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Protecting my attention at the dopamine carnival

amirsharif.com

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Re: Protecting my attention at the dopamine carnival

#131

Post by rglover »

QuantumGood wrote: post #102
rglover wrote: post #100

My wife and I have been talking about noticing the general cognitive decline in people we interact with. We both started to notice that people have been getting a little bit...goofy (spacing out, not really reciprocating communication, hyper-limited attention spans, etc). We both land on a combination of social media and economic effects (people stressed to make ends meet leading to an anxious mind). AI is on the low…

You say "people", any filters? Young/old, working/not working. I notice changes in each new generation that are at least cognitive adjacent.

All ages for both of us (I'm OP). All spans of economic status (poor, middle, rich—doesn't matter).

Re: Protecting my attention at the dopamine carnival

#133

Post by devmor »

pirates wrote: post #117
devmor wrote: post #108

> I don’t rely on “willpower” or “discipline” - I try to design each day with intention This point is the most important callout to me. This is a macrocosm of how I focus on tasks as a person with already disastrous dopamine interactions (severe ADHD). I was actually thinking about this last night, when I noticed that I approached the self-checkout at the grocery store with more items than the two people who'd been t…

Is this an ADHD coping strategy? I’m not trying to second guess, I’m actually very intrigued because the way you described your thought process is very similar to mine, but I’ve never been tested or diagnosed. In any case thanks, this will help me in the future I think.

It definitely is for me, but it may also just be something that's generally helpful if you like making good use of your time. There are many different ways to think.

As for ADHD specifically, it's a wide range of severity over several symptoms - if you find that your life is impacted negatively by inability to focus or start on tasks, it may be worth getting tested. But if not, I wouldn't sweat it unless you are just extremely curious.

Re: Protecting my attention at the dopamine carnival

#135

Post by xboxnolifes »

thrawa8387336 wrote: post #99
padolsey wrote: post #23

> Using ChatGPT on cognitive tasks can reduce your brain connectivity by up to 50% and reduce your ability to recall information about the task by 8x. Argh people keep referencing this study as Gospel. It has not been peer-reviewed. Its methodology has a number of concerning confounders. It's a tiny sample with a narrow contrived task domain. And the very premise of the study is misframed. The implication that 'brain…

So what, ChatGPT is the new weed? One critical statement draws out all the addicts in defense?

ChatGPT is the new weed: everyone has a source they cite to reaffirm their pre-existing position.

Re: Protecting my attention at the dopamine carnival

#136

Post by useabilitys »

brailsafe wrote: post #57
androng wrote: post #7

I think I can obtain a triple benefit by using Cursor "ask" mode instead of "agent" mode. 1) I don't over-rely on the AI so I don't accidentally commit bugs 2) I can just put in a OpenAI API key pay-as-you-go instead of subscribing to Cursor Pro monthly and getting screwed by SaaS fee I don't use 3) I actually learn what the AI says and add it to my long-term memory instead of just having it write code for me in Agen…

> for bigger edits I think trying to learn everything the AI says is not really scalable or at least it takes me much longer. Seems like this is the inherent difficulty in being a skillful developer. Atleast in the context of non-trivial collaborative projects, big edits that the person commiting doesn't understand might as well be a diceroll, and imo those big edits should really only be applied if the intent was to…

[dead]

Re: Protecting my attention at the dopamine carnival

#137

Post by sjw987 »

mortsnort wrote: post #61

Tik Tok is obvious brain rot, but what if one's time at the dopamine carnival is spent consuming "brain-growth" content? Phones essentially put all human knowledge at our fingertips, where is the line of diminishing or negative returns when trying to consume it?

Truthfully most online "content" is not growing your brain. It's not the right format for proper learning and retention. Most people using the internet aren't tapping the fountain of human knowledge, and even most of those that think they are, are not.

Quick fun facts on TikTok and Reddit, as well as quick searching and skimming of Google/ChatGPT/Wikipedia are only conducive to superficial learning, unless you are doing something more to wrap that knowledge around your brain (i.e. using it in work/a project, expanding the context in your mind by writing an essay, reading more of it).

This is very much the by-product of the times we live in. Less people are truly learning things, and instead we are learning how to find the information we need. We have things like the internet sitting there, so we take the path of least resistance and use them as and when we need them. It works fine until you don't have an internet connection.

Re: Protecting my attention at the dopamine carnival

#138

Post by sjw987 »

YuukiRey wrote: post #90
mortsnort wrote: post #61

Tik Tok is obvious brain rot, but what if one's time at the dopamine carnival is spent consuming "brain-growth" content? Phones essentially put all human knowledge at our fingertips, where is the line of diminishing or negative returns when trying to consume it?

99% of the time it is consumption without ever utilizing the knowledge for any creative endeavor . And without application the knowledge will quickly fade and you’ll find yourself watching the same 10min video on statistics 101 for the 3rd time, because you keep forgetting. It’s still mindless consumption if you don’t interact with the material in any meaningful way (follow up questions, application, try to refute it…

This is exactly correct.

You just have to look at language learning. Some people who move abroad to a different country with a different language can (over a couple of years) forget huge parts of their own native language.

The internet bombards us with tons of information from all over the place. Even those who have curious minds aren't practicing enough additional engagement to remember all of that information.

Sometimes I feel sad using the internet in the same way I feel going to bookstores. I see so much that interests me but know I only have the capacity to remember, learn, or read so much of it. There may be time to skim a lot of it at surface level, but there isn't enough time and capacity to dive deep into it all.

Re: Protecting my attention at the dopamine carnival

#139

Post by al_borland »

llmthrow103 wrote: post #56
padolsey wrote: post #23

> Using ChatGPT on cognitive tasks can reduce your brain connectivity by up to 50% and reduce your ability to recall information about the task by 8x. Argh people keep referencing this study as Gospel. It has not been peer-reviewed. Its methodology has a number of concerning confounders. It's a tiny sample with a narrow contrived task domain. And the very premise of the study is misframed. The implication that 'brain…

I agree that it's not a great study, but I also don't want to find out too late that it wasn't a good idea to outsource my thinking to ChatGPT.

Yeah, this isn’t the first time we’ve outsourced our thinking. The ubiquitous use of GPS comes to mind leading to lower abilities in the hippocampus.

It grows when a person trains to be a London cab driver (no GPS allowed). [0]

Yet abilities decline as GPS use is used. [1]

These aren’t huge studies either, but also fall under the larger, “use it or lose it,” umbrella.

[0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34914151/

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-62877-0

Re: Protecting my attention at the dopamine carnival

#140

Post by al_borland »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #128
jampa wrote: post #11

> Having your phone in the same room while doing cognitive work reliably drops your memory, attention, and overall cognitive performance. That is my biggest problem with most Multifactor authentication. I try to leave my phone in another room to focus, but needing the phone authenticator for something always happens within two hours. I still don't know why apps think a device I carry in the streets is safer than one…

Funny how apple purposely breaks this for convenience. Some merchant or bank will try and implement 2 factor from a code they text you. Apple scans your messages in the background and prompts you to fill the code from one click all from this one “factor” thanks to the imessage/sms integration.

Even without Apple’s help, anytime I’m on my phone I get the 2FA code on the same device as I’m logging in on. It defeats the point. But also, I shouldn’t be required to have 2 devices just to login to a website.

I’ll be traveling later this year and I’m debating buying an iPad mini so I have a 2nd authenticated device that can do 2FA. I broke a phone on a trip once and happened to have an iPad with me. It was the only reason I was able to get my replacement phone setup. I’m not sure what I would have done without it. Print and carry around account recovery details that should likely be kept in a safe? That doesn’t sound great.

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