work that benefits someone else.
How self-control can actually unleash your dark side, wherein we learn why model citizens sometimes turn toxic and about the implications of that on the workplace and wider life.
Productivity
Showing Up Even When You’re Not Feeling It, wherein Leo Babauta shares a simple formula for those days when you just can’t focus.
From productivity porn to mindful productivity, wherein Anne-Laure Le Cunff explain something I’ve been saying for years: too many people are too busy trying to organize themselves rather than get things done.
Note-taking by hand: A powerful tool to support memory, wherein Hetty Roessingh explores the positive physical and mental aspects of taking notes using pen and paper
And that’s it for this Monday. Come back in seven days for another set of links to start off your week.