Why is attention span even so important? At a survival mechanism level, shouldn't imediate threat priority assignment be more of value long term than attention span? Since we spend less time focusing on one thing now, maybe our survival performance as a species increased. What am I missing?
Have attention spans been declining?
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Re: Have attention spans been declining?
#222I may be reading this incorrectly, but in the article, the 65% appears to be authors confidence in the statement that attention spans appear to be declining, as denoted by the sub-script. Whereas in the HN title it reads as if it's saying a "65% decline in attention span". Various other assertions in the post also have sub-script confidences associated e.g. "my guess: yes90%". I could totally believe that there has b…
How do you deal with too much information if not by reducing the attention span anyway? There is no time to focus, no?
You develop the skill of quickly determining what deserves your attention and what does not. Having a long attention span doesn't imply you give everything your full attention.
Re: Have attention spans been declining?
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd like to believe it is reversible. It's not a genetic problem so it is a problem of environment. If you tech detoxed for a whole year living in the woods or something then tried to read Moby Dick it would likely be very tolerable again. You could study some people who have gone to prison and have little opportunity for endless media consumption.
Relatedly, I've found my life-long "sleep problems" go away very fast if I stop using electronics or electric lights after sundown. Go figure, you light up rooms with hundreds of candle-power like it's friggin' daytime, and have world-class entertainment of most any kind available at the press of a button like you're living in a World's Fair crossed with Vegas crossed with a Red Light district crossed with a video ga…
Same! I can't stand bright light at night unless I'm doing something that warrant that (cleaning dishes, searching for something,...). I have a single desk lamp in my living room and just enough light to not bump to things in my bedroom. And my TV is not that bright (no HDR). I match the brightness of my devices to this amount of light, and sleep comes easily. Another thing I swear by is blackout curtains. When I turn off the lights to sleep, it should be dark.
Anytime I turn on the main lights, it's like a shot of adrenaline as everything is just so bright.
Re: Have attention spans been declining?
#224I went to a theater to watch Mission: Impossible last night. It has a really long runtime (2h 48m) and, toward the end of the film, I started seeing multiple people pull out their phones for a time check; I had to stop myself from doing the same.
New movies are just long for no reason. I feel like 1.5hr was typical before. Longer ones like Star Wars 5 and Lawrence of Arabia were worth, but now everything is 2h at least. Marvel movies are the worst offenders, often 3hr with maybe a decent plot the first hour followed by filler action. Also, somehow the art of making dialog audible was lost in the 2010s, to the point where everyone uses subtitles at home now.
>Also, somehow the art of making dialog audible was lost in the 2010s, to the point where everyone uses subtitles at home now.
Yeah, I don't have the world's greatest hearing but I basically always keep subtitles on. I forget what I was watching a few weeks back but I was basically continuous cranking the volume up so I had a chance of understanding the mumbled dialog and then down when some avalanche of sound threatened to destroy what was left of my hearing.
Re: Have attention spans been declining?
#225I'm sorry, what were you saying?
Re: Have attention spans been declining?
#226Lowered attention spans may be widely regarded as a net negative, yet I propose to reframe the conversation: • Call it "whiffreading" after the term in the Book of the Subgenius [1983]. A way to intuitively, instinctively and logically determine if you can get the sense of something quickly. If you sense it is worthy, you will invest the time in it. If not, and you feel you are wasting time, you skip it. Quicker aban…
I agree. I would also position that for some, it may be less a case of 'attention deficit' and more 'attention prudent'. There is way too much garbage content out there and information overload can easily lead to processing overload. Not speaking to the very real medical conditions out there but to societal generalizations - I place a very high personal value on my time and have little tolerance for wasting it on content I feel is uninspired and/or lacking depth or any sense of meaning to me.
Then there is the issue of there being a high quantity of such damn good quality content out there (curses, HN). In that case, its just too much to ingest while working to maintain other forms of focus in life.
Re: Have attention spans been declining?
#227I know I really need books now so my brain can cut off and dive into a slower timespace.
Re: Have attention spans been declining?
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
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In the tread: > > Primarily he focuses not on developing a Strong AI (AGI), but rather focusing on safety issues that such a technology would pose. > That's absurd at worst, science fiction at best, akin to worrying about manned flight safety in the 1500's. It sure seems more warranted now.
"Safety issues" are to him more like, "the AI will kill everyone to fill its objectives" and less like, "deepfakes are concerning."
Though I'm sure he hopped on the "deepfakes are bad" bandwagon at some point to further his time in the spotlight.
Re: Have attention spans been declining?
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
But also now I have a magical machine in my pocket where I can tap the screen a few times and get a book read to me sped up to my optimal input speed. Those two things (audiobooks on my phone, the default feature to enable play at 2x-3x speed) have vastly increased the information I absorb. Now if only someone could come up with a screen/document reader with a decent text-to-speech and decent content filtering, it wo…
You can listen and understand faster than you can read and understand? I am far quicker at reading than listening.
Depends on whether or not you have the time to read. Listening to audio books can be done while walking, vacuuming, etc. Also while commuting, where reading might cause motion sickness.
Re: Have attention spans been declining?
#230Permit me to tie a couple of personal observation on this topic. I do not think we "lost" our ability. I think we changed our thinking. I think the world has mostly accepted the "good enough" versus "perfect". As we all have heard, to become an expert, on average we need to pursue the subject for 10 thousand hours (? Malcolm Gladwell). But, we do not need to spend 20 years practicing. We can obtain "good enough" in a…
> Final anecdote to "prove" my point we did not lose our attention. I have taken ADHD-diagnosed boys to camp and fish. Of the twelve (ages 12-16), only one could not sit patiently and watch the line and bobber for extended period.
You’re completely misrepresenting ADHD, so I don’t see how this anecdote proves your point.
ADHD isn’t the inability to focus. In fact, it often comes with the ability to hyperfocus better than neurotypical minds. ADHD is the inability to regulate focus on specific activities, particularly ones that are boring and not what the individual finds stimulating. Camping and fishing are not what I would typically consider a difficult task to focus on for someone with ADHD. Especially because it’s a physical activity, which are often better suited for an ADHD mind rather than mental tasks that involve being sedentary.
Perhaps what you’re unintentionally getting at is people with ADHD are much better suited for specific tasks than neurotypicals, and society is largely set up to favor neurotypicals at the expense of those with ADHD.