Why Nandan Nilekani is Not on WhatsApp

Psst, folks, here’s the lowdown: the brainiest and most reflective minds are not sniffing the stuff. Some, like Walter White in Breaking Bad, might even be involved in cooking the meth, but they’re barricading their own smarts and wits from Instagram likes or LinkedIn notifications.

In The Art of Bitfulness, Nandan Nilekani and Tanuj Bhojwani disclose their personal habits while imparting tips to those trying to forge a more healthy relationship with technology.

Nandan, for instance, is not on any app. He uses only old-fangled SMS for messaging, and otherwise prefers to talk to people on his phone. He deploys his personal computer for work, and his iPad to read news and watch programs. Tanuj, belonging to a younger generation, uses WhatsApp on a limited basis and some social media apps.

One can argue that someone like Nandan, who has already scaled many personal and professional mountains, does not need to be on WhatsApp or on any other messaging app. But as the authors suggest, even for those of us floundering at the bases, and still trying to scale real or metaphorical slopes, adopting a fortress-like approach to our attention is not just advisable, but necessary.

Unsurprisingly, a writer – a deep-thinking, academic sort – was among the first to realize and then call out the troublesome ways in which technology is rewiring our brains. In his widely publicized essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” (2008) and his book, “The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains” (2010), Nicholas Carr outlined how inattention was becoming a global pandemic.

The Social Dilemma captured this in a chilling documentary. Despite all these warnings, the vast majority of us remain at risk, tugged in by seductive adverts or pinging phones. With younger cohorts, screen addiction is likely to get worse: one can foresee many more staying glued to the Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives as the planet hurtles through wars and climate catastrophes.

The condition might be exacerbated in a rapidly digitizing nation like India, where technology is often viewed as the only portal to a better life. Besides, no one can really function anymore without technology; fortunately, The Art of Bitfulness, written by two erudite technophiles and empathetic thinkers, recommends a mindful middle ground. Wherein one can use devices in the manner they were originally intended for: as “extensions” of our minds, rather than as addictive time sinks.

The irony, of course, is that those who would gain much from this book may not be ‘bitful’ enough to read it. For time-crunched individuals, here are some key takeaways:

We Overestimate Our Need For the Internet

When Prabhkiran Singh, a co-founder and CEO of a fashion startup called Bewakoof, landed in Port Blair in 2017, he realized that there was no access to the internet. He was supposed to holiday in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands with a friend who had made all the bookings, but who had also backed out at the last minute. Now Prabhkiran needed to find places to stay, and organize his days without any online support. Surprisingly, he ended up loving his week there.

He realized that being disconnected brought a certain tranquility, a calm that he intended to retain. On his return to Mumbai, he deliberately engaged in sunset-soaked walks, with a friend and without a device.

Procrastination is An Emotional-Regulation Problem

Prabhkiran’s experience might resonate with many of us; while we might occasionally switch off our devices on holidays and savor the time off, we return to die-hard ways in familiar environs. Which in turn fosters procrastination.

Citing the latest research on procrastination, the authors rightly observe that putting off work is not a time management issue. It’s an emotional control issue. We avoid challenging to-dos in order to skirt unpleasant feelings: like a demeaning sense of inability, or fear, or the sheer boredom of keeping our thoughts channeled in a particular direction.

Procrastination is not new. As the book notes, Victor Hugo stayed naked for six months, wearing only a shawl, in order to write The Hunchback of Notre Dame. His clothes were packed out of sight, so that he wouldn’t be tempted to socialize instead.

What’s different today is the ease of “partying” across devices and apps. With the tech giants exerting their wiles to keep us hooked, our tendency to dawdle is amplified.

Don’t Rely on Willpower

Recognizing that willpower is a scarce and easily exhaustible resource, the authors suggest we stop trying to bolster it. And instead, make changes to our surroundings to break toxic habits. For instance, those who want to shift to a healthful diet are advised not to stock up on junk foods, making the procuring more effortful.

Changing the environment can include tactics like keeping your smartphone out of sight while you work on your laptop; or if you don’t have the luxury of owning multiple devices, you can use internet blocking apps while you complete certain tasks.

These changes require an acknowledgement that we have a problem in the first place. Do not assume you will be able to exercise control. As Nandan and Tanuj put it: “If we design our environment around who we are, instead of who we wish we were, we can guide ourselves towards making healthier choices automatically.”

Devices Are Affecting Us In Ways We Are Unaware Of

Let’s say your smartphone is in the room, and you’re not currently using it. You’re focused on writing a report on your laptop. So there’s no problem, right? Apparently there is. In a study conducted by Professor Adrian Ward from the University of Texas, 800 smartphone users were divided into three groups:

Group One: Placed their phones face down on their desk.

Group Two: Phones were stowed into pockets

Group Three: Phones were in another room.

In all these groups, some people were told to turn their phones off. They were then given a cognitive task. The ones who had their phones in another room, outperformed the others. Even having the phone turned off in the same room, degraded the performance of the first two groups.

Two Core Principles of Bitfulness

1. Use Mirrors, Not Windows: In other words, you need to look within yourself for reasons that foster distractibility. Personal habits you can cultivate include meditation, reading meaningful texts and journaling. You can also use apps to track your focus. After all, the corporate adage goes: you can’t change what you don’t measure.

2. Don’t Swim Upstream: When performing cognitively demanding tasks you need to try and enter a “flow” state (described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book titled “Flow”). In The Inner Game of Tennis, the sports psychologist Timothy Gallwey suggests that you yank yourself back to the present by verbalizing your actions on the court. For instance, Gallwey has players observe the ball very closely and then say “Bounce” when the ball bounces or “Hit” when they hit the ball. In other words, rather than trying to fight the mind, use various techniques to quieten it.

Use Three Modes of Attention

Based on their own habits and practices, Nandan and Tanuj suggest that you divide your attention into three modes:

1. Create: This mode requires deep focus, so switch off your devices or turn them onto the airplane mode. Close superfluous tabs on your browser. Block a chunk of time to work on your journal article or long form essay.

2. Communicate: This is when you clear your inboxes and messages. There are micro-strategies to do this more efficiently, like archiving all emails that are more than a month old. And getting to a zero-inbox every day.

3. Curate: This is your time to soak it all in – news articles, videos, courses. You can choose to be more reflective about the types of content you want to invest your time on.

If you want to turn from being a “passive consumer” into an “active creator”, the book leads you towards that journey, one bitful step at a time.

References

Nandan Nilekani and Tanuj Bhojwani, The Art of Bitfulness: Keeping Calm in the Digital World, Penguin Random House India, 2022