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We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

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Re: We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

#101

Post by jcynix »

Good points. And it reminds me that this is neither a new problem nor solved:

I find myself in these kinds of situations often, checking email or Twitter, or Facebook, with nothing to gain except the stress of a work-related message that I can’t answer right now in any case.

It turns out that digital devices and software are finely tuned to train us to pay attention to them, no matter what else we should be doing. The mechanism, borne out by recent neuroscience studies, is something like this: [...]

Source: https://medium.com/@hughmcguire/why-can-t-we-read-anymore-50...

Re: We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

#102

Post by [deleted] »

rubicon33 wrote: post #29
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #7

It is interesting how manufactured distraction-free sessions like yoga, meditation, paid retreats, have emerged to fill the demand for idle time. We’re forgetting how to unplug unless it’s a product or service that we can buy. The distraction issue is the number one issue holding back most of the young people in the mentorship group I’m part of. They’re so glued to their phones to check minute-by-minute updates about…

I am going to make a counter point, albeit one that I don't like: Advising kids to lean away from modern life and push back on the progress of distracting technologies will actually be a more anti-social move than not. What I mean is that to exist and live in the modern world increasingly requires adept skills at managing bespoke technological platforms. To be a social being in the 21st century is largely about navig…

[deleted]

Re: We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

#103

Post by whobar »

alsetmusic wrote: post #55
rubicon33 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People seem to have a strange way of 'investing'. For me, it falls into 2 categories: 1) Long term investements which I almost never look at. Regular scheduled deposits going into an index fund. 2) Bets. Fun little side gambles which I always do for one purpose - aquiring something in the real world. Example: I want a new M1 macbook, but rather than drop $1k, I gamble $3k bitcoin. If it makes enough profit for the ma…

> which I am OK losing. This is the most important concept of investing. You should never place an amount you wouldn’t be ok losing. If losing every cent of an investment could cause financial ruin, you’re investing too much.

You are erroneously conflating investing with gambling. Astute investing in index funds is essentially risk-free if your retirement is far enough away. As you get closer to retirement, you should start moving from funds to bonds (or cash if you want to be extra safe), so you are protected in the case of a crash.

I am not OK with losing the money I have invested, but it is so unlikely that I do not need to worry about it.

A situation where the global stock market crashes, and never recovers, is basically an apocalypse. That is not worth planning for.

Re: We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

#105

Post by EvilEy3 »

jpster wrote: post #41
imbnwa wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wager the sexual success of most young men does not hinge on their social media read/write frequency.

You haven’t been paying attention. Look into “thirst traps”.

And what's there?

Re: We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

#106

Post by EvilEy3 »

burade wrote: post #20
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #7

It is interesting how manufactured distraction-free sessions like yoga, meditation, paid retreats, have emerged to fill the demand for idle time. We’re forgetting how to unplug unless it’s a product or service that we can buy. The distraction issue is the number one issue holding back most of the young people in the mentorship group I’m part of. They’re so glued to their phones to check minute-by-minute updates about…

It's called being young. They're emotional and inexperienced. 50 years ago this used to be normal. Now for some reason everybody expects perfection out of everybody at all times. Insanity.

50 years ago it was different. You could work some grocery job and still be okay. Nowadays working minimum wage means being left behind and poverty. Given how competitive world has become it's only natural that it came to that.

50 years ago you would compete with your surroundings, now you compete with the whole city, country or even world in some cases. And this applies to everything: work, relationships, sex life, etc.

Re: We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

#108

Post by EvilEy3 »

rexpop wrote: post #48
hauget wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, and undiagnosed and untreated ADHD. By the way, for anyone struggling with ADD, check out a book called" by Johhn Ratey the way. It's GREAT. He also wrote Spark, which I think everyone should read.

> a book called" by Johhn Ratey I think you may have accidentally omitted some words.

One of the symptoms of ADHD, btw, lol.

Re: We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

#109

Post by EvilEy3 »

fxtentacle wrote: post #33

I wonder if we see a rise in ADHD in kids nowadays because it is an increasingly useful adaptation to our environment. "Hyperfocus is the experience of deep and intense concentration in some people with ADHD. ADHD is not necessarily a deficit of attention, but rather a problem with regulating one’s attention span to desired tasks." I don't know, but "hyperfocus" on a hobby you love sounds exactly like what most peopl…

What makes you think this is a useful adaptation and not an exploit of our system?

Re: We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

#110

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

pascalo wrote: post #98
nicbou wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bicycle and motorcycle travel works too. You can think about things, but you're mostly focused on staying in movement.

Came on here to say it's exactly what I use cycling for. 5 hours on the bike means 5 hours not looking at my phone or laptop. Just turn the legs over and let your mind wander or stare into the landscape (or deal with traffic, which sucks).

I spend a lot of every year bike touring, and on popular routes I have met other tourers and talked about this very issue, or observed their behavior. Apparently, a lot of cyclists still feel a compulsion to stop every X minutes so that they can take out their phones and look at their social media.
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