John O’Leary welcomes award-winning science journalist and screen/life balance expert Catherine Price onto the Live Inspired Podcast.
Catherine Price is an award-winning science journalist, screen/life balance expert and the author of books including The Power of Fun and How to Break Up with Your Phone.
In our always-on, productivity-addicted lifestyles, we tend to think of the pursuit of fun as being indulgent or even childish. We claim not to have time for it even as we spend hours a day engaging in what today’s guest calls “Fake Fun”—binge-watching Netflix, endlessly scrolling through Twitter, or indulging our FOMO on Instagram, all in hopes of filling some of the emptiness we feel inside.
Today, Catherine shares her evidence-backed resources to help others design lives in which they control their technology, rather than the other way around—with the ultimate goal of increasing happiness, productivity, creativity, health and wellbeing.
This conversation will empower each of us to scroll less, live more, and have fun.
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SHOW NOTES:
- Creative drift: As you go through life, you should do your best at whatever you’re doing and be open to opportunities that present themselves.
- Phones are scattering our attention and causing what technology expert Linda Stone refers to as a “state of continuous partial attention” and are destroying our ability to focus, be present in our own lives and they’re training our brains to be even more distractible.
- What do you want to pay attention to in your life? View your phone notifications as interruptions that are taking you away from important moments in your life.
- Catherine and her husband take a digital Sabbath from Friday to Saturday.
- What’s something you say you want to do but “don’t have time for”?
- The moments we have the most fun are the most treasured and joyful memories from our whole lives.
- Catherine describes “true fun” as the confluence of playfulness, connection and flow.
- SPARK Fun: Make Space, Pursue Passions, Attract Fun, Rebel, and Keep At It
- “We are not problems waiting to be fixed. We are lives waiting to be lived.”
- Get a copy of Catherine Price’s The Power of Fun and How to Break Up with Your Phone.
Did you enjoy today’s episode? You’ll love this conversation…
Tiffany Shlain is the bestselling author of 24/6 and the founder of the Webby Awards. Hear Tiffany’s actionable tips that will help you reset and rebalance your relationship with technology on Live Inspired Podcast ep. 306.
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CATHERINE PRICE'S LIVE INSPIRED 7
- Q. What is the best book you’ve ever read?
A. The Book of Delights by Ross Gay. - Q. What is a characteristic or trait that you possessed as a child that you wish you still exhibited today?
A. The ability to be focused and present and not pulled in multiple directions. - Q. Your house is on fire, all living things and people are out. You have the opportunity to run in and grab one item. What would it be?
A. A book my husband gifted me for my 40th birthday with gratitude letters from my friends. - Q. You are sitting on a bench overlooking a gorgeous beach. You have the opportunity to have a long conversation with anyone living or dead. Who would it be?
A. Lin-Manuel Miranda. - Q. What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
A. The idea of creative drifting I learned from a college professor: As you go through life, you should do your best at whatever you’re doing and be open to opportunities that present themselves. - Q. What advice would you give your 20-year-old self?
A. Be nicer to yourself. Stop being so self-critical. - Q. It’s been said that all great people can have their lives summed up in one sentence. How do you want yours to read?
A. She lived and laughed and loved.
