Unplug your way to better code

Cybersecurity concepts — logs, packets, DNS exfiltration, and more — are usually intangible, and its practitioners are prone to mental fatigue, Amy takes a second to yell at you to go touch grass.

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Threat Source newsletter. Hey, you. Yeah, you! The person endlessly scrolling or typing away at their computer. Did you touch grass today? It's just an expression, but if nature’s your thing, that works just fine. What I do mean is that due to the nature of the field, cybersecurity is incredibly intangible. You can’t reach out and touch your logs, or the packets traversing your network, or the concept of DNS exfiltration... and if you tried, you’d just feel the smooth surface of your computer screen. (What a boring texture.

) Spending all our time in the abstract can create some serious mental fatigue. My point is that there’s something powerful to be said about engaging with the physical world. When we engage in a tactile hobby, we give our brains a hard reset. By moving from the abstract to the physical, our brains get the time and space to process the complex problems we’ve been staring at, often leading to the “aha! ” moment that never comes when you're trying to force it. The other week, I was working in the Talos office with the Creative team.

It was a quiet afternoon, people’s energy sapped by stomachs full of Mediterranean food. That was swiftly interrupted (in the best way) when Joe Marshall came over into our work area with his miniature painting kit, broke it open, and started teaching us how to drybrush 3D-printed figurines. Everyone immediately came alive. While I didn’t partake (I know, “Do as I say, not as I do”), it reminded me of how revitalized I feel when I get outside for a walk during lunch or spend 10 minutes knitting in silence between meetings.

There’s nothing to focus on but the feel of the yarn between your fingers, the clacking of the needles, and the repetitive motions that result in a physical object you can wear and fish for compliments about. Speaking of, do you think the vest I knit is cool? All compliments can be sent to me on LinkedIn, and I refuse to accept any negative comments. (Critiques are fine. ) Ahem... anyway. Go on a walk without your earbuds, listen to the wind through the leaves, ask a stranger to pet their dog, watch a pigeon bop its head around, and reach out to touch a cool-looking rock or the lichen on a tree.

I hear you saying, "That’s some tree-hugging bullshit,” and counter you with, “Just humor me, okay? What’s the worst that could happen? ” If you’re more of an inside person, the goal might be to find a physical anchor for your technical interest. Maybe it’s building a mechanical keyboard from scratch — feeling the weight of the switches and hearing the click of the keycaps. Maybe it’s a complicated LEGO set. Even something as simple as making espresso or organizing your bookshelf can provide that sensory feedback your brain is craving.