Financial Planning Roundup: “Ultraprocessed Content”

This week I encountered an article (from March) by Cal Newport (author of Deep Work) on the topic of smartphones, social media, and their effect on attention spans and mental health. The very short summary is that we have enough research on the topic at this point to be able to confidently say, “it’s bad for you.”

Newport writes, “We should consider taking as strong a stance against ultraprocessed content as we already do against ultraprocessed food. Which is to say: Most people should avoid these diversions most of the time. In the same way that you’re unlikely to eat Twinkies as a regular snack or still believe that Pop-Tarts provide a balanced breakfast, stop consuming ultraprocessed content. ”

• There’s a Good Reason You Can’t Concentrate from Cal Newport (It’s a paywalled New York Times article. This is a gift link which will let some of you view it, but those seem to stop working in relatively short order.)

For anybody for whom that link does not work or for anybody interested in reading further, here’s one of the papers he references, which I found worth reading:

• The Mere Presence of a Smartphone Reduces Basal Attentional Performance from Jeanette Skowronek, Andreas Seifert, and Sven Lindberg

Other Recommended Reading

• The Case for a “Good Enough” Portfolio from Christine Benz
• Great Reasons to Have Tax-Deferred Accounts from Jim Dahle
• The Finances of Foster Care: A Foster Parent’s Perspective from Adam Safdi
• Should You Start Social Security Early Before Possible Benefit Cuts? from Steve Vernon
• AI Systems Out-Persuade Expert Humans from Hackenburg et al.
• How Global Scammers Use US Tech to Fleece People from Erika Kinetz
• IRS Offers Gift Tax Safe Harbor for Contributions to Trump Accounts from Martha Waggoner
• National Taxpayer Advocate: IRS Had Strong Filing Season for Online Taxpayers, Weaker for Others from Martha Waggoner
• Why Poorer Students Earn Less (Even With the Same Degree) from Nick Maggiulli

Thanks for reading!