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Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

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Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#171

Post by ants_everywhere »

causal wrote: post #27

This did not go where I thought it was going, and I'm glad. I enjoyed the read. I'm not versed enough in psychiatry to validate the brain-chemistry stuff but my practical experience lines up. Reminds me of the trick of telling yourself "let's give this my full attention for just 5 minutes, and if I still don't want to do it we can move on". I pretty much always end up wanting to keep doing that thing.

> Reminds me of the trick of telling yourself "let's give this my full attention for just 5 minutes, and if I still don't want to do it we can move on". I pretty much always end up wanting to keep doing that thing.

Inertia is a good mental model for attention in ADHD. I sometimes tell people that my attention is like a large truck. It can be hard to get it started and up to speed, but once it's up to speed it's hard to stop.

Spending 5 minutes on something is a way of forcing yourself to get started. Once you're up and running it's will be hard to break your attention. For that reason, it's important to choose carefully which things you deliberately spend attention on if you have ADHD.

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#172

Post by Nevermark »

wtbdbrrr wrote: post #142
Nevermark wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not a lack of mechanisms. It's buggy wiring in the brain where at some point in time t some substance or lack thereof forced the brain to reroute blood flow through "paths" that were less impacted by the bug. I don't think there is any solid basis to say this. There has been at least one study that linked greater differences between right and left prefrontal cortex blood flow, favoring the right, to greater AD…

awesome, thanks. > I don't think there is any solid basis to say this. The history of eugenic programs as well the blocking of male/female sex hormones to inhibit sexual development or for transitional purposes should reveal a solid basis. Brain/body are capable of recovering close to a genetic baseline, at least up to some age. > developmental signals have widespread cascades of impact throughout the body. I read to…

> Any increase towards baseline is beneficial throughout the entire affected graph of neural structures, as well as proximate ones.

This cannot possibly be assumed when talking about physiology already known to be atypical.

And specifically, assuming that reducing blood flow one place, and increasing it in another place, post-development, will predictably be a benefit is ... I have no words.

Your whole comment is full of this type of worse than weak reasoning.

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#173

Post by akprasad »

onenite wrote: post #155

“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” - often (incorrectly) attributed to Lao Tzu

A similar idea from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, ~7th century BCE

> 'And here they say that a person consists of desires. And as is his desire, so is his will; and as is his will, so is his deed; and whatever deed he does, that he will reap.

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#174

Post by popalchemist »

This is a very valuable insight, and it is at the core of the ancient greek way of looking at time as either horizontal (chronos, our normal sense of time moving forward on an X axis, moment by monent), or vertical (kairos, wherein transcendent meaning arises).

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#175

Post by myth2018 »

gtirloni wrote: post #135
sotix wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That interesting. I can hyperfocus without medication just fine. It's the choosing what to focus on that I take medication to solve.

I think "just fine" would imply you can invoke hyperfocus whenever you want. In my experience, it happens with the most undesirable things at the most undesirable moments.

I can relate. Also, sometimes I can even invoke it on things I want to. However, I just can't turn it off when needed.

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#176

Post by triceratops »

ricardobeat wrote: post #148
triceratops wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Shawshank Redemption has a similar story. Didn't do well when released. Its video release fared a little better, maybe because people could re-watch it at home. Then Turner picked up TV distribution rights cheaply and showed it again and again. Now, just like It's a Wonderful Life , it's considered one of the best movies ever made. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shawshank_Redemption#Criti... Groundhog Day is l…

You cannot attribute their success simply to repeated TV runs though. Some films are just not that appealing for the cinema, more art than entertainment, and slowly convert each viewer into a fan until it joins the collective consciousness as a classic. It's a story that all of these have in common - some level of critical acclaim before release, flops at the cinemas, slowly builds up a reputation.

> You cannot attribute their success simply to repeated TV runs though

I'm arguing that repeated TV runs allowed audiences and critics to deeply ponder and appreciate these films. Sustained attention over time, which caused a re-evaluation of their artistic merit.

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#177

Post by Aeolun »

gtirloni wrote: post #135
sotix wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That interesting. I can hyperfocus without medication just fine. It's the choosing what to focus on that I take medication to solve.

I think "just fine" would imply you can invoke hyperfocus whenever you want. In my experience, it happens with the most undesirable things at the most undesirable moments.

I think that’s true. If I want to focus on the thing that is my current obsession I can invoke that focus whenever I want. Never mind if I’m at work, in the shower, or at a birthday party. It’s just not very useful to achieve the goals you probably have at those places.

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#178

Post by iLemming »

laurent_du wrote: post #83
iLemming wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Russian, you "spare" attention by "making" it. The word 'уделять' shares the same root with the word that means - 'deed', 'doing', 'act' or 'affair'.

No, it's a different etymological root. A better translation would be to say that you give a share of your attention (делить's meaning is to divide).

Ah, right. I completely missed the difference between 'делать' and 'делить'.

Re: Almost anything you give sustained attention to will begin to loop on itself

#179

Post by corny »

iamben wrote: post #106

If you're near any of the cities they run events in, I highly recommend https://pitchblackplayback.com/ There's something deeply connecting (and often very moving) about listening to a record and having your attention forced on it. So much that I usually start by thinking "I hope they turn it up," and by the end, when it has your sole focus, it's almost deafening.

This weekend and next week they will be playing David Bowie's 'Live At Montreux' at Lobe in Vancouver. Lobe is a unique room with the speakers installed in the floor and ceiling. https://lobestudio.ca/new-events/david-bowie-live-at-montreu...
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