How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy • Hacker News Board

Re: How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

#41

Post by Nasrudith » Thu, May 02, 2019, 1:18 PM UTC

praptak wrote: post #34

basetop wrote: post #26

Isn't the author and the nytimes part of the attention economy? By reading the article and commenting on it, aren't we partaking in rather than resisting the attention economy? It's put us in a bind. In order to learn about resisting the attention economy, we have to join it.

Using opponent's energy to win is a valid strategy. As Lenin rightly observed: "A capitalist will sell us the rope which we will hang them with."

Really it seems like one of the biggest mistake of communists is in misidentifying their opponents and allies.

Not unique to them but there are quite a few cases where "enemies" were helful to them yet persecuted and the "allies" would have been best off strangled when they first met them to save everyone a lot of heartache.

Re: How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

#42

Post by code_duck » Thu, May 02, 2019, 1:19 PM UTC

vonmoltke wrote: post #33

code_duck wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>learning to do nothing is getting over an initial period where your body and mind is trying to remember how to fill an hour of idle time That’s essentially the same as trying to quit tobacco.

Trying to quit cigarettes.

I smoked cigars and cigarillos for some time and it’s essentially the same. Maybe worse - you can easily fill an hour with a cigar. No idea about chewing or snuff I suppose.

Re: How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

#43

Post by ptidhomme » Thu, May 02, 2019, 1:31 PM UTC

It's been 5 years now since I dropped my smartphone. I now rely on a Samsung b2710, which is fine (has somehow a calendar sync and more or less gmail access).

I still have an old iPhone though, with a complementary SIM card, that I use for navigation or when travelling. Typically it stays in my car or in my bag.

I've never been so happy since I left social media and compulsively taking out my phone all the f. time.

I now read a lot in my commute time or just "do nothing" which I find very satisfying : I can think of work or personal life or interests and I'm always gaining something of this free time to somehow ... piece things together.

Re: How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

#44

Post by addicted » Thu, May 02, 2019, 1:39 PM UTC

basetop wrote: post #25

jfk13 wrote: post #14

Shouldn't we rather call it the Distraction Economy?

Which is what paperbacks, newspapers, radio, tv, movies, etc were/are called at one time or another. I bet in 20 years, smartphone and social media companies and everyone else will be ranting about VR being a distraction.

I think this dismissal really ignores a very crucial difference. Unlike magazines or even TV for that matter, the new social media has personalized and detailed information on individuals and can tailor their content and design to target every person individually.

IMO, that is a substantial and qualitative difference that makes the new “distraction” mediums far more effective and dangerous.

Re: How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

#45

Post by addicted » Thu, May 02, 2019, 1:41 PM UTC

JasonFruit wrote: post #32

wewake wrote: post #27

The global economy will collapse the day people get a hold on their senses to the fact that time spent on social media is time wasted poorly. Ofcourse, it is hypothetical... saw a video of a chimp using Instagram the other day on Twitter, so yeah global economy is not collapsing anytime soon.

I'm not convinced the global economy is that bound to social media use. Why do you say?

And I’d bet if that did happen, which I think is extremely unlikely, the global economy would benefit greatly by people finding new uses for their time (not all of which would be productive), as opposed to funneling data and ad money towards Facebook.

Re: How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

#46

Post by derrida » Thu, May 02, 2019, 1:43 PM UTC

Bjartr wrote: post #38

mettamage wrote: post #37

Oh, it's quite easy but that may just be me, it also helps to know when the hard part arrives ;-) (which is at the beginning) This is what I do: 1) Do nothing 2) Feel your sensations in the body as your doing nothing. In the beginning I sometimes feel aggitated, I just keep observing the my sensations for a couple of minutes. 3) Close your eyes. 4) Congratulations, you are now limited by your fantasy. Have fun, exper…

Your step two is mindfulness meditation

Mindfulness of body sensation (nama-rupa) is the first foundation of mindfulness in the satipattana sutta. There's 3 more... :) mindfulness of feelings, states of mind and conditioned/causal phenomena

Re: How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

#47

Post by jcadam » Thu, May 02, 2019, 1:44 PM UTC

mrhappyunhappy wrote: post #18

FerretFred wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we unlearn how to simply sit and be bored Yup.. personally I somehow feel it's "wrong" that I sit there and do nothing on the rare occasion I get the opportunity.

There are times when I just want to sit or lay down and do nothing but my wife wont let me. When asked about her problem with this, she says it’s lazy not to do anything. Somehow doing nothing is wrong and everyone is conditioned to judge you for it.

One of my pet peeves is when someone complains to me about being bored, as if their inability to occupy themselves is my fault and its my job to entertain them. My wife learned this about me early on (I'm an extreme introvert and can happily retreat into my own skull and stay there for hours at a time).

Don't come to me and simply say "I'm bored." What am I supposed to do with that? If you have an idea of something you'd like to do that involves me, by all means just tell me.

Otherwise, leave me alone.

Re: How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

#48

Post by dspillett » Thu, May 02, 2019, 1:47 PM UTC

EGreg wrote: post #5

For me, it’s work that caused a constant sense of anxiety for the last decade. When I’m not doing anything, I start thinking about work or doing work. There is just so much to do, as an entrepreneur. I have this feeling like sure, I can be idle for an hour or so. But it would be incredibly boring and also why?

> I can be idle for an hour or so. But it would be incredibly boring and also why?

Because that is your recovery time, which can be pretty valuable.

If you take part in physical sports/pastimes (for instance I run) you'll know the value of periodicity in training programs: rest days each week, and easy weeks every 3/4/5 (this can vary a lot depending on training program). Training actually does damage, the rest periods allow the body a bit of time to put itself back together better and if you skip them you risk an over-training related injury.

I consider a bit of downtime during the day to have a similar effect on my mind. Sleep of course is the longer rest periods. In sports, it is important to take some full time off now and then too: don't jump into training for one event immediately after the last. For the mental wellness equivalent, this is what proper holidays are for.

The anxiety affects us the same: we feel that by doing nothing for a while we are letting go, wasting time, undoing some good, etc. But really we are doing ourselves some good by not running our bodies at approaching 100% too constantly.

Re: How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

#49

Post by lotsofpulp » Thu, May 02, 2019, 1:48 PM UTC

eswat wrote: post #20

An office building nearby renovated their ground floor with a new food court. Great idea but they also added a semi-circle of TVs all tuned on CBC News that pretty much looks over most of the seating and the food stalls. It’s hard to avoid. Easy enough to modify the environment on our phones and desktops but it’s more inconvenient to avoid IRL distractions.

Gyms that have wall mounted TVs always on is a peeve of mine, especially when it's nonsense political commentators. I actively have to avoid glancing at the TV screens.

Re: How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

#50

Post by maxxxxx » Thu, May 02, 2019, 1:55 PM UTC

sweetheart wrote: post #2

I feel like the hardest part of learning to do nothing is getting over an initial period where your body and mind is trying to remember how to fill an hour of idle time without Instagram or Twitter or Facebook. I think after long periods of relying on these services to fill pockets of time that are otherwise hard to capitalize on, we unlearn how to simply sit and be bored. Like any form of rehabilitation, it takes ti…

When I take a long vacation it often takes me several weeks to slow down and learn to be myself without needing distraction. Unfortunately there are a lot of people whose first experience ever with having time to slow down will be at retirement. The usual two week or less vacations don’t cut it.