Shane posted an essay by an unknown author, "Consume Less, Create More" [0]. It is an inspiring essay. I've been aware of the relationship between my overall happiness and how much I create for some time, in my case my main source of creativity is the material I create for the D&D games I run, supplemented by journal/blog/phlog writing. Which brings to mind another point - you don't need to create for anyone but yourself. Creating is harder if you are constantly worrying what others might think of your creations. Also, this quote is insightful: "Smartphones, I've decided, are not evil. This entire essay was composed on an iPhone. What evil is passive consumption, in all its forms." There are many things to demonize about smartphones in this day and age (mainly revolving around security and privacy), still they are useful at times. I never considered actually writing an essay on a smartphone, but in the context the author describes (daily bus rides), it seems like a great use of the device. EDIT: Alex Schroeder linked to the original source [1] with more comments of his own [2]. "Thus, the audience is small, and I'm mainly doing it for myself. I think that's how I keep our sanity." [0] gopher://ascendingcreations.com/0/shane/HPKyuGeLgQN70ZJVQiUoHkngKsR7D30i.txt [1] https://tjcx.me/posts/consumption-distraction/ [2] gopher://alexschroeder.ch/12019-08-25_Creating/menu