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Men who stare at walls

alexselimov.com

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Re: Men who stare at walls

#261

Post by whywhywhywhy »

baxtr wrote: post #240
hgomersall wrote: post #152

I've recently realised that the biggest problem with smartphones is not that they steal your attention (which is bad enough), but that they steal your disattention I don't know of a better word for it than disattention. Perhaps downtime? But it's not so structured. It's just those moments where you'd previously let your mind wander. Gone forever.

While I don’t want to downplay the toxicity of smartphones, couldn’t the same be said for books and newspapers?

The both have an end and limited novelty.

Re: Men who stare at walls

#263

Post by oersted »

Olshansky wrote: post #137

I hope people see this comment. Meditation is to mental training and focus, as going to the gym is to physical training. Socials killed our attention span. Agents are literally making us context switch even more. Putting aside the whole "I am at piece and one with the world" part of meditation, it is extremely hard. I'm also no expert. When I'm waiting for something to finish (agent, compilation, etc), I've found tha…

Much like the gym, meditation seems to me like an artificial alternative to an actually healthy lifestyle. Perhaps it is necessary to have such explicit and focused "exercising" to really get what you need nowadays, there may be merit to that.

But why not just go for a nice walk with no headphones?

Re: Men who stare at walls

#264

Post by el_oni »

INTPenis wrote: post #253
hgomersall wrote: post #152

I've recently realised that the biggest problem with smartphones is not that they steal your attention (which is bad enough), but that they steal your disattention I don't know of a better word for it than disattention. Perhaps downtime? But it's not so structured. It's just those moments where you'd previously let your mind wander. Gone forever.

I used to be addicted to cannabis and one quote that snapped me out of it, and made me move on with life, was Randy Marsh in South Park saying something along the lines of "Weed makes it fun to do nothing and be bored". That's the same with smartphones and those scrolling apps, they make it fun to do nothing and be bored.

I wouldn't even say they make it fun, they make it "rewarding" they make it feel like you did something, but I feel worse after scrolling, like some vital essence has been drained from me.

I can't find the motivation to do anything at the moment. But if reddit or facebook get opened up i'll just scroll. It's almost like i've replace doing things with watching other people do things and that somehow makes me less likely to work on my hobbies because i'm not as good or far along.

AI has added to this, almost like, why bother bettering myself when I could probably shit out my idea in a handful of prompts? I need a dopamine fast or something. Might try staring at a wall

Re: Men who stare at walls

#265

Post by Tade0 »

> Stay up late because I’m wired on caffeine and dopamine from scrolling.

I wish people didn't overuse certain terms. Dopamine has a half life of 2 minutes in the body. It can't possibly keep you up at night.

It's just the caffeine, which in turn has a half-life of several hours. Also below a certain level it's eliminated approximately exponentially, so there's a long tail of residual caffeine.

Re: Men who stare at walls

#266

Post by sersi »

topnde wrote: post #256
sersi wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And mostly reduced creativity. I'm addicted to reading, I take my kindle and phone everywhere, so will grab them when I'm walking, taking a shower, waiting in line, going to the restroom... Between my kindle and my phone, I read a lot more books than I ever did but I don't digest the information as much as I used to. I also don't make as much associations between what I read and things going on in my own life. So, in…

This is a bit outside the point, but how do you actually read while taking a walk, logistically speaking? Do you mean you take a walk somewhere, sit down on a bench, then take your kindle out? Or actually read WHILE walking?

Read while walking, I live in a walkable city. The pedestrian way is safe. I stop reading when I arrive at any intersection then start again once I cross. Even as a kid, I'd rush to open any magazine I bought before I got back home and would read them while walking.

Re: Men who stare at walls

#267

Post by MrOrelliOReilly »

Tade0 wrote: post #265

> Stay up late because I’m wired on caffeine and dopamine from scrolling. I wish people didn't overuse certain terms. Dopamine has a half life of 2 minutes in the body. It can't possibly keep you up at night. It's just the caffeine, which in turn has a half-life of several hours. Also below a certain level it's eliminated approximately exponentially, so there's a long tail of residual caffeine.

> It’s just the caffeine

Fair enough if the use of “dopamine” is imprecise, but excessive screen time / doomscrolling / shitposting is definitely enough to wire you awake on its own, without caffeine.

Re: Men who stare at walls

#268

Post by bashkiddie »

Tade0 wrote: post #265

> Stay up late because I’m wired on caffeine and dopamine from scrolling. I wish people didn't overuse certain terms. Dopamine has a half life of 2 minutes in the body. It can't possibly keep you up at night. It's just the caffeine, which in turn has a half-life of several hours. Also below a certain level it's eliminated approximately exponentially, so there's a long tail of residual caffeine.

> Dopamine has a half life of 2 minutes in the body.

May be true.

But doing "rewarding" work encourages your body to emit more dopamine. Some people call it "the flow", others "hyperfocus", but it is a constant stream of dopamine that keeps you doing what you currently do. And you can interfere with the emittance and absorbtion by using caffeine.

Re: Men who stare at walls

#269

Post by fragmede »

Tade0 wrote: post #265

> Stay up late because I’m wired on caffeine and dopamine from scrolling. I wish people didn't overuse certain terms. Dopamine has a half life of 2 minutes in the body. It can't possibly keep you up at night. It's just the caffeine, which in turn has a half-life of several hours. Also below a certain level it's eliminated approximately exponentially, so there's a long tail of residual caffeine.

> Dopamine has a half life of 2 minutes in the body.

That's for IV dopamine, used in extreme circumstances. Natural dopamine lasts shorter than that!

Re: Men who stare at walls

#270

Post by martheen »

topnde wrote: post #256
sersi wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And mostly reduced creativity. I'm addicted to reading, I take my kindle and phone everywhere, so will grab them when I'm walking, taking a shower, waiting in line, going to the restroom... Between my kindle and my phone, I read a lot more books than I ever did but I don't digest the information as much as I used to. I also don't make as much associations between what I read and things going on in my own life. So, in…

This is a bit outside the point, but how do you actually read while taking a walk, logistically speaking? Do you mean you take a walk somewhere, sit down on a bench, then take your kindle out? Or actually read WHILE walking?

In my city, if the area is so crowded I can pick a stranger to follow to the common destination or if it's so empty that I don't have to worry about walking into someone, I can confidently read even the most engrossing novel on my phone. I won't dare doing that with any bigger screen because I won't be able to see the upcoming obstacle.
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