the frames you look through
and why they matter
When I was in my last phase of taking Instagram photos, there was a period of a few years around 2015 where I actively took photos daily & posted daily. I was obsessed. What I observed about my mind then, was that I would keep seeing opportunities for photos. It was almost as if I was seeing the world through a square (yes, kids - Everything on Instagram was square at one time). I would enter a room, and my mind would automatically scan the room and bring these ideas to me.
So the act of taking photos and posting them, created some wiring in my head which kept finding me more photos. Very useful frame, but a frame nonetheless.
At Google, I played the role of a Mobile expert for a while. My job was to tell companies how their mobile websites and apps sucked. I had an incredible time making presentations - roasting companies and getting thanked by their CMOs for all my wisdom. But what happens as a result of that frame? I couldn’t go to a website after that without finding myself criticizing the checkout flow, wondering where the filtering option is, and mocking their web development team.
The whole internet had become a field full of landmines. Each landmine being a misplaced UX element that would trigger small irritations in me (more like, deep repressed anger)
I joined Google straight out of college and was enamored by the Google view of the world. I looked at internet access & technology (and anything else Google seemed to believe in) as the only thing that people need. When I joined CORE Diagnostics, I couldn’t imagine why every person is doing a health checkup 2x per year and obsessing over their vitamin levels.
But both of those things are simply frames. As I left both those companies and the frames got removed - I realised how skewed my mind had become. Both worldviews were limited and biased. And were they frames that I really wanted?
So what are these frames?
Where you are working
What you’ve studied
What you watch on Netflix
Who you hang out with
Whether you read & subscribe to The Scenic Route
Your family's beliefs
Essentially - wherever you are spending your attention.
Can we live without frames? No.
It’s how we interpret what’s going on in our minds and out in the world.
But we can hold them loosely.
Realizing which frames we are seeing the world through can change your experience of life completely.
If you are involved in the news cycle, you will find yourself more fearful in general, but if you are watching Our Planet - you will notice the sounds of the birds on your walk and see more cats around you.
My wife, who is an expert at this stuff, recently told me a trick she had for loosening the grip of any bad feelings. Whenever she realizes she is experiencing a negative emotion she does a quick audit of what content & conversations she was exposed to over the last 8-10 hours. If there’s anything linked or that's in the realm of the negative emotion, then the direct cause-effect relationship becomes visible and the emotion loses its grip. It’s quite magical.
The frames that we choose are powerful. If we become aware of the frames that we are seeing the world through, we can decide whether we want them and cultivate better ones.
May you choose & enjoy the frames you live in.
Very insightful post, Pious. I loved reading it.
I took atleast 2 helpful ideas from this article! And Ofcourse, subscribed too.