Through the ever flourishing universe that is social media, many ideas are able to be easily shared, viewed and thought about philosophically to alter individuals mind sets. Cal Newport explains this in his talk about finding happiness in your chosen workplace. I agree with both sides of his argument, becoming skilled at something through having passion for it and, developing a passion for an unexpected skill you acquire. However, I believe it comes down to the individual, but Newport brings forward an interesting point on how Americans, and the world I think, are obsessed with the follow your passion theory. This is just one of the many philosophical life lessons social media has taught us, brought to you by a well off celebrity who doesn’t know you. Although, what’s so bad about celebrities giving the world optimism. What happens one day when the majority of the human race is living in their passions, and theres limited amount of individuals to do the jobs people get thrown into, like cleaners, garbage men or the deep fry at Maccas. I also enjoyed how Newport spoke about “deep work”, he said that skills evolves from persistently focusing on a demanding task, even if it is uncomfortable to do so. Kind of relates to the deep attention extract we were given in the first lectorial about how deep attention is great for studying. So if deep attention = skill and skill = passion and passion in the workplace = happiness. Then I guess what uni is subtly telling us is to provide time for deep study in our media course so everyone becomes passionate about it, and works a happy life. Well played RMIT.
