Sedgwick describes a paranoid reader as someone who is prematurely critical of a text before they read it. The first aspect of paranoia is that it’s anticipatory. 1 | Paranoid productivity is anticipatory To better understand this response, here’s how Sedgwick’s framework has guided my exploration of what I’ll call paranoid productivity. At times, the online fervor around tools, tactics, and templates feels like a response rooted in deeper motives and beliefs. When Sedgwick describes paranoid reading as being a defensive reaction to negative emotions-particularly our discomfort with uncertainty-I can’t help but draw parallels to digital productivity culture. Placing its faith in exposure : We equate visibility with utility.A strong theory of negative affects : We design our systems to avoid negative emotions.Reflexive and mimetic : We copy what we covet, then covet more of what we copy. ![]() Anticipatory : We perceive knowing in advance as an advantage.Instead, Sedgwick defines paranoia in the following ways, which I’ll be further unpacking: Paranoia, as an emotion and an analytical lens, isn’t inherently bad. “Reparative reading,” in contrast, looks beyond critique as a prerequisite for understanding. In an approach Sedwick calls “paranoid reading,” we default to critique when analyzing texts-and extend that analysis to ourselves as readers. In her essay “ Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading ,” literary scholar and critic Eve Sedgwick examines the ways we seek, find, and organize knowledge through our reading practices. There’s something paranoid about the way we configure and connect our tools to each other, and eventually back to ourselves. The means of note-taking, task-making, and time-tracking become ends in themselves as we conflate an app’s efficiency and memory with our own. Our proximity to an abundance of information makes us think we’re making progress when we’re merely deciding how to react to stimuli. Yet we often focus on productivity as a toolset more than a mindset. Productivity is about managing emotions as much as projects.
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