The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds • Hacker News Board

Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#291

Post by zitterbewegung » Mon, Jan 08, 2018, 10:23 PM UTC

fetus8 wrote: post #14

zitterbewegung wrote: post #3

I think this thesis is correct but it ignores the good things you can do. I don’t think it is true for everyone . I like texting people or using a messaging service . Yesterday I hanged out with my friend to code I wouldn’t have done that if I didn’t have a cell phone. Today I used my phone to aid in my work activities . Frequently I use my cell phone to write down notes about ideas during the day and learn new thing…

I think the point is that for most people, they don't know how to moderate their phone usage, and those same people probably have issues with moderation in general. But on the other hand, regardless of moderation, social networking has changed the way people interact in loads of different ways, and that change is seemingly isolating people and causing damage too.

We can't make people drink alcohol in moderation either ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#292

Post by dualogy » Mon, Jan 08, 2018, 10:23 PM UTC

crispinb wrote: post #204

The collapse of the early high-minded era of tech is almost complete. The world envisioned by luminaries like Kay & Papert, where computers would be programmed by people as part of a process of developing individuals' potentials, has devolved to that of Facebook, Google and Twitter, where people are programmed by computers purely for the self-interested purposes of tiny financial elites. It was perhaps predictable th…

Too bad if these luminaries indulged in most invigorating optimism without more questioning of their assessment of "human nature on the whole". Not to blame them, at least they had a bright-future-envisionment worked out among themselves to surely help keep adding to the excitement of their efforts --- probably beats aspirations of mansions and pina coladas in terms of output-produced =)

Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#293

Post by seangrogg » Mon, Jan 08, 2018, 10:24 PM UTC

bjourne wrote: post #232

candu wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s a tendency to accept without question, in these sorts of conversations, that “trivial entertainment” is bad, or at least qualifiably inferior to either “good entertainment” (less Skinner-box-ish games, going outside, socializing, etc.) or “self-improvement” (reading, thinking, practicing, etc.) IMHO, most of us in fact choose all of the above; what we should be aiming for is the proper balance, not to replace…

Of course it is about moderation, but how can you moderate yourself when there is an infinite supply available? If my fridge contained an infinite supply of chocolate and ice cream I'd get so fat so fast...

I'd likely do the same if those were the only things that existed in infinite quantities, but if said fridge also contained equally infinite meats and cheeses I'd be more likely to stick to a diet and reach goals I'd set for myself and just ignore the sweets unless I declared a cheat day.

Then again, I'm also the sort that has a phone in front of me and spends more time on HN, Quora, and in coding/interest-related discord channels than social media or games.

Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#294

Post by andrei_says_ » Mon, Jan 08, 2018, 10:24 PM UTC

nakedrobot2 wrote: post #4

I am terrified about giving smartphones to my kids. France's new rule (no smartphones in schools - no exceptions) is genius, and I applaud them for that. What is a supercomputer in your pocket, with access to a significant portion of the sum total of human knowledge, good for, for most people? Playing fucking candy crush. We wish that we, humans, were better, but we are not. So what can we do about it? I have no idea…

A mom I know collects her kids’ smartphones at 6pm. I know because I once heard them in her bag.

What I heard was incessant buzz which sounded very urgent to me. She said it was Snapchat notifications. The rate was over 20 notifications per minute.

I can’t imagine what it would be like to try and keep up with something like this.

Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#295

Post by steve_adams_86 » Mon, Jan 08, 2018, 10:25 PM UTC

Diederich wrote: post #279

imglorp wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same for mine. I figure if he displays the maturity and initiative to get a job, then he's qualified.

For us, that's part of it. The main reason is how worried we are about the impact unfettered, always on, modern Internet/technology will have on the developing brains of teenagers, and beyond.

I don't think the impact was great for me, honestly. And that was 15 years ago. The internet is a different place now - maybe not for the better.

Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#296

Post by jamest » Mon, Jan 08, 2018, 10:25 PM UTC

My framing for this: We are the sum total of our thoughts. Letting someone/something else direct them isn't how I wanted to live.

I recently purchased a light phone[1], which has been helpful in disconnecting. I have the option to leave my smartphone at home and I'm still reachable via a regular phone call.

[1] https://www.thelightphone.com/

note: I'm in no way affiliated w/Light Phone

Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#297

Post by noobermin » Mon, Jan 08, 2018, 10:25 PM UTC

andrei_says_ wrote: post #294

nakedrobot2 wrote: post #4

I am terrified about giving smartphones to my kids. France's new rule (no smartphones in schools - no exceptions) is genius, and I applaud them for that. What is a supercomputer in your pocket, with access to a significant portion of the sum total of human knowledge, good for, for most people? Playing fucking candy crush. We wish that we, humans, were better, but we are not. So what can we do about it? I have no idea…

A mom I know collects her kids’ smartphones at 6pm. I know because I once heard them in her bag. What I heard was incessant buzz which sounded very urgent to me. She said it was Snapchat notifications. The rate was over 20 notifications per minute. I can’t imagine what it would be like to try and keep up with something like this.

Dumb suggestion, but can't you control the number of notifications you get? I do this for instagram, facebook, etc...

Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#298

Post by jstarfish » Mon, Jan 08, 2018, 10:26 PM UTC

IpV8 wrote: post #67

agumonkey wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I stopped believing in progress personally. Progress doesn't help you in many important part of life. We're spending too much time on science, and often to fix economic / political errors of the past.

Interesting. Personally, I enjoy living in a world where my friends have overcome cancer, where I can spend < 1 hour a day focusing in food, and I am able to travel halfway around the world to experience machu picchu and be back by then next monday. At what point do you think we stopped productively progressing? Have you considered joining an Amish community?

> At what point do you think we stopped productively progressing? Have you considered joining an Amish community?

For all the miraculous cancer drugs we develop, we don't spend enough time or effort making sure they're obtainable by actual cancer patients. All of the "advances" you tout are only available to a certain privileged class of first-world citizens.

It's great you have access to prepared food and an airplane, but for those who aren't part of the jet-set, no progress has been made in addressing or solving any of their problems or making their lives easier.

There's no app to make daycare more affordable for single parents. Laundry doesn't do itself any better than it did 50 years ago. The blockchain doesn't hold police accountable for shooting unarmed civilians during traffic stops. Owning a smartphone doesn't provide you with competent or affordable legal representation when you need it most. Having a GPS transmitter on your person still can't reliably help 911 operators guide first responders to the actual scene of an incident. Nobody dependent on public transit to get to their retail job is saving up for a Tesla. Public schools are still underfunded, and we have entire generations with underdeveloped critical thinking skills plugged into a global network of lies and misinformation for most of their waking hours.

It's obvious none of these things affect you, but come on. At least pretend like the little people exist. The answer to a perceived lack of social progress is not suggesting the dissatisfied should renounce materialism and adopt someone else's rural way of life.

Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#299

Post by snakeboy » Mon, Jan 08, 2018, 10:28 PM UTC

> In the first five years of the smartphone era, the proportion of Americans who said internet use interfered with their family time nearly tripled, from 11 per cent to 28 per cent.

It is a pet peeve of mine when these kinds of casual exaggerations enter into a statistic. An increase by a factor of ~2.55 is quite far from a factor of 3.

I could argue the global population has nearly tripled since 1959 [1]. This is a rounding of similar proportions, which would lead you to believe there are 9 billion people on Earth rather than 7.6 billion.

That sleight of hand incurrs an error of 1.4 billion people.

[1] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/world-population-to-hit-mi...

Re: The growing body of evidence that digital distraction is damaging our minds

#300

Post by MichaelDickens » Mon, Jan 08, 2018, 10:28 PM UTC

powrtoch wrote: post #170

An article about a "growing body of evidence" that fails to link to a single study. Great. "Smartphone use takes about the same cognitive toll as losing a full night's sleep" Would love to see this study, since it sounds completely implausible (but really important if true). Without looking at the research, the only reasonable course of action is to assume it's false.

"Smartphone use takes about the same cognitive toll as losing a full night's sleep"

What does this even mean? Does it mean your cognitive performance after using a smartphone daily is reduced to the level it would be at if you hadn't slept at all the previous night? Does it mean cumulative smartphone use is as harmful as cumulatively skipping a full night's sleep? (Which is clearly false, but to me sounds like the most natural interpretation of the author's statement.) Is it about your cognitive performance right after getting off your phone, or does it still apply if you last used your phone several hours ago?

But given the lack of citation, I will follow you in assuming that it's false.