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We’re creating a culture of distraction

joekraus.com

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Re: We’re creating a culture of distraction

#41

Post by Evbn »

pirateking wrote: post #24

Perhaps some of the most enlightening years of my life were towards the end of high school, when my computer died. At the time I was going through a youthful phase of freeing myself from worldly attachment. I just didn't bother fixing it or getting another. All my electronics and possessions, save for my stereo system, some books, and writing tools were packed away or sold. I wore pretty much the same clothes every d…

Sounds like you were quite hypermaterialized and overstimulated a mid high schooler, if you had all those things to sell/discard.

Re: We’re creating a culture of distraction

#42

Post by Evbn »

tatsuke95 wrote: post #38
jlundberg wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"our culture, especially our technology, is too heavily skewed towards consumption over creation" - This really cuts it to the core!

> ""our culture, especially our technology, is too heavily skewed towards consumption over creation" - This really cuts it to the core! " Perhaps, but I don't buy it. In my opinion, our technology has enabled us to "create" on levels never seen in history. The ability to "have an audience" at your fingertips has provided everyone and their mother with a platform to generate media, be it music, literature, movies or g…

You are both right. The Internet is a tool like fire. Very powerful in both ways.

Re: We’re creating a culture of distraction

#43

Post by Evbn »

migrantgeek wrote: post #40

We’re not creating anything. We’ve always found ways to distract ourselves. Life is a horrible place underneath fishing, video games, Twitter, hiking, stamp collecting, sports, coding, horticulture and everything else we’ve invented. It would be impossible to live with the knowledge that you’re going to die and have nothing to take your mind off things. That’s why solitary confinement really is torture. I had the “ge…

The one risk is whether today's distractions prevent you from enjoying future ones. That is, do they interfere with your ability to obtain sustenance, shelter, sex, and social status. This is why drug addictions are frowned upon, but recreational use less so..

Re: We’re creating a culture of distraction

#44

Post by Evbn »

navs wrote: post #33

While this was certainly not a manic episode I did go through a period where I threw out or sold many of my possessions. I decided to leave all my electronic items at work. This included my laptop, netbook, computer monitor and various other gadget doohickeys from a lifetime of impulsive Thinkgeek shopping. Now I have a cluttered desk at the office and virtually nothing at home. But not having a computer at home has…

I spend more time at my desk at work than anywhere at home. My work desk should be clean and peaceful!

Re: We’re creating a culture of distraction

#45

Post by Evbn »

hoodq19 wrote: post #15

I wonder how much of this argument will always be made-- one generation after another. As a thought experiment I put myself in my father's shoes and replaced every reference to phone with television. The text still resonated. I'm tempted to try seeing how many generations I could go back (all the way back to Buddha maybe)... but I have fruit to slice.

Heck Adam and Eve got bored and wandered into trouble with the snake when they had more important things to do.

Re: We’re creating a culture of distraction

#47

Post by navs »

Evbn wrote: post #44
navs wrote: post #33

While this was certainly not a manic episode I did go through a period where I threw out or sold many of my possessions. I decided to leave all my electronic items at work. This included my laptop, netbook, computer monitor and various other gadget doohickeys from a lifetime of impulsive Thinkgeek shopping. Now I have a cluttered desk at the office and virtually nothing at home. But not having a computer at home has…

I spend more time at my desk at work than anywhere at home. My work desk should be clean and peaceful!

I spend a lot of time at my desk but being a small office, my co-workers tend to use my desk if/when I'm not present. I simply don't have as much control over my office environment to put effort into keeping it clean and pristine. It is what it is and so I'd rather focus on the environment that is within my control. At least that's how I've come to rationalize it.

Re: We’re creating a culture of distraction

#49

Post by dgallagher »

fusiongyro wrote: post #27
dgallagher wrote: post #9

I felt that full-screen mode in OS X was in part a response to avoiding distraction. Also, in social settings, I've noticed I'll check my phone if I'm alone, or near people where conversation has ended. Part of that is a mini-escape, and another part is caused by insecurity/peer pressure. If you're all alone doing nothing, you have less perceived worth than if you're all alone doing something.

Full-screen mode did nothing for me. I can enter and leave full-screen instantly. It added the kind of speed bump that has room on the side to be perfectly circumvented. I don't think it's possible to create a distraction-proof UI that is also user-friendly.

Books are a distraction-proof UI. Their simplicity focuses you only to read. Magazines and newspapers are books plus distractions. Ads divert your attention. Thoughts in newspapers must be hunted like a wild animal, scattered all over pages. Books only compete with external distractions, such as noise, or you're own thoughts.

You can build a distraction-proof UI on a computer, but all parts must cooperate. If a single one annoys, the UI has failed. This is difficult to do if the UI's foundation, its OS, doesn't play along nicely. That's probably the way to do it, build a new OS, or train an existing one into submission.

"I see there are wireless networks available. Would you like to connect to one?" (...currently connected to a wired network, concentration lost...)

Re: We’re creating a culture of distraction

#50

Post by cafard »

Creating? I drove to high school listening to AM radio, with three-minute songs and short punch commercials. I did mostly quit watching TV while there were still just three channels, and before the remote became popular. But I still read newspapers in which the three-sentence paragraph is a long one.
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