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Phones and apps reduce your ability to focus even when they don’t distract you

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Re: Phones and apps reduce your ability to focus even when they don’t distract you

#31

may These articles really should qualify their claims more, especially in the headlines. Otherwise countless people absorb things semi-consciously as facts, rather than hypotheses that may have some data to support them.

Truly curious: do you think every article based on a study showing strong evidence for something should have a title that implies "it can go either way"?

Personally I would trust readers to click on the article and decide for themselves. Otherwise, it's a bit infantilizing, no?

Re: Phones and apps reduce your ability to focus even when they don’t distract you

#32
post #3

I used to have an Apple Watch with LTE so I could go without my phone even when I left the house. Then I sold it because I started needing it much more for work. Now I'm considering getting it again just to be able to keep away from my phone at home. How low I've fallen.

One thing that worked well for me was to uninstall the attention grabbing apps. Helped immensely with battery life too :) Pretty much all that is left on my phone is 'augmented reality' sort of applications. Translate, maps, 'what song is that', barcode scanner, etc. Anything that pops a notification for something I do not really need to know about right now gets uninstalled pretty quickly. I then use the actual webs…

The problem for me is the browser. Unfortunately iOS doesn’t let you put safari into restricted apps on screen time.

I’ve managed to train myself to regard my computer mostly as a work machine but that just means my phone is my mindless browsing machine.

Re: Phones and apps reduce your ability to focus even when they don’t distract you

#33
post #5

They tested the “brain drain” hypothesis that claims the brain has a limited capacity of cognitive resources, and the mere presence of a potential distractor can occupy some of those resources which undercut cognitive performance. Sounds like something straight out of Conan Doyle https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/lessons-from... "You see," he explained, "I consider that a man's brain originally is like…

>> "you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work." I really like this for a different reason. It’s one of the reasons I can appreciate flat-earthers (or other discordian-ish reality tunnels) from a slightly more philosophical standpoint: it really doesn’t matter

That quote has always bothered me. He uses incredibly small details to deduce incredible things, but thinks the solar system will never have any influence upon his casework. I can imagine scenarios where people thought the wrong things because of what the sun was doing, how far the sun was from the earth at the time, etc etc. It does matter, just not often... Much like the rest of what he uses to deduce things.

It's like saying he doesn't care what clerks do in their jobs, but then deducing that someone's a clerk by their hands. He's have to know what they do for that, even if it doesn't otherwise affect him.

That said, I agree with you... Mostly. I don't really care what someone believes, but there are some beliefs that tell me people aren't critical thinkers and will just believe things they're told... And then stick to it no matter what. I definitely treat those people differently for my own protection.

If flat-earth was the only thing that person believed that was weird, I'd likely just laugh and overlook it. But so far, I've never found that to be the case. They go in for a lot more.

Re: Phones and apps reduce your ability to focus even when they don’t distract you

#34
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal experience is that the notion "I will go in early today and leave at an appropriately early time," fails to work out as planned 90-95% of the time. But I really can only blame myself for this.

Pre corona I was arriving at 7~ and leaving at 15. You can definitely do it.

It almost seems easier to pull off if you leave exceptionally early (3pm or earlier). E.g., if you leave at 4:15pm, that doesn't give any reminder that you started early.

Re: Phones and apps reduce your ability to focus even when they don’t distract you

#35
post #2

Yet no mention of car center console UI.

I'd imagine those are designed with keeping your focus on the road in mind, by doing things like limiting notifications to only incoming phone calls while you're driving

Having to navigate menu systems to change basic climate controls would say otherwise

Re: Phones and apps reduce your ability to focus even when they don’t distract you

#36
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal experience is that the notion "I will go in early today and leave at an appropriately early time," fails to work out as planned 90-95% of the time. But I really can only blame myself for this.

Pre corona I was arriving at 7~ and leaving at 15. You can definitely do it.

Same. This was my schedule too, and maybe I got lucky in my workplace, but after socializing about it, nobody had any problem with the leaving earlier part.

Was easy too, 'can we meet at 4:30' 'Hmm, I come in pretty early, and like to get out the door by 3:30, can we do it earlier?' was a typical exchange.

Also, depending on your office arrangement your team-mates just know you get in early when they always see you in the office when they get in. But, ymmv, I am sure it varies from workplace to workplace.

Re: Phones and apps reduce your ability to focus even when they don’t distract you

#37
post #5

They tested the “brain drain” hypothesis that claims the brain has a limited capacity of cognitive resources, and the mere presence of a potential distractor can occupy some of those resources which undercut cognitive performance. Sounds like something straight out of Conan Doyle https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/lessons-from... "You see," he explained, "I consider that a man's brain originally is like…

This says "brain", but seems to be talking about attention. Not everything works like that; I find the less I depend on memory, the worse my memory gets, the more I use my memory, the better my recall is in general - hence not using memory doesn't "free" it up at all; and this applies not just to explicit (intentional/conscious) recall, but spontaneous remembering ("Oh, I just remembered/realised something") too.

Re: Phones and apps reduce your ability to focus even when they don’t distract you

#38

may These articles really should qualify their claims more, especially in the headlines. Otherwise countless people absorb things semi-consciously as facts, rather than hypotheses that may have some data to support them.

Truly curious: do you think every article based on a study showing strong evidence for something should have a title that implies "it can go either way"? Personally I would trust readers to click on the article and decide for themselves. Otherwise, it's a bit infantilizing, no?

I don't think a single study showing strong anything is of much use beyond, "Hey that's interesting, I would love to know more!"

Articles summarizing studies as described should use language accordingly. Otherwise you risk certainty-addicts swarming and shouting down reasonable circumspection.

Re: Phones and apps reduce your ability to focus even when they don’t distract you

#39
I'm constantly amazed at how the mainstream population uses phones.

Most people tend to have phone with alarming-notifications, so they get informed that they have a message, or email or whatever. The phone interrupts them and directs their attention. They train themselves to be controlled by their phones.

I'd go crazy trying to live like that. I have no audible notifications, and vibration only for actual calls. Everything else: I'll see it when I see it. I tend to think of it as receiving a letter -- I'll see it when I check if there's any post, I don't need to be interrupted right away. Personal space and all that.

It just seems so mentally unhealthy. The same applies to sleeping with your phone in the same room.

Re: Phones and apps reduce your ability to focus even when they don’t distract you

#40

may These articles really should qualify their claims more, especially in the headlines. Otherwise countless people absorb things semi-consciously as facts, rather than hypotheses that may have some data to support them.

Truly curious: do you think every article based on a study showing strong evidence for something should have a title that implies "it can go either way"? Personally I would trust readers to click on the article and decide for themselves. Otherwise, it's a bit infantilizing, no?

>article based on a study showing strong evidence

You mean a blog that loosely cites two papers of unknown quality and draws novel conclusions not from the papers?

Yes, it absolutely should not be stated as fact.

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