Addicted to Distraction

This rings true for me too. If I sit down with a minute or two of spare time, out comes my phone so I can check out HN or Reddit. Never any quiet contemplation any more.

This type of distraction is just another form of procrastination, which in turn is a product of any number of underlying psychological issues. Anxiety and depression come to mind.

I haven't really gotten my thoughts clear on this so excuse me for the probably unclear formulation.

I recently realized that one of the unfortunate consequences of this is the way many in my generation (I'm 41) brings up our kids.

Instead of teaching them one thing in depth we are forcing them through a million different subjects way before they even turn 10.

It's not unusual in my circles that kids are both playing football, taking piano lessons, learning french on top of their school and homework.

I believe this is fundamentally the wrong approach as it only teaches kids to skate over a subject rather than master one in full.

The difference is huge because learning to master something takes you through several ups and downs which you don't learn if you only have to learn something on an superficial level. So you spend a lot of time becoming good at only the initial challenges of a subject not the much deeper levels of mastering something. Ironically learning to master something is going to make you much better at learning to master more than one thing. Where as learning a lot of things aren't going to teach you how to master any of them.

So I am now trying let my kids just find their ways instead of forcing them into all sorts of subjects.

> It's not unusual in my circles that kids are both playing football, taking piano lessons, learning french on top of their school and homework. I believe this is fundamentally the wrong approach as it only teaches kids to skate over a subject rather than master one in full.

True, although on the other hand that's the best time to experiment what you'll potentially like and perhaps even base your interests and/or career on.

It's a self-reinforcing habit too, your fingers eventually start typing the URL/start the app without thinking.