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Addicted to Distraction

nytimes.com

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Re: Addicted to Distraction

#71

Post by kordless »

cobweb wrote: post #54

I can easily go a bit tab mad. And noticed this in myself ages ago. At work I vowed not to look at sites that weren't work related. And instead checked personal email/sites before or after work. I was more organised. I even used to sit on the train and plan my days work. And it paid off. These days I'm more and more distracted, have issues concentrating, and I don't have a smartphone, which I'd probably gravitate tow…

Anyone who thinks they are a good multi-tasker is disillusioned. Multi-tasking requires context loading and unloading, which always seem to have some challenges associated with it that are less than obvious. Don't sweat it. Being able to focus on one thing is a gift!

Re: Addicted to Distraction

#72

Post by Ocerge »

scep12 wrote: post #33

I recently wrote a chrome extension that helps me curb my "compulsion loop." It's pretty simple; each time the browser loads a website that has potentially distracting content (think: twitter, FB, reddit, hacker news, rotoworld, etc) that I tend to over-visit in search of new tidbits, the extension keeps track of my visit and the text content of the page. The next time I visit, I do a text comparison that checks how…

That's such an awesome idea. I'd love to check it out.

Re: Addicted to Distraction

#74

Post by ThomPete »

nommm-nommm wrote: post #41
ThomPete wrote: post #6

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…

>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. We are filling our kid's time with all these structured activities to "enrich" their lives. To give them a leg up in the adult world. To make them smarter and well rounded. We fill our houses with a whole bunch of "enriching" toys. This is extremely misguided. The majority of…

Exactly!

Boredom is very very important early on.

It's something you have to internalize and become familiar with and not fear. Way too many adults try and make sure their kids aren't bored IMO and thus the kids start fearing it because they never learned what a powerful engine for reflection and thinking it actually become.

Thats something you have to train.

Re: Addicted to Distraction

#75

Post by spooningtamarin »

ThomPete wrote: post #63
spooningtamarin wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. How can they figure out they love ice skating if they never tried it? It is up to the parent to give direction to their child, not pressure them into something that they don't want but show them what is possible and out there. Giving a child the freedom to do what it wants is probably not going to end up well in majority of cases.

Kids don't live in a vacum. I have never told my son he should learn skateboarding, be a scientist or play music. I didn't come out of a musical family and ended up playing music professionally for a couple of years. No one is talk about giving them freedom to do what they want.

> Kids don't live in a vacum.

Sure. They don't, but when they are just starting school they still don't know much about what is possible, and out there.

> No one is talk about giving them freedom to do what they want.

Little bit of guidance won't hurt. There is nothing intrinsic in child's wishes. No one is blocking their inner genius by guiding them to pay attention to learning maths instead of painting, or dancing, or vice versa.

Re: Addicted to Distraction

#76

Post by ThomPete »

spooningtamarin wrote: post #75
ThomPete wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids don't live in a vacum. I have never told my son he should learn skateboarding, be a scientist or play music. I didn't come out of a musical family and ended up playing music professionally for a couple of years. No one is talk about giving them freedom to do what they want.

> Kids don't live in a vacum. Sure. They don't, but when they are just starting school they still don't know much about what is possible, and out there. > No one is talk about giving them freedom to do what they want. Little bit of guidance won't hurt. There is nothing intrinsic in child's wishes. No one is blocking their inner genius by guiding them to pay attention to learning maths instead of painting, or dancing,…

What do you mean they don't know what is possible? They are exposed to all sorts of of things way before they start school. Through friends, parents friends, family, media etc.

Nobody is saying guidance is bad. The point is when the guidance become constant. It's not about some innner genius, it's not even about finding what you are are good at. It's about finding the engine that will allow you to become good at something which is a combination between many factors including parents guidance.

But it's completely lacking when parent's start pushing the kids to try out may different things almost as chores.

Re: Addicted to Distraction

#77

Post by wpietri »

cobweb wrote: post #56
rl3 wrote: post #4

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.

It's very easy though to procrastinate when in 'command' of a web browser. Removing the device removes the temptation. Typically I can be in the middle of something else, sit down in front of the laptop to quickly check the news or something, and end up walking away from it a few hours later. It's very easy to get sucked in. I guess I'm weak minded.

One trick that works for me: having separate devices for separate activities. E.g., I have a tablet that I use for long-form content and pretty much nothing else. I consciously know that I could pretty easily log in to Facebook on the tablet's browser. But since I've never once done it on that device, my lizard brain doesn't know.

I recently bought a new phone that feels physically different than my old one (Nexus 5x vs first-gen Moto X) and I haven't yet used Facebook on it. I think I'm going to keep it that way; I so far haven't found myself automatically going to do it the way I would on the old phone.

Re: Addicted to Distraction

#78

Post by analog31 »

nommm-nommm wrote: post #41
ThomPete wrote: post #6

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…

>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. We are filling our kid's time with all these structured activities to "enrich" their lives. To give them a leg up in the adult world. To make them smarter and well rounded. We fill our houses with a whole bunch of "enriching" toys. This is extremely misguided. The majority of…

I'm 51, and my parents signed me up for a whole smorgasbord of structured activities: Music, figure skating, swimming, etc. Gradually, most of those activities fell by the wayside, but I stuck with music, and my involvement increased in intensity -- private lessons on two instruments, a third instrument in the school band, playing in the local community orchestra, etc.

We are filling our kid's time with all these structured activities to "enrich" their lives. To give them a leg up in the adult world. To make them smarter and well rounded. We fill our houses with a whole bunch of "enriching" toys.

Yup, that was my life.

Yet, I had plenty of free time. What gives? The missing variable is schoolwork. The schools that I attended assigned very little homework, and it was generally easy to finish, during class time, plus a few hours maximum, per week at home. Indeed, even with my structured activities, I still watched TV, played outside, and pursued my own interests. Today, our leaders tell us that kids should learn how to code. I taught myself programming and electronics when I wasn't doing homework.

Today, the kids have hours of inane homework every evening, and much of it is configured to practically require using the computer, with all of its distractions and productivity pitfalls. We still want them to have enriching activities -- my kids are as involved in music as I was. Yes, free time gets squeezed out, but I don't think parents are entirely to blame. A normal childhood should have plenty of time for both structured and unstructured activity.

Re: Addicted to Distraction

#79

Post by ThomPete »

analog31 wrote: post #78
nommm-nommm wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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. We are filling our kid's time with all these structured activities to "enrich" their lives. To give them a leg up in the adult world. To make them smarter and well rounded. We fill our houses with a whole bunch of "enriching" toys. This is extremely misguided. The majority of…

I'm 51, and my parents signed me up for a whole smorgasbord of structured activities: Music, figure skating, swimming, etc. Gradually, most of those activities fell by the wayside, but I stuck with music, and my involvement increased in intensity -- private lessons on two instruments, a third instrument in the school band, playing in the local community orchestra, etc. We are filling our kid's time with all these str…

There are, as they say, many ways to Rome. I discovered most interests myself, my parents had absolutely nothing to do with them.

There is no right or wrong here.

The point I was trying to make was just that my generation seem to be more impatient in general which is a shame as we do need people who understand things in depth.

Re: Addicted to Distraction

#80

Post by nugga »

thrwy111 wrote: post #31
Disruptive_Dave wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. Addiction is defined as: "a strong and harmful need to regularly have something (such as a drug) or do something (such as gamble)." Do you not put phone/internet usage into that category? In a 2-hour drive this morning I had three near-accidents all because of the drivers on their phones. Ask the average American 30-year-old to avoid their phone for 24 hours straight and that will be a significantly diffi…

Then we need a new definition for what I know as addiction. I think your quoted definition may actually get in the way of helping addicts. There's no way that if society imagines addiction as merely a "strong and harmful need" that they'll ever be able to sympathize with people who have addictions as I know them. "Oh, you're trying to quit smoking? I quit Farmville once."

I'm sure you know this but addiction isn't just the physical dependence where your body requires the stuff to feel normal or 'well' during withdrawal.

Even then the strength of dependence varies rather than exists as a binary thing. You might feel anxious without your daily doses of caffeine or sleep worse and get the sweats after discontinuing weed. In the worst cases, with alcohol especially, you might even die during abrupt withdrawal.

But there is also the psychological component (habituation, compulsion, behaviour). For example you might still be left with the strong compulsion to smoke even if you satisfy nicotine addiction through other means or feel empty or distressed if your computer dies and you can't get online.

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