June Update – What’s New?

I recently looked at my site and see it’s been over a month since I posted. Some folks likely assume the worst but actually my routine has changed in a lot of ways and fitting in things like regular blogging and social media posting is something I haven’t quite got my head around. So what’s that rework of my routine?

Disrupting so many algorithms:

A few months back so much of my online content was driven by algorithms. I was on Facebook and Instagram, and checked out Bluesky daily. Little good came from it. On the posting side it felt like most anything I posted disappeared into the void with no acknowledgement. This was doubly true for positive posts. On the flip side, if someone was posting bad or upsetting news, especially loaded down with arguments? It was top of the list of things in my feeds. For a while I tried to curate my feeds with filters, muting and blocking but after a while it didn’t seem to matter. And my own habits were no help. If I saw something click-baity, or clearly had drama in the comments, in I went for a closer look.

But then with all the news south of the border and the actions of the various social media giants and particularly Meta, I disconnected from Facebook and Instagram. And really, I hardly miss it. The exception is when I’m on long rides it’s fun to post things as I go and sometimes people did see those. But the mental health boost I got from cutting it out was huge. The knowledge my content wasn’t training their AI models or generating ad revenue for them was also a huge bonus.

But one of the other things I have been thinking about has been how we, ourselves, have algorithms built in. They are hardwired into our psyche and the more we use them the more they generate the same content. It works both ways – think about positive things, help others and take in good books and media and your mental algorithm feeds it back to you. Spend time in negativity and it becomes a habit as well. I swear, after one breakup when I was like 16, I spent two years navel gazing about what a terrible experience it was. I had whole albums full of songs that could trigger that mental cycle and they were on heavy rotation. (Yeah, I didn’t just make mix tapes for others in the 1980s, I made them for myself to bring on or amplify moods both happy and sad.)

So being aware of that I can more carefully curate my mental algorithm. A big part is being aware of what I’m reading. If I’m reading a really sad or upsetting book there had better also be a funny book in the e-reader to balance it out and keep myself from feeling down. But the other thing that disrupts both online and offline algorithms is novelty.

If you’re in an algorithm-driven site like TikTok, search on some new stuff, like generously and mark things you don’t like. That algorithm is so responsive it’ll improve. But what’s better than that is web surfing. David Cain talked about it in this article. Those closer to my age will remember the days when browsers didn’t have tabs and sites were filled with links. You could go from site to site on a sort of free association roller coaster and find so many interesting things. And that Internet is still out there.

If you’re outside of it, do new things. On a huge scale I did this with “52 Adventures” – a pre-pandemic project of mine where I tried something new and often scary thing every week. Sometimes it would be fun and easy like Drag Bingo, Strawberry Picking or hanging out with baby goats. Other times it had me flying a professional 747 simulator into Mumbai Airport, beekeeping (I used to be terrified of bees!) or even literally hanging off the side of the CN Tower. Breaking habits and creating novelty is a great way to find fun new things to do but what also surprised me about it is that it also disrupts the mental patterns.

For example, as I mentioned lately, I’ve been really focused on cycling to new places. Just this month alone I’ve gone over 50 km on roads I’ve never cycled on. Last month I rode over 150 km on roads I’ve never been on. There is so much new to see and discover in your own back yard. You don’t think so? Take a look at this map below. I’ve been tracking my cycling (and running – that’s in pink) for over 10 years. In all that time I’ve gone on only 22.82% of the roads in Toronto. That’s 1681.39 unique kilometres out of 7366.38 kilometres. At my rough average of 20 km/hour that’s over 368 straight hours of riding on unexplored roads – and that’s just within Toronto.

Other adventures happen along the way, too. Last weekend in the middle of a heat wave I left the house at 6:00 AM to miss the worst of the heat and found myself chatting in Hindi outside a mandir I didn’t know existed in eastern Scarborough. Today, after almost an hour of climbing I found myself in a small suburban neighbourhood near Richmond Hill where a ~12 year old boy was waving a sign on the opposite side of the road trying to get people to come buy lemonade. Guys, it was 32 degrees C and felt over 40 with the humidity. I’d already had one big bottle of water and my other one was already the temperature of bathwater. For $5 they filled up my bottle with ice cold lemonade and I can’t tell you how delightful it was. Here are some of the highlights.

The heat also has me getting out the door early just waking up, doing my meditation and then leaving – often as early as 5:30 AM which lets me get in 25-30 km of riding in time to get home and have a shower and breakfast before work. But I also get to hear the birds and ride on roads so quiet that I often don’t see other cars for the first 10-15 minutes.

Another big thing I’ve been doing is being very strict about eating and sleeping. The Internet turns off here at 9:00 PM to encourage us all to go to bed so I am usually asleep by 9:30. Paying attention to what, how much I eat, and when I eat it (not too soon before sleeping) means my sleep quality is also better.

I’ve also been reading like crazy which has been a delight. I somehow figured out how start making up for the reading time I used to have on the bus when I lived further from work and that’s been so good.

And like I suggested would happen, my mental algorithm has changed as well. Yes, I’m worried about the state of the world and what’s happening day to day. But I’m facing it well fed, rested and with daily cycling. It’s very different from where I was in February where my mental state and a REALLY spicy birthday dinner had me spending weeks waking up in the night and sleeping poorly, getting only 5.5-6.5 hours of fitful sleep – and only riding ~15km round trip to work 2-3 days/week.

I should probably print this entry out, put it in an envelope for me to read to myself next time I’m feeling bad. In all likelihood, I’ve forgotten many of the habits I’ve created here and need to resume them.

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What about you? What’s new and exciting in your world? Do you have some new routines you want to try? Are there places in your neighbourhood you want to explore or new experiences you’re considering?