CODY COOK-PARROTT ON THE PRACTICE OF ATTENTION

I spoke with Cody Cook-Parrott ahead of the release of their new book, The Practice of Attention. We also talked about the messy and imperfect journey we’re all trying to figure out, too. Buckle up.

Cody deleted Instagram, and they also left Substack for Buttondown, returned briefly, then left again and lost their paid subscribers in the process.

“I felt a little flippant, almost. Like, oh, I can just build it back. And it’s like, it took me four years to build that many paid subscribers. It wasn’t like it just happened one day. And so I’ve been really thinking about how precious it is to have — I would like to think I would never delete my email list as a whole. I see people making quick decisions without really realizing how it might affect their self-employment landscape.”

We talked about social media, of course, but arrived in a new place.

“I never want to talk about social media again. I would actually rather get back on it, use it when I feel like it, and never talk about it. Somebody else can talk about it. Other people are much better at talking about it than I am. I’m clearly crazy and don’t know how I feel about it.

Or even if I stay off of it, I never want to talk about it again. I want to talk about something else. I don’t know what it is yet. Right now, just on this little book promo tour, I’m so tired of talking about leaving behind the 80,000 followers and the blue checkmark and hitting delete and not deactivate, and how is that feeling, and how it’s making me pay more attention. I’m just kind of like — I don’t care anymore.”

I told Cody how our Social Media Escape Club Escape Pod Zoom calls rarely focus on social media, and instead we talk about IRL events, making zines, reaching out, building websites. Less focus on Zuckerburg and Musk, and more time thinking about the work, instead.

None of this is linear. “Progress, not pefection,” as the saying goes. I know that deleting an app is the easy part – I’ve been there! But then what?

Cody’s new book “The Practice of Attention” helps answer that. It’s out Tuesday, March 17th and you can order it here.