Dear steward,
Here’s your weekly roundup of resources and insights to help you on your journey to become a more productive Christian.
In Today’s Issue:
- Are smartphones bad for kids?
- Overvaluing productivity
- 91% of companies hiring for AI experience
- Evernote’s price going up
- Quote: One powerful question
The best links I found this week
Are Smartphones Bad for Kids? (85 mins)
Cal Newport / Deep Questions
Are concerns over social media and kids just an example of another “moral panic” over new technology? That’s the question Cal Newport sets out to answer in this episode of the Deep Questions podcast.
As someone who has studied technology and addiction as it relates to kids even I was surprised at how conclusive the research is now on this. The data is basically not even debated anymore among researchers.
Even if you aren’t a parent this will make you rethink you’re own relationship with your phone.
Too Busy for Beauty: How Productivity Can Starve a Soul (6 mins)
Paul Twiss / Desiring God
“How can I avoid spiritual stagnation via endless emails and a never-ending to-do list? We do so, in part, by understanding that such uses of our time offer limited value. Productivity is good, but our souls long for something greater — something that comes from a deliberate, intentional pursuit of beauty.”
Especially appreciated Twiss’s point that productivity-oriented people tend to only value what can be quantified, which can lead to us undervaluing some of the most important things in life.
91% of Companies Now Hiring for AI Experience (4 mins)
A survey conducted last month by ResumeBuilder.com of 1,187 business leaders found that 91% were specifically seeking to hire employees with ChatGPT experience.
Other findings:
- 29% of companies are hiring prompt engineers this year; 1 in 4 say starting salary will exceed $200k
- 75% of business leaders hiring prompt engineers say doing so will likely lead to other jobs being eliminated
- 30% of business leaders hiring workers with ChatGPT experience say the need is urgent
- 66% of business leaders say hiring workers with ChatGPT experience will give the company a competitive edge
It doesn’t surprise me that business leaders are seeing the potential productivity impact of AI and are allocating resources to leverage it. But that is a really high percentage!
I’ve been simmering on this question Christians and AI for the last several months as I’ve been seeking to find ways to incorporate AI tools to make me more productive. I have a lot of thoughts I plan to share in a forthcoming article. But my general advice for anyone who reads this kind of stat and starts feeling nervous is just to stay abreast of what’s happening in AI, but don’t freak out. AI will augment far more jobs than it will replace.
Evernote’s Price Hike (6 mins)
Chris Wood / Effective Faith
The popular note taking app Evernote was acquired by a new company at the beginning of this year, and last week they announced their planned feature upgrades… as well as a notable price “upgrade.”
Not being an Evernote user myself, I thought you might appreciate Chris Wood’s thoughts on these changes and why it’s solidified his decision to move on to a different software.
By the way, if you enjoy my newsletter, I think you’ll also like Chris’s writing over at Effective Faith.
Quote of the Week
If someone took control of your life tomorrow, what’s the first thing they would change? – James Clear
✨ New on Redeeming Productivity
The Man with the Longest-Term Vision Wins: 5 Lessons for Christians from the Life of Elon Musk (12 mins)
How the long-term thinking of the world’s richest man serves as an example for Christians to be eternally-minded.
