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It's getting harder to focus every day

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Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#321

Post by inigyou »

ckdarby wrote: post #223

It's really not that hard but people are addicted and don't want to admit it. Buy an Amazfit 6 watch, has alarms, clock, health stats, memos, weather, maps, and GPS workout. Turn off nearly all phone notifications. Do not allow any phone to AmaZfit notifications. Don't have your phone physically attached to you. You need your phone with you? Backpack. Never in pockets. All sudden it is incredibly easy to focus.

Phone in the backpack is a crazy simple hack. Every time you want to reach for it you get a slight punishment (anti-reward), this is operant conditioning.

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#322

Post by inigyou »

jorisw wrote: post #128
morelandjs wrote: post #114

Unsolicited endorsement, but I bought a “Brick” device recently, and I can’t recommend it enough for cutting back on social media. Infinite scroll really destroys your ability to concentrate.

I wish people could just admit to themselves how irrelevant all this social media content is, lose interest, and keep the apps shut (or uninstall in case there's no DM feature that keeps it installed). I can't imagine needing to switch devices for this. I couldn't give a single shit what friends or acquaintances (much less strangers) are doing in their free time day to day. They can tell me next time I see them. I ha…

But what if it becomes relevant?

An uncertain reward is a strong motivator in psychology. You give a rat a lever that drops a food pellet, he'll push it when he's hungry. You give a rat a lever that drops a food pellet 5% of the time, he'll keep pulling it, build up a little stockpile and then gorge himself.

You give a rat a lever that does nothing and drop pellets at random times, he'll practically pull it until his arms fall off.

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#323

Post by cindyllm »

inigyou wrote: post #321
ckdarby wrote: post #223

It's really not that hard but people are addicted and don't want to admit it. Buy an Amazfit 6 watch, has alarms, clock, health stats, memos, weather, maps, and GPS workout. Turn off nearly all phone notifications. Do not allow any phone to AmaZfit notifications. Don't have your phone physically attached to you. You need your phone with you? Backpack. Never in pockets. All sudden it is incredibly easy to focus.

Phone in the backpack is a crazy simple hack. Every time you want to reach for it you get a slight punishment (anti-reward), this is operant conditioning.

[dead]

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#324

Post by Forgeties79 »

thewebguyd wrote: post #292
rubyfan wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The VAST thing speaks to me. I am capable of deep focus work but often am subject to constant interruption and multiple concurrent urgent demands. During a work week I get a lot done but often feel pulled in a lot of directions like I imagine ADHD might feel like. During the weekends when I am not occupied with a task I often fall asleep. This happens on the first day or two of vacation also. After a few days my brai…

> like I imagine ADHD might feel like. Definitely feels like that, with the exception of task initiation. I am capable of deep focus work, but I can't control when (or where). I can block out time on my calendar all I want, if my brain says "Nope, we're not doing work today" then I'm not doing work, interruptions or not. It becomes a real disability in the workplace when everything is defined by more or less rigid sc…

I always joke that what I am interested in doing and when it is accomplished (if ever) comes down to when the Holy Spirit deigns to work through me lol

I’ve got a few dozen quarter finished projects still waiting in line…

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#325

Post by fierycatnet »

projektfu wrote: post #157

Hallowell and Ratey, who write about ADHD, suggested a new entity for the current world: VAST, the variable attention stimulus trait. It is like ADHD but it is culturally induced and not presumed to be due to an innate deficiency in executive function. "Beyond the sources of biologically based ADHD, there are a lot of people who act as if they have ADHD but on close inspection turn out not to have the diagnosable con…

That could be me, I don't think I have ADHD but I might have some tendencies that were developed after I moved to the US in my teens. The culture was different, fast moving, and very hectic. My 20s were hell because I couldn't figure it all out. Not much changed since then.

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#326

Post by palmotea »

ChiperSoft wrote: post #265
Der_Einzige wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the many reasons why we should air drop GLP-1 over the entire country, like condoms in Bangladesh!

The satiation effect that GLP-1s cause also affects motivational drive. I've noticed my ability to get work done is hampered when I am at higher doses of my ozempic.

> I've noticed my ability to get work done is hampered when I am at higher doses of my ozempic.

You should be using LLM agents anyway. It's the solution to every problem.

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#327

Post by pohl »

afavour wrote: post #244
skinfaxi wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't is well-known that higher education correlates with lower birthrates? At the very least college years are prime child-rearing years. > Educated women delay the onset of childbearing and have fewer children overall compared with less-educated women https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3449224/

Yeah, Idiocracy isn't wrong on the facts about our current day scenario. The issue is where it takes that: poor, lower educated people will inevitably have poor, lowered educated children who will in fact get less and less educated as time goes on, and they will take over, leading to... idiocracy. There's a whole conversation to have about the assumptions in that. Is the implication it's genetic? The children of lowe…

I always saw the mechanism being that Clevon created more offspring without instilling good memes.

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#328

Post by donaldstuck »

jorisw wrote: post #236
duskdozer wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>My biggest distraction? Hacker News. Don't you see it's the same thing? Why can't you just admit to yourself how irrelevant it is and lose interest? I suppose you could use it just to read an article or two, but you're in the comments as well. The apps are just their Hacker News.

> The apps are just their Hacker News. I like this line, but respectfully disagree that they're a 1:1. The difference being relevance and some of the dynamics of use. Hacker News pertains to my profession. It's high relevance tech news with comments from peers. I'm not following anyone just because I know them personally (or worse, because they're famous). I'm not posting photos or videos of activities that I want fr…

And very important: there's no dark algorithm that shows a different view each time you go back to HN. It is sometimes boring but the good kind of boring.

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#329

Post by steele »

taude wrote: post #110
ssl-3 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's only one important thing that I miss about smoking: A smoke break was an excuse that was tolerated by others, wherein I could go outside and just let my mind wander (daydream) with no particular goal for a short period of time. Daydreaming should be perfectly acceptable either way, but people seem to think it's weird (concerning, even) when someone spends a bit of time to stand (or sit) around while appearing…

Funny enough. I never smoked, but I often went and hung out in smoking sections outside our work office. I really enjoyed how open smokers were to just random conversations, and the quick 10 minutes of not looking at the screen were typically energizing. Almost like a natural pomodoro work schedule that forced up out of our desks, and then out of our offices.

Socially adroit undergraduates suiting up to exchange dead tree resumes at job fairs in exchange for the URL to online portals can definitely benefit from taking air breaks when/where recruiters do. No need to engage them to unless prompted, it's corporate Switzerland, but there is comfort in recognition on both sides of the booth.
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