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Regaining control of your attention

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Re: Regaining control of your attention

#111

Post by superflyguy »

pjc50 wrote: post #71
canadian_voter wrote: post #25

“We believe that we live in the ‘age of information'. That there has been an information ‘explosion,’ an information ‘revolution.’ While in a certain narrow sense this is the case, in many important ways just the opposite is true. We also live at a moment of deep ignorance, when vital knowledge that humans have always possessed about who we are and where we live seems beyond our reach. An Unenlightenment. An age of m…

> Does it really matter if that cute girl at the check-out is an anti-Semite? This matters rather a lot if you're Jewish. You're arguing that "it doesn't matter if you don't look up", Star Wars passim. Similarly it matters if your hairdresser is an anti-vaccer and spreads something contagious to you. A certain amount of difference can be looked past, but when it comes to matters of life and death - and it can come to…

You've not really made the case that those are life and death examples though. It's more likely the person who's not an anti semite is the one who's going to get heated in any discussion about it.

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#112

Post by superflyguy »

abandonliberty wrote: post #64

Go to Cuba. Internet is only available in hotel lobbies and government parks. It runs you 3$/hr. However, be warned that Cuba (including Havana and the resorts) is a machine designed to extract money from foreigners. While you can get by for He was right. It's nearly impossible to find an authentic experience in Havana. They'll tell you anything to make you happy and get your money. Even the family I stayed with - wh…

Reminds me of a friend who travelled to both the US and Cuba, and got a kick out of each saying how evil the other was!

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#113

Post by superflyguy »

yomly wrote: post #85

How to regain my attention span... Quit HN /s ... /s

You just have to make choices. I made a change a few years ago so this is literally the only place I read online discussions (because the signal to noise ratio is generally acceptable). I've dumped reddit, Twitter etc and the inevitable comments section at the end of every page on a news site. It gives me more time to read proper writing (books) or just stare out of the window and think. I still use instant messages but just not on my phone so they wait until I'm home. I can always phone or text someone if it's urgent (this hasn't happened yet).

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#114

Post by szatkus »

johnchristopher wrote: post #47
michaelchisari wrote: post #23

Mario is finite, bounded. The edges are clear. You pay once, and there’s no other way for Nintendo to extract money from you. No single player is a mark. There are no whales. In Mario you can not only see the end but get there. My favorite games to play on my phone are those made by Square Enix. Final fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest, lots of classic remakes. They range from $6.99 to $20.99, which made people ba…

> Once again, cheap is better than free. Pay a few dollars and never get bothered again by ads or pay-to-play, but most importantly, you don't feel like you're being manipulated by a never-ending game that starts to feel much more like work than play. But old school/classical ff games always have that grinding and levelling part where it also feels more like work than play. Games from before were also designed to be…

Almost no FF game (pretty sure the first one is an exception) requires grinding to complete. Usually if you need to grind to progress it means you're doing something wrong. Review your strategy and equipment then.

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#115

Post by dwaltrip »

vorotato wrote: post #3

Regaining control of your attention doesn't mean not using your phone. It means being self-aware. The author is relying on a crutch. Not using the phone is just removing a single source of distraction, it does nothing to actually help attention regulation. It's like saying, I fixed my impulse issues by never walking in to gas stations, so now I don't have to worry about buying lottery tickets! You didn't fix your imp…

Your advice has some very useful aspects to it. However, It's good to be practical. If removing distractions entirely is noticeably helpful, then why not do it on occasion?

One can also work on increasing self-awareness at the same time. They are not mutually exclusive. I would guess that a combination of both approaches would be beneficial for most people. I've personally found benefits from both approaches.

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#116

Post by nottorp »

gph wrote: post #30
rwc wrote: post #8

Admittedly off-topic, but why add unnecessarily ignorant asides (in the first sentence to boot): "...I lived on the grounds of an old estate down in central Virginia, next to a town called — terrifyingly — Lynchburg..." ...when a 10-second Google search reveals the less-than-terrifying reality: First settled in 1757, Lynchburg was named for its founder, John Lynch, who at the age of 17 started a ferry service at a fo…

Plus it's not like Lynchburg is some tiny unheard of town. It's actually a decent sized city, and it's fairly well known for being home to Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. Not to mention the history both in Lynchburg and the surrounding area from Revolutionary times to the Civil War. It's like being surprised that there's a city called Reading in England. "Must be a bunch of libraries there".

As a non-american, when I hear Lynchburg I do not think of lynching, but of Lynchburg Lemonade :)

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#117

Post by MyOwnSpirit »

RUG3Y wrote: post #101
michaelchisari wrote: post #23

Mario is finite, bounded. The edges are clear. You pay once, and there’s no other way for Nintendo to extract money from you. No single player is a mark. There are no whales. In Mario you can not only see the end but get there. My favorite games to play on my phone are those made by Square Enix. Final fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest, lots of classic remakes. They range from $6.99 to $20.99, which made people ba…

I didn't know Chrono Trigger was available on mobile. There goes my life, seriously.

Hi there. I made the mistake of paying and playing this game on a smartphone and it is my duty to prevent you from making the same mistake. The controls are absolutely horrible but the worst is really that your phone needs to be connected to the internet in order to play this game. So if you were planning to play this on the plane then you can already give up with this dream.

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#118

Post by SuperPaintMan »

sverige wrote: post #33
iak8god wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "impulse issues" are reinforced by the phone. I've very often noticed when I've set aside my phone for a few hours (the rest of the evening until bed or whatever) that I have to literally set it aside at some distance from myself because otherwise it ends up in my hand without my even consciously deciding to check it. It's like a reflex. And then once it's safely at a distance, I repeatedly experience the urge to…

Early next week I'm switching to a 2G feature phone with no camera. I'm sure I'll be visiting HN (and a handful of other sites) much less, I'm sure there will be some withdrawal, but I'm also sure that I won't miss anything and that I'll be much calmer and more focused. I've thought about this for a few years, really since i first got a smartphone, and I'm persuaded that they are a problem, not a solution.

If you're using a iOS device, take a look at Apple Configurator. I blocked Safari and a few other time-sink apps with it and noticed a extreme reduction in habitual phone usage. It's mainly a texting/messaging device with a few critical apps (Mint, Messenger, RBC, Notes) installed. It's a happy medium between a full on feature phone.

As far as calm goes, I started writing again instead of consuming HN all day.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/apple-configurator-2/id10371...

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#120

Post by [deleted] »

canadian_voter wrote: post #25

“We believe that we live in the ‘age of information'. That there has been an information ‘explosion,’ an information ‘revolution.’ While in a certain narrow sense this is the case, in many important ways just the opposite is true. We also live at a moment of deep ignorance, when vital knowledge that humans have always possessed about who we are and where we live seems beyond our reach. An Unenlightenment. An age of m…

[deleted]
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