I am reminded of how easy it is to do something online.

You can write, reply, like, report, and follow in a second or less. Tap the button, and mission completed. Action, feedback, reward.

We’ve all been taught about Pavlov’s dogs. Or most of us have at least heard of them. Ironically, that’s what we’re all becoming. We are the dogs of the Internet. Obediant to notifications appearing on our screens.

The same is true for investors and traders. It has never been easier to hit buy or hit sell. Many thought the DotCom bubble was the peak for instantaneous actions in markets. That could not have been more wrong when you consider the speed of market structure today vs. back then. Speed and reward are at the cornerstone of the action. Faster, faster, faster. Tap, tap, tap.

There’s a group of social scientists who believe the rise of social interactions online is making everyone more anxious. It also makes people more overwhelmed. We subconsciously obsess with instant feedback and gratification. This feeling or concept isn’t going anywhere, either. It is only becoming far more prevelant to the day-to-day lives around us. There is no sense in trying to stop it. It’s out there, unseen, and misunderstood.

Maybe the cure is to get out of its way.

Some people have tried not touching their phone for the first hour after waking up. Others purposly let their phone die of battery on a 24-hour cycle so it literally, “loses its power” over them. These types of strategies are not made in normal situations. No one ever tried to make a rule to calm the consumption of vegetables. It’s because we’ve come to learn that it’s a net benefit to eat more of them. Net benefits are not throttled. Net negatives are.

At some point, in the great book of cliches, you indeed must call a spade a spade.

While everyone else is tapping, downloading, commenting, perhaps there is something beneficial in doing the opposite. The opposite now would be slowing down. I’m not entirely sure what that means. I think many will have different solutions and insights for this. But if the world wants you to speed up, to consume more, to tap more, try doing the opposite of that.

Thanks for reading. Remember to follow me on Twitter and StockTwits. Also, you have to sign-up for my email newsletter.

If you missed it, I wrote about this concept earlier and called it, Don’t do dumb things in seven seconds.