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Attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen (2022)

theguardian.com

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Re: Attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen (2022)

#21

Post by convolvatron »

mcpackieh wrote: post #17
anolog0 wrote: post #9

Why is it that every time this moral panic is written about, there are no solid studies to back it up? Surely, if there was really a society-wide epidemic of focus, there would be some clear metric for focus which researchers would have 20-30 years of data and studies on, right? This should be a very testable hypothesis, so where is all the hard science on it? Even in this article, the author just takes some statemen…

Turns out, a lot of people have their own opinions about society that aren't blessed and handed to them by social scientists.

which is all fine, desirable, and ultimately necessary.

that doesn't mean that they make good arguments that help us try to decide what to do, convince other people, or even underscore the potential value of those opinions

Re: Attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen (2022)

#22

Post by thombles »

Stolen Focus is an interesting book and worth your time, but it's absolutely set on making the case that governments need to intervene on social media and I don't think it did it very well. I wrote a longish review digging into why back in June but it will probably only make complete sense if you've read the book. https://thomask.sdf.org/blog/2023/06/08/book-review-stolen-f...

Re: Attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen (2022)

#23

Post by Aurornis »

All of these supposed revelations that companies try to make products that people will use were supposed to empower people to break free from these addictions

Yet anecdotally, these narrative seem to give people more excuses to engage further with their addictions of choice.

I’ve heard so many variations of “It’s not my fault I use so much (Facebook|TikTok|Reddit), don’t you know they have people employed to make them addictive!?”

The people I know who best moderate their usage are the ones who own their own choices, not the ones who blame everything on corporations.

Re: Attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen (2022)

#24

Post by robertlagrant »

jay_kyburz wrote: post #5

I think I would rather people choose to turn off their notifications, and uninstall social media rather than government intervention. It's a lot of work though. I recently did a factory reset of an Android tablet and, wow, it's quite a lot of work to get it to shut up. I also religiously disable any notifications on windows as well, but Microsoft have been making them a mandatory feature of some applications. Snip an…

I don't have Facebook or Twitter installed any more (and never had Instagram or TikTok - I'm too old). I log on to their websites on my phone if I want to see something. It's a good amount of friction.

Re: Attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen (2022)

#25

Post by smogcutter »

Aurornis wrote: post #23

All of these supposed revelations that companies try to make products that people will use were supposed to empower people to break free from these addictions Yet anecdotally, these narrative seem to give people more excuses to engage further with their addictions of choice. I’ve heard so many variations of “It’s not my fault I use so much (Facebook|TikTok|Reddit), don’t you know they have people employed to make the…

> The people I know who best moderate their usage are the ones who own their own choices

Strikes me that this is true of any addiction.

Re: Attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen (2022)

#26

Post by tastyfreeze »

smogcutter wrote: post #25
Aurornis wrote: post #23

All of these supposed revelations that companies try to make products that people will use were supposed to empower people to break free from these addictions Yet anecdotally, these narrative seem to give people more excuses to engage further with their addictions of choice. I’ve heard so many variations of “It’s not my fault I use so much (Facebook|TikTok|Reddit), don’t you know they have people employed to make the…

> The people I know who best moderate their usage are the ones who own their own choices Strikes me that this is true of any addiction.

Not just addictions. The kids I have coached that have the worst behavior always blame their mistakes and behavior on anything but themselves. Zero personal responsibily.

Re: Attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen (2022)

#27

Post by nradov »

smogcutter wrote: post #25
Aurornis wrote: post #23

All of these supposed revelations that companies try to make products that people will use were supposed to empower people to break free from these addictions Yet anecdotally, these narrative seem to give people more excuses to engage further with their addictions of choice. I’ve heard so many variations of “It’s not my fault I use so much (Facebook|TikTok|Reddit), don’t you know they have people employed to make the…

> The people I know who best moderate their usage are the ones who own their own choices Strikes me that this is true of any addiction.

The vast majority of heavy social media users don't meet the clinical definition of being addicts. Many of them have other mental conditions such as depression, anxiety, or neuroticism. But it's not particularly helpful to compare Instagram to nicotine or opioids.

Re: Attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen (2022)

#28

Post by Dfiesl »

Gunax wrote: post #11

I think it's a thoughtful tale, but I really cannot get behind the premise. Was our attention really stolen ? Is this a literal claim, or just hyperbole? It's a vice of the modern world. We have made food that tastes wo good, you want to eat forever. We have drugs which give you euphoria (for a time). And, we have entertainment that is far better than before. Well, for one I don't think there is anything particularly…

He's probably speaking figuratively when he says "stolen". I think he's referring to how we didn't really see it coming until it was too late and now a lot of people have been left without the ability to pay attention.

Re: Attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen (2022)

#29

Post by networkchad »

wand3r wrote: post #15
throwaway_noone wrote: post #8

I read most of the article and then went outside for a cigarette.

Right? Frankly this is barely an exaggerated tl;dr: My Godson was randomly obsessed with Elvis for one summer so years later I forced him to go to Graceland but he wanted to be on snapchat and also watches porn. I needed to understand why this happened so I traveled to 3 different continents to speak with experts but I won't tell you much about what they said. I vacationed to Provincetown and did a digital detox I sa…

The abortion quip makes me chuckle. Every legal scholar (including the queen bee RBG herself) warned for decades that Roe v Wade was originally decided on a stretch of a privacy argument.

My recommendation: don’t try to shoehorn morally debatable things in via another vehicle hoping for a miracle. You may get your miracle, but it will most likely be temporary. When you argue very important things, stick to the central pillars of the idea. Don’t be enthralled by the thought of a “quick win”.

Re: Attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen (2022)

#30

Post by smogcutter »

convolvatron wrote: post #21
mcpackieh wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Turns out, a lot of people have their own opinions about society that aren't blessed and handed to them by social scientists.

which is all fine, desirable, and ultimately necessary. that doesn't mean that they make good arguments that help us try to decide what to do, convince other people, or even underscore the potential value of those opinions

HN: what, no research?

Also HN: social science research is garbage and everyone who practices it is somewhere on a spectrum between delusion and fraud

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