Best-selling author and longtime New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell will make you rethink how much you use your phone. The author sat down with Arianna Huffington for the latest Thrive Global Podcast and dished on everything from how he manages anxiety and stress, is a firm believer in “precrastination” and why it’s important to get off your phone.
The Canadian journalist, who is behind best-selling books including The Tipping Point and Outliers, explained to Huffington that its all about creating space for yourself to think and be to help prioritize your well-being.
"Thing is, if you don't answer people's text and phone calls and emails right away, then they learn that, and they understand that you're not gonna get back right away. Everyone's happier,” he explained. “They don't have to respond to my response right away, and I don't have to respond to their response right away. So I've just slowed down the process. It's a fantastic thing. If everyone observed the 24-hour rule for responding to emails, the world would be a much better place."
Gladwell also made a good point when it comes to being on your phone around children, given Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and other social media apps.
"I witnessed the following thing in Los Angeles not long ago: I was sitting outside at a little coffee shop. A mother comes in with a three-year-old. Buys the three-year-old some ice cream. The three-year-old sits down to eat the ice cream, and the mother first takes his picture, then makes a video of him eating the ice cream. And then, he continues through the ice cream, and she circles behind him and shows him the video she just made of him eating an ice cream. Now, there is zero chance that dealing with your three-year-old in that way isn't gonna screw up your three-year-old."
"You're just producing some kind of bizarre self-obsessed narcissist," he continued. "If the kid is somehow made to believe that the act of eating an ice cream is worthy of his mother videotaping it, and then he's made to watch it, it's just the whole thing was so bananas. … I wanted to scream, ‘Are you crazy? Talk to your child! Give him a book to read!’”
The Revisionist History podcast host and Huffington also bonded over the importance of sleep.
“Sleep and I are friends. I sleep a lot,” Gladwell said, before surprising Huffington with his answer when asked where he keeps his phone at night. Listen back to the full interview above to hear more, including how he thinks stepping away from work is beneficial and how to prioritize your well-being.
The Thrive Global Podcast with iHeartRadio, hosted by Arianna Huffington, where she speaks with notable leaders, celebrities, athletes and influencers to learn how prioritizing well-being — instead of burnout and overwork — has made them happier and more successful. This podcast provides tips, tools and microsteps to transform your life and go from surviving to thriving.
The Thrive Global Podcast is brought to you by Sleep Number.