It's getting harder to focus every day • Hacker News Board

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#421

Post by jfil » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 1:22 PM UTC

udbhavs wrote: post #391

OP is definitely not alone in this. It feels like I'm constantly trying to avoid "attention capture" when trying to do a task that involves browsing the internet - even going on LinkedIn or StackExchange for a specific purpose can get sidetracked by my eyes wandering to the sidebar or being drawn by updates in the feed. It's scary to realize how little in control I am of my own stream of thought. I don't know if anyo…

I am in the same boat as you and OP. For me, its partly age related, partly a (normal) boredom with my profession. I find my mind intentionally trying to switch tracks/find a distraction even while working on a task without external interruptions. For now, I'm just trying to observe and note that this is happening.

Recommendation for Linkedin/web distractions: use an ad blocker, add the central feed/sidebar with news and games as an element to your ad blocker. That way you can use certain parts of LI with less distractions.

I keep thinking of how certain religions deal with this challenge: going through intentional fasting and periods of retreat in order to reset your "dopamine floor" by reducing stimuli.

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#422

Post by ajolly » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 7:18 PM UTC

code_biologist wrote: post #382

athorax wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently went through this. I was diagnosed with ADHD 15 years ago and have been managing it, but over the last 2-3 years I had been experiencing increased levels of brain fog, fatigue, and by ability to focus had deteriorated to the point I wasn't sure if I would be able to continue working. I had a sleep study done 10 years ago that only found Night Terror Disorder, but no signs of sleep apnea. I did another slee…

What machine and mask do you have? I had a bad CPAP experience 2017ish and navigating sleep apnea treatment with ADHD kinda sucks. I got a recent sleep study done, but the doctor's office seems like a sales farm for a specific CPAP brand/model and they aggressively steered me away from an oral appliance.

Resmed 10 series are super hackable. Don't get a 11 The 11 is just a cost saving revision. Masks are very individual but a lot of providers will do free exchanges.

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#423

Post by Rumple22Stilk » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 8:18 PM UTC

inigyou wrote: post #408

Rumple22Stilk wrote: post #394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>less intelligent people aren't worth less than more intelligent people Yes, they obviously are? Just an absurd thing to state.

How do you measure a person's value?

There is only one way to measure a persons value. their economic output.

If you want to measure something else then measure something else.

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#424

Post by inigyou » Sat, Jul 25, 2026, 8:22 PM UTC

Rumple22Stilk wrote: post #423

inigyou wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you measure a person's value?

There is only one way to measure a persons value. their economic output. If you want to measure something else then measure something else.

What is economic output?

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#425

Post by ChiperSoft » Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 3:59 AM UTC

palmotea wrote: post #326

ChiperSoft wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The satiation effect that GLP-1s cause also affects motivational drive. I've noticed my ability to get work done is hampered when I am at higher doses of my ozempic.

> I've noticed my ability to get work done is hampered when I am at higher doses of my ozempic. You should be using LLM agents anyway. It's the solution to every problem.

If only an LLM could clean my house

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#426

Post by jacoueszzx » Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 11:54 AM UTC

its not bad

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#427

Post by lukas099 » Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 3:38 PM UTC

WindyTree wrote: post #361

projektfu wrote: post #157

Hallowell and Ratey, who write about ADHD, suggested a new entity for the current world: VAST, the variable attention stimulus trait. It is like ADHD but it is culturally induced and not presumed to be due to an innate deficiency in executive function. "Beyond the sources of biologically based ADHD, there are a lot of people who act as if they have ADHD but on close inspection turn out not to have the diagnosable con…

I was formally diagnosed with ADHD and it continued into adulthood. The only way to suppress it is a diet of raw veggies fruits and meats, combined with like 3 hours of exercise a day and time in nature with silence which my evolutionary ancestors presumably did to survive. The way to make it worse is the combination of sugars, processed foods and flashing stimulus. Point is I think MOST mental illness is the modern…

Sounds made up.

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#428

Post by lukas099 » Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 3:40 PM UTC

0x20cowboy wrote: post #377

Levitz wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Please, no. GLP1s leave you worse off than when you started if you stop taking them. This doesn't seem factual, or at the very least, not that simple? https://www.epicresearch.org/articles/two-years-after-stoppi...

Not the OP, but there was a lot of talk that glp1 had a negative effect on bone density and in older people it was especially problematic. There is evidence that is not the case though https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8878541/

In old people obesity predicts longer lifespans, so GLP-1 might not be indicated anyway.

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#429

Post by GreenWatermelon » Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 5:16 PM UTC

jimbokun wrote: post #226

gullywhumper wrote: post #148

It seems that so many minor parts of the day don't work as expected and my attention is destroyed by a thousand annoyances. My watch only unlocks my computer 1/3 of the time. My car only recognizes my phone 1/2 of the time. 3/4 of the time I go to press/click on a song I want to hear, the data in the UI updates between the time I start to move to the song and I press/click and I end up hearing something I don't want.…

I like to use my iPhone to read text articles. It's amazing to me how bad it's become at this task. I get various emails with curated links to various stories, and I will click a link to go read that story. First, it often takes me to a browser re-direct that sometimes successfully redirects, sometimes doesn't. Then sometimes the redirect is to an app that I've subscribed to. Which would be great. Except for the time…

I prefer to read HN on Firefox Android. If I so much as blink away from the browser the page refreshes and I lose spot in the thread.

The comment box is a unique piece of cursed garbage. For starters, it's monospace when the end result isn't monospace, the first time I focus the box autocorrect/suggestions won't work. I have to focus away/back again for it to work. It has no misspelling highlight so my comments always end up with a steady trickle of misspellings.

I can't believe how a textboox on a supposedly hacker-oriented no-frills link aggregator can be this broken.

Re: It's getting harder to focus every day

#430

Post by roysting » Sun, Jul 26, 2026, 5:35 PM UTC

lanstin wrote: post #197

JumpinJack_Cash wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> > How would one daydream, i.e., imagine, when you have everything presented to you in 4k and you can even interact with it through games? You can daydream about being the protagonist of such actions which is not the same as watching other people doing it

I used to spend a lot of time imagining myself as the captain of a Federation starship :) but I did also read a lot of books. But also, the availability of YouTube changes the utility of descriptive writing. Moby Dick can have pages of text about whales or whatever, but now I can spend hours watching whale videos on YouTube. The importance of the interior life of the characters is more, or of diffusive world building…

You point out a critical difference, you were already experienced and “skilled” in imagining because you read a lot, a function where you are inherently going to have to imagine a lot more based on various degrees and quality of descriptions.

I think you may be underestimating the value of that skill and experience. You may not even be able to put yourself in the shoes, i.e., imagine what it may be like never having to had to imagine anything if you only ever watched the things happen on a rectangle from infancy on.

I argue that you only cross referenced the imagination skill into being a federation captain because you were already experienced and skilled in imagination.

I suspect it will be realized what devastation it has caused within our lifetimes and if we still have the capacity, we may even revert back to requiring reading and hopefully even banning screen usage by any minors.