Slow Thinking in a Fast world!
How technology is limiting our ability to think through hard things.
It’s funny how context-switching tricks you into feeling productive. On days packed with meetings, decisions, and constant task-juggling, I often feel exhausted by 5–6 PM but oddly accomplished. Why? Because I’ve touched so many aspects of my job. Yet this habit has turned me into a shallow thinker—I can’t spend time thinking deeply about anything anymore.
This lack of focus doesn’t just affect my work; it spills over into everything else I do. My attention span has shrunk to 20–30 minutes, and even as a movie buff, I struggle to sit through an entire film without getting distracted. This brings us to today’s topic: slow thinking and its benefits
Forcing a Slowdown
Writing has been my antidote to this chaos. When I write, my thoughts slow down to match the pace of my typing or writing. Instead of racing through five ideas per minute, I process just two or three—and that clarity is transformative.
These activities force your brain to focus on one thing at a time, breaking the cycle of distraction. Before we push ahead, let’s talk about why slow thinking matters. Slowing your mind to think intentionally helps build mental endurance—the kind needed for tackling longer, ambiguous problems that require deep thought and creativity. Daniel Kahneman explains this beautifully in Thinking, Fast and Slow, where he describes two systems of thought:
Fast and reactive (System 1)
Slow and deliberate (System 2)
While both modes have their advantages, modern life is conditioning us out of slow, deliberate thinking—System 2. Reclaiming it allows us to approach complex challenges with patience and persistence.
This realization led me to explore other ways to slow down my mind. Beyond the usual suspects—meditation, journaling, and avoiding social media first thing in the morning—I’ve discovered other effective techniques:
Solving crosswords or puzzles
Learning something new (a language or concept)
Diving into small yet challenging tasks
Is technology handicapping us by making it easier?
When was the last time you memorized a phone number, navigated a route without GPS, or remembered someone’s date of birth? In today’s hyper-connected world, Facebook reminds us of birthdays, and Google ensures we never lose our way. Technology has taken over tasks we once relied on ourselves to handle.
But this convenience comes at a cost. Technology is making it harder for us to engage in deep thinking or tackle new challenges. Take social media, for example—my personal experience has been eye-opening. I’m addicted to Instagram reels and often find myself needing to delete the app just to break the cycle of doomscrolling. Social media encourages reactive consumption—mindlessly responding to whatever pops up next. Increasingly, even our purchasing decisions are driven by instant reactions rather than genuine needs. How often have you bought something simply because it was cheap or right there, rather than because you truly needed it? The deliberate thinking is vanishing in the world of instantness fueled by algorithms.
This shift reminds me of Mad Men, the iconic period drama that explores advertising during the 1950s and 1960s—a time when consumerism was exploding in capitalist America. Its protagonists, Don Draper and Peggy Olson, spent hours crafting campaigns with care and precision—tasks that today could be completed in seconds with AI tools. Platforms like OpenAI’s DALL·E or Adobe Firefly churn out visuals and copy instantly, offering marketers endless options at unprecedented speed. While this efficiency is remarkable, it comes at a cost: decision fatigue. The sheer volume of choices AI generates can overwhelm us, making it harder to focus on what truly matters. This mirrors the conditioning described by Daniel Kahneman between “brain 1” (fast and reactive) and “brain 2” (slow and deliberate). As AI continues to evolve, these challenges will only grow.
Although AI unlocks creative possibilities and streamlines workflows, it risks sidelining the slow, deliberate thinking required for meaningful work. To thrive in this new world, we must consciously preserve our ability to think deeply—to engage our “second brain.”
Final Thoughts: The case for Slow Thinking
In a world that constantly pushes us to move faster, think quicker, and consume more, slowing down is a radical act. It’s not about doing less—it’s about doing better. It’s about reclaiming the ability to think deeply, solve harder problems, and create meaningful work. The tools we use—whether social media or AI—are evolving at breakneck speed. But while technology accelerates everything around us, our minds need time to process, reflect, and grow. Slowing down is how we build resilience, sharpen focus, and rediscover what truly matters. I struggle with this every day.
Here’s my challenge for you: Pick one activity that forces you to slow down. Solve a crossword puzzle. Write in a journal. Learn something new that stretches your brain. Hold one thought longer than you normally would, and resist the urge to react immediately to distractions. For me, playing the New York Times crossword and writing on my Remarkable pad have been transformative.
These small steps have helped me rebuild my attention span and reconnect with the deliberate thinking I had lost. What will yours be? Let me know—I’d love to hear how you’re building your “second brain.”