Curiosity Without Doomscrolling + Reader Survey

Lead and create with a meta-aware mind

The other day, I looked up a fact online to double-check for a client’s talk. Thirty minutes later, I was scrolling headlines about AI-induced job loss, planetary forecasts, and the rising price of imported guitars.

When I “snapped out of it,” I felt foggy.

My curiosity got hijacked. And for someone who’s hyper-curious about a lot of things, this sort of thing can happen a lot if I’m not careful.

“Curiosity propels evolution. But hijacked, it leads to exhaustion instead of discovery.”

In this week’s premium Wonder HUB essay, I explore how our brains are wired to chase information (for good reason) but how that same mechanism, when co-opted by screens, can erode our attention, elevate our anxiety, and derail our most meaningful creative work.

Soon, I’m delivering a keynote to a couple of thousand developers for Blackbaud’s bbdevdays conference. These are developers working for some of the world’s most effective social good organizations - and yet by the very nature of their work they are saddled with screen fatigue.

Even if you’re not one of these developers, you’re likely someone whose work has a rippling good impact. But that work gets waylaid if your curiosity gets drained.

So, I’ll share surprising data from pandemic-era studies and point toward a capacity that every leader, visionary business owner, and creative needs to build up these days. I want to dive into what that capacity is.

But I also, dear reader, want to hear from you. I have a quick survey below asking you what else you’d like to gain from your Substack subscription. We have many ideas, but they’re only useful if they’re wanted and valuable to you.

If you’ve ever felt like your attention is fraying or your ideas are getting diluted in the scroll, I think you’ll find this peice valuable.

Or stay tuned for this Sunday’s Wonder Dispatch, always free and full of possibility.