Social media is treated here as an attention expense, not a moral problem. The question isn’t whether a tool offers any benefit; it’s whether the benefit is strong enough to justify the hours and the fragmentation it causes.
The book replaces the “maybe it helps” mindset with a craftsman approach. Identify a small number of goals that actually matter to you, then adopt only the tools that clearly support those goals. Minor conveniences don’t earn a permanent claim on your mind.
A practical method is to step away for a set period and observe what breaks and what doesn’t. Many people discover that the feared losses are small, while the regained focus is large.
This rule isn’t about purity. It’s about choosing inputs like a professional chooses instruments: deliberately, with tradeoffs admitted, and with attention treated as scarce.