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My awakening moment about how smartphones fragment our attention span

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Re: My awakening moment about how smartphones fragment our attention span

#41

Post by djvdq »

Oh, it's what I started to think about today. That I use my phone way too much and I have to fight it. Unfortunately, fight it again, because a few months ago I tried, it worked for a few weeks and then was back again even bigger :(

I want to read some book and play some computer games. Neither is working for me because of some "problems"(?). In case of books I was aware that the phone is the problem. But in case of games I was pretty sure that I'm just "too old". But more and more I think about it, the phone is again the cause of this.

Re: My awakening moment about how smartphones fragment our attention span

#42

Post by k__ »

djvdq wrote: post #41

Oh, it's what I started to think about today. That I use my phone way too much and I have to fight it. Unfortunately, fight it again, because a few months ago I tried, it worked for a few weeks and then was back again even bigger :( I want to read some book and play some computer games. Neither is working for me because of some "problems"(?). In case of books I was aware that the phone is the problem. But in case of…

I'm trying to recalibrate my dopamine receptors for a few weeks to no avail.

Maybe, it's not the right month. Too hot to do anything remotely complex.

Re: My awakening moment about how smartphones fragment our attention span

#43

Post by kristianc »

Although the attention span myth is one of those things that is taken to be almost idiomatic, there’s actually very little empirical evidence for it.

There’s no such thing as an ‘average’ attention span, and even for those individual tasks it would be very much context dependent (where I’m sitting, what I’m doing at the time, my general opinion of the author, the mood I’m in).

It’s a nice story, and it will invariably generate a nice stream of anecdata in a comments section like this, but there’s very little evidence for it at all.

Re: My awakening moment about how smartphones fragment our attention span

#44

Post by dumpsterlid »

arkitaip wrote: post #37
vorpalhex wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Schedule a time where everyone agrees to not use screens. Dinner is a good starting point but ultimately, whatever works. Practice conversing and talking. Socialising is a muscle, and smartphones (and other devices) are a crutch that lets us avoid using that muscle.

Boards games and card games are great too.

It is the golden age of board gaming and it couldnt have come at a more crucial time.

Re: My awakening moment about how smartphones fragment our attention span

#45

Post by drewcoo »

Tom Johnson appears to be the poster child for ADHD.

He's been so busy noticing everything else that he didn't bother to pay attention to the hugely disruptive distraction everyone's been talking about for over a decade now.

And then he blames his inability to focus on some externality instead of realizing it's his condition.

Re: My awakening moment about how smartphones fragment our attention span

#47

Post by hackernewds »

xerox13ster wrote: post #4

I did a digital detox in July of 2020, I had become overwhelmed with Discord and Reddit moderation and trying to Keep Up. I burned out hard. I turned off all electronics for a month and uninstalled the apps and restricted my phone use to calls and responding to 3 close friend's texts at a set time each day--I didn't keep it on me at all. No video games, no TV, no watch or music streaming. I had my library of local mu…

Amazing story and anecdata. It seems almost impossible to attain this today since real-life events require being online - Airbnb requiring Facebook login, needing WhatsApp, Instagram DM, messenger to keep in touch. And Facebook for real-life events. Of course have to use instant msging now through Slack (email used to set the right expectations)

Re: My awakening moment about how smartphones fragment our attention span

#48

Post by dumpsterlid »

djvdq wrote: post #41

Oh, it's what I started to think about today. That I use my phone way too much and I have to fight it. Unfortunately, fight it again, because a few months ago I tried, it worked for a few weeks and then was back again even bigger :( I want to read some book and play some computer games. Neither is working for me because of some "problems"(?). In case of books I was aware that the phone is the problem. But in case of…

I also think that we use our phones as a way of coping with how shitty our quality of life is in the modern world. Many people, including myself, are so stressed and exhausted from modern life that I think being able to zone out on my phone is a gift in some ways.

Yes phones are designed to be addictive in a negative way, but I think we should also recognize they are a safety blanket we can take anywhere with us that costs almost nothing to use as much as we need. We should partially put the blame on the society around us that makes us need thar safety blanket so badly.

Re: My awakening moment about how smartphones fragment our attention span

#49

Post by MrYellowP »

to the author of this:

Well done!

You still have a lot ahead of you.

Next step: Avoid any and all background noise. Chatter and music. Chatter is worse than music, but music is still bad. In contrast, sounds of nature are absolutely fine. If you don't like those, then there's something wrong with you.

Assuming you're used to background noise you will hate this, though, but if you can muster up the discipline and get over yourself, you won't regret the increase in your cognitive abilities, once they push into your awareness.

Most people have no idea of what's there to explore.

You're welcome. :)

Re: My awakening moment about how smartphones fragment our attention span

#50

Post by hackernewds »

djvdq wrote: post #41

Oh, it's what I started to think about today. That I use my phone way too much and I have to fight it. Unfortunately, fight it again, because a few months ago I tried, it worked for a few weeks and then was back again even bigger :( I want to read some book and play some computer games. Neither is working for me because of some "problems"(?). In case of books I was aware that the phone is the problem. But in case of…

You could try to establish Systems (instead of pure motivation).

* Disable unnecessary notifications * Get an app like Daywise to batch notifications that are necessary but not timely. * Use Digital Well-being on Android or Action dash to set timer on your apps (owned by a marketing company though) * Track streaks of days where your usage is < x hours using a Habit tracker such as Habits

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