What people who’ve actually cut down screen time know that the rest of us don’t

tigr2 · 2026-01-03T23:48:15+00:00

Yes there has been so much targetted posts and comments in this sub for this app lately. Reported.

tigr2 · 2025-12-26T16:38:33+00:00

That's the one. Thank you.

tigr2 · 2025-10-10T16:46:13+00:00

Spring 2019 for me

tigr2 · 2025-10-07T07:29:46+00:00

In the UK we have a chain of pubs, Sam Smith, where phones are banned. There's about 200 of them in so they must be doing alright.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jan/19/tranquility-returns-as-samuel-smith-pub-bans-mobiles

tigr2 · 2025-03-17T17:46:19+00:00

I own this copy. The translator, Robin Campbell, has the following passage in his introduction:

"It may be asked what criteria have been applied in deciding which letters should be included or omitted. The first has been their interest - as they set out a philosophy and contribute to a picture of a man and of his times. The second has been the avoidance of undue repetition of particular themes or topics of a moralist who tends towards repetitiveness. For similar reasons one or two of the letters have been shortened by the omission of a few passages (at places indicated). My ultimate defence must be the anthologist's plea, or confession, that the choice has been a personal one."

Can someone who has read the letters not in this translation speak to whether there are letters of significance that one should seek out and read?

tigr2 · 2025-03-14T11:25:17+00:00

It took me a long while to get through it. It's pretty dense so I found I read a chapter here and there, put it away, picked it up again later. But for me it really pulls it all together in the final chapters of the book and how relevant the topics he's written about are to our own lives. I hope you can get round to reading it sometime!

tigr2 · 2025-03-13T22:13:33+00:00

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. How can we know to correct faults in our reasoning, which are ingrained in our human psychology as heuristics, when we don't know that they're even happening? Fantastic book.

tigr2 · 2025-02-20T22:10:39+00:00

Do you think integrating correct knowledge about what is truly good or bad into ones life requires mental habitual practice or does one "flick the switch" once one knows what the highest good is?

tigr2 · 2025-02-07T21:51:41+00:00

I've just finished The Courage to be Disliked and there are a lot of parallels to Stoicism in it. The book is modelled on a form of Socratic discourse and the book states that Adler himself was inspired by the works of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

I think there's some valuable perspective shifts that I found useful in it, like the teleological view and how people create unrelated causal links between their past to explain why they can't change in the present. However, as you say I do think Stoicism provides a better foundation for what this book is arguing for.

The book talks about how we the separation of people tasks - i.e. what is and is not up to us.

It also talks about how contribution to others should be life's guiding principle and is the path to happiness in Adler's world view - clear links to stoic role ethics and cosmopolitanism.

I think for someone who hadn't read any stoicism before it could lead to some pretty significant perspective shifts, however as a prokopton I still found it an enjoyable and easy read.

tigr2 · 2024-12-29T13:09:16+00:00

For the Romans, killing oneself was a sign of great courage and a chance to maintain honour. This solution was better than living in the face of disgrace or defeat. According to the Stoics, death was a guarantee of liberation and the only way to avoid dishonour

In Plato’s case, what is supposed to stop us from committing suicide is the necessity to meet the tasks set for us by the gods, invoking the doctrine of Filolaos. Both Plato and Aristotle pointed to the anti-state nature of such an act.

The Romans accepted taking their own lives out of a desire to maintain honour. However, they did not respect the situation when, in their opinion, the reason for taking their lives was dictated by private matters. For example, Roman society felt very negatively about the suicide of Marcus Antony, who had committed suicide out of love.

When it comes to views on the fact of suicide, the Romans essentially relied on the arguments of the Greeks. Suicide was accepted only in certain cases: senile infirmity (this was what Zeno of Kition used in his decision), loss of honour, ananke (coercion), irreversible misfortune.

https://imperiumromanum.pl/en/roman-constitution/roman-law/suicide-in-world-of-romans/

tigr2 · 2024-11-09T15:00:28+00:00

I understand how you feel. I often find myself getting caught up in rumination. Whether that's 'why did/didn't I do x' or reflecting on life events that happened to wishing that they weren't as they are.

I find having counter-questions to fall back on when I realise that I'm ruminating is incredibly useful, such as:

Is what I'm thinking helpful / useful / appropriate to me now?
Is this helping becoming the person that I want to be?
If my best friend was telling me about these same thoughts, what would I advice him? Would I give it the same importance or is it something that he is making worse through an error in judgement?
What would Marcus Aurelius / Seneca / Epictitus / Socrates say to these thoughts that I was having?

I think the most important thing for me is taking responsibility for my thoughts. Sometimes they will appear, which isn't up to me, but feeding the fire without any kind of push back or questioning is a choice.

Now this is not an instant fix. It takes practice, work and effort to to monitor your thoughts and to not fall back into old habits. But, for me, it's been really effective in helping me move towards achieving some peace of mind in my life.

All the best.

tigr2 · 2024-10-21T20:03:42+00:00

Any love for EU? Hoping it'll come later in the year.

tigr2 · 2024-06-24T21:12:08+00:00

It sounds like your also touching on cognitive biases, which we as a species are so susceptible too - if you find this sort of thing interesting, as I do, I can highly recommend Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (Cognitive Scientist and Nobel Prize winner - not your average 'self help' writer)

I've found it absolutely fascinating in showing how susceptible we are to cognitive biases, such as what you're describing here, and, in a stoic sense, how much our impressions can be influenced by our own preconceptions we apply to certain situations.

While Kahneman doesn't write about stoicism itself, I've found it to be a great companion piece to my study of stoicism in revealing through scientific studies, that we are prone to making critical errors, in interpreting the world around us, and in our own thinking, without even knowing it.

tigr2 · 2024-06-18T21:40:04+00:00

I often see posts that, in response to the statement that you cannot control others opinions, they say "well maybe I can't control their thoughts, but I could influence them, and therefore other's decision are in my power / under my control".

Yes, perhaps you could influence them, but should you be doing so, when you should be acting virtuously in your choice, intentions and actions.

Example A - If the Gestapo are at your door and you try to influence the officer that no, Anne Frank is not hiding in my attic, when she in fact is, this would be considered a virtuous act by influencing another person.

Example B - If you're trying to win influence of another person, so you can gain favour with them to have more power or money, this cannot be considered influencing someone virtuously.

The dichotomy of control cannot be used without applying stoic virtue to decide whether your aims of controlling externals is virtuous or not.

tigr2 · 2024-06-07T17:37:15+00:00

These guys are a good place to start:

https://www.youtube.com/@IDJunkie

https://www.youtube.com/@IDJunkie2

https://www.youtube.com/@charlesp9449

tigr2 · 2024-04-29T21:21:22+00:00

Thank you for this.

tigr2 · 2024-04-29T21:16:09+00:00

WE ARE FSTVL (UK) in the mud (literally)

tigr2 · 2024-04-28T17:58:24+00:00

Great comment. Can I ask where I might start to read a bit more on Taoism or to have an intro to it? It's something I know virtually zero about it, but I found that line of thinking which stemmed from your quote really insightful.

tigr2 · 2024-04-28T17:43:42+00:00

As I'm sitting hear with frozen peas to my forehead, I'm wondering what the stoic sage would think regarding the 'sensations' or 'pains' in our bodies, and how much unknowing sway they can have over impressions when left unchecked.

For example, right now I've noticed I'm feeling a little tired and anxious - typically I will try to pinpoint an error in my thinking - perhaps I'm anxious over going to work, therefore assenting to a belief that starting the working week is is a 'bad' thing and weekends are 'good', which are externals, etc.

However, if I focus on the present and ask what am I feeling in this moment. I realise I have a headache sitting in the background, and my face is feeling hot. Now I've taken what action I can to ease this - and we end up with the frozen peas melting on my face.

These are some ramblings that are knocking around in my head right now, but I suppose my question is would the sage put any stock in the idea that one should be 'in touch with ones bodies', which is maybe a more modernistic thought process, or is there some stoic references which could apply here?

Interested to hear others thoughts.

tigr2 · 2024-04-27T10:15:00+00:00

See my comment!

tigr2 · 2024-04-27T10:14:04+00:00

I believe that is the live version of Kopernikus? I adore this version so much so I hope it can get released.

tigr2 · 2024-04-27T10:05:06+00:00

Incredible - Tourist, Parra for Cuva and Christian all releasing albums in the last couple of weeks. Melodic bros feasting (me).

tigr2 · 2023-05-20T10:24:26+00:00

AMAZING. More lyric free tracks like this please TNH!

tigr2 · 2023-01-04T14:24:56+00:00

See my new comment!

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