Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

We need to reclaim our attention

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 458 posts

Re: We need to reclaim our attention

#81

Post by inetknght »

jacquesm wrote: post #31
criley2 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would old media publish articles that people don't want to read? No one would read "here are 10 youtube channels that are more in depth than a master program". They would go out of business in a quarter. It's not like old media doesn't publish a variety of content and then evaluate which gets the most views already. They know we don't want to sit through fifty hours of academic lectures instead of reality tv. I a…

The scary thing about that is that if you convince enough people that violence and collapse are imminent it may well become true. Scenes in Amsterdam right now: https://www.nu.nl/binnenland/6176186/noodbevel-museumplein-n...

For someone who can't see the pictures or read dutch, can you summarize?

Re: We need to reclaim our attention

#82

Post by ModernMech »

jacquesm wrote: post #8

There is a veritable war going on for your attention, and the battlefields are your eyeballs, your ears and ultimately your brain. Psychologists have been enlisted, as they are in every war to try to win it for 'their side', be it one of the big silos or some dying TV or newspaper era behemoth, there is no reasonable way in which you can withstand that kind of frontal onslaught. The only way to really deal with this…

There is a popular meme that shows the landscape of a colonized Mars, and the skyline is filled with McDonald’s and Chevron billboards. I think about that a lot.

Re: We need to reclaim our attention

#83

Post by [deleted] »

lr4444lr wrote: post #3

This is a major reason why I am bearish about online learning. I do love the accessibility of MOOCs, but I have to watch the videos multiple times to deeply understand the concepts, and I have to print out the assignments in order to really play with the ideas and solve them in a way that makes me grow. I prefer whenever possible to buy books. I'm not a bibliophile; I just do MUCH better when the target of my attenti…

[deleted]

Re: We need to reclaim our attention

#84

Post by krono »

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

Ad blockers and other such tools are just as essential for ADHD users as ramps are for wheelchair users. Their continued existence and unhindered operation should be legally protected.

Google's plans to take away this last line of defence are absolutely disastrous, especially for people who lack the knowledge or means to implement and maintain workarounds.

It is physically impossible on a biochemical or neurological level for us ADHD invalids to ignore whatever it is that triggers us. Removing these potential triggers as much as possible is therefore essential to prevent/reduce disorder-specific self-harmful behaviour, and to get anything done on today's internet.

Re: We need to reclaim our attention

#85

Post by thegrimmest »

sascha_sl wrote: post #77
thegrimmest wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say "choice" in the conventional sense - the exercise of voluntary control over one's body. If sheer willpower can overcome this on an individual level then it can overcome it on a societal level, society being nothing more than a collection of individuals. It seems as though you're suggesting that we use authority to "solve" these "systemic" issues - which really are just individual issues for a subset of the po…

You're acting like corporations aren't enacting control over large populations right now either. Everything the market does as a byproduct of maximizing profits is fine, but all other intervention with provably better mental and physical health outcomes is authoritarian. Did I get that right?

> provably better

First we have to all agree on what this means, which I'm quite sure is impossible. Everything the free market does is voluntary by definition. Every "intervention" is by definition not. That is exactly the basis for my opposition to authoritarian paternalism.

Also I disagree that corporations are "enacting control" - they are merely exerting influence. There is a world of difference.

Re: We need to reclaim our attention

#86

Post by slibhb »

nabla9 wrote: post #61
slibhb wrote: post #42

> Some scientists say these worries about attention are a moral panic, comparable to the anxieties in the past about comic books or rap music, and that the evidence is shaky. I agree with them. It's hard to pay attention to something for long unless it's entertaining. Reading a book, reading a paper, etc -- these activities take discipline that most people don't develop or don't often apply. This isn't new. The mista…

> but it's always the same story. This is the reverse slippery slope fallacy. There is no threshold, no effect size where this tuns net negative, etc. We took these 10 steps, were worried and nothing happened, we can do more steps.

Fair point, it may turn negative at some point but we're not there yet. It's a moral panic. We're not talking about war or genocide, we're talking about the young people staring at their phones too much.

Re: We need to reclaim our attention

#87

Post by praveen9920 »

> … It’s when you are doing something meaningful to you, and you really get into it, and time falls away, and your ego seems to vanish, and you find yourself focusing deeply and effortlessly…

Oh. Have I missed “the flow”.

I have been trying to get back into the mode from a while, with lot of self doubt in mind, “ you are just lazy”, “you are too distracted by Twitter “, “were you like this all along”..

It hit me hard when I realised that.. it’s been a decade and I still not able to achieve this.

Re: We need to reclaim our attention

#88

Post by Apocryphon »

kkjjkgjjgg wrote: post #14

Arguably the iPad technology for viewing plastic plants in VR is more interesting than plastic plants in a room. The author also seems to be very "unlucky" to have a relative who supposedly can't cope with normal live because of all the distractions.

Ah, the ol’ Simulacra and Simulation.

Re: We need to reclaim our attention

#89

Post by sascha_sl »

thegrimmest wrote: post #85
sascha_sl wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're acting like corporations aren't enacting control over large populations right now either. Everything the market does as a byproduct of maximizing profits is fine, but all other intervention with provably better mental and physical health outcomes is authoritarian. Did I get that right?

> provably better First we have to all agree on what this means, which I'm quite sure is impossible. Everything the free market does is voluntary by definition. Every "intervention" is by definition not. That is exactly the basis for my opposition to authoritarian paternalism. Also I disagree that corporations are "enacting control" - they are merely exerting influence. There is a world of difference.

>Everything the free market does is voluntary by definition. Every "intervention" is by definition not.

I think we're going to have to disagree for good here. I much prefer living in a country where radically free markets are substantially toned down.

Re: We need to reclaim our attention

#90

Post by rightbyte »

bootlooped wrote: post #74
batch12 wrote: post #39

It is weird to me that someone can watch their kid (I know that this is a godparent) go down this path and not intervene. If the cause of dropping out really was distraction, it is sad that the parent didn't take the device from the child. The kid's parents paid for this conduit monthly.

I wonder what kids raised on iPads with big childproof cases will be like when they grow up, or even just when they get into high school.

I had that discussion this week end. I wonder if it will be any different from our Game boys? Or is the problem that smaller children get their hands on them?
Post reply on HN