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Regaining control of your attention

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Re: Regaining control of your attention

#91

Post by ArkyBeagle »

eru wrote: post #69
gph wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plus it's not like Lynchburg is some tiny unheard of town. It's actually a decent sized city, and it's fairly well known for being home to Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. Not to mention the history both in Lynchburg and the surrounding area from Revolutionary times to the Civil War. It's like being surprised that there's a city called Reading in England. "Must be a bunch of libraries there".

For non-locals: Reading (town) and Reading (verb) are pronounced differently. (And don't even try to guess how Leicester is pronounced from the spelling.)

It's pronounced like Worchestershire. Almost :)

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#92

Post by ArkyBeagle »

canadian_voter wrote: post #25

“We believe that we live in the ‘age of information'. That there has been an information ‘explosion,’ an information ‘revolution.’ While in a certain narrow sense this is the case, in many important ways just the opposite is true. We also live at a moment of deep ignorance, when vital knowledge that humans have always possessed about who we are and where we live seems beyond our reach. An Unenlightenment. An age of m…

It's funny - the name Lucifer means "bringer of light". Your metaphor has a Mobius strip problem :)

it apparently matters a great deal to a great many people what is in other people's hearts and minds. I suspect they don't have enough .... ego or something. The metaphor I have used with my kids about this is "they have stopped having a reflection in the mirror, or they have nothing but the reflection in the mirror."

Honestly? Seriously? The pastor at my childhood church thought that things like "Godspell" and "Jesus Christ Superstar" would lead to narcissism and a vapid sense of identity. And not just because religion - the general ...emphasis on self was a thing to be skeptical of. It wasn't a ... liturgical argument - he was a trained psychologist.

I am not sure wasn't right. It also makes me think of Otto's burned out hippie parents from "Repo Man", listening to the TV preacher.

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#93

Post by throwanem »

jdmichal wrote: post #76
eru wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For non-locals: Reading (town) and Reading (verb) are pronounced differently. (And don't even try to guess how Leicester is pronounced from the spelling.)

For those whose curiosity was piqued: Reading - /rɛdɪŋ/ or "red-ing" Leicester - /lɛstər/ or "less-ter" No idea how they worked out that second one, and Wikipedia isn't too helpful there.

Probably just elision for convenience in speech - the same reason the name of the state in which I live is usually pronounced "Merlin". Perhaps ironically, the only person I've met who pronounced the full name was an English fellow.

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#94

Post by burkaman »

imron wrote: post #90
coolgeek wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The town is not named after the crime and the crime is not named after the town And yet, the crime is named for the brother of the man that the town is named for. Pardon the metaphor, but you're hanging on a pretty thin thread. Also note that burkaman was pointing out the irony of an insufficiently researched (and churlish) accusation of insufficient research.

> And yet, the crime is named for the brother of the man that the town is named for. So guilt by association is a thing now?

Nobody is guilty of anything. It just isn't really true that the name is completely unrelated to slavery and lynchings.

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#95

Post by magice »

I hate hate hate, bitterly, angrily, and even desperately, those fetishes about a better, nicer, more innocent past. We all heard it; we all partake in the orgy of present-bashing and past-glorying before. However, let's wake up and, seriously, get our attention back to the present.

Look, yoga and meditation have existed for a looooooong time. And guess what, for every time period, be it modern "over-loaded" time or ancient time, only a handful of people can master them. And what are they? Oh, yeah, attention controlling. I mean, if the past is so focused and attentive, shouldn't everyone be meditation master? Shouldn't people be super productive and focused and attain greatness? Guess what, they don't. What does that imply?

It implies this: please, for the love of progress, stop your whining and start appreciating how much luck and resources you have access to today. Please. Pretty please.

And what's with the fetish against "algorithm"? I despite those who take regular but uncommon concepts and make a demon/angel out of them. Algorithm, simply put, is how to calculate something or how to solve a problem. Sorry, algorithms do not have "tendrils". They neither scheme against you nor love you. Think about it: if you trip over a rock, does it "conspire" against you? If you burn time on some game, don't blame the game, please. Blame the publisher, maybe. Don't blame the poor tech. It does nothing but to please you.

Back to time and attention. Is it challenging to keep my attention in today fast pace world? Sure it is. How easier compared to starving world of the old? Or racist world? Or back-breaking labor (think agriculture before advent of machine and fertilizer)? Luckily, I have not been made to find out. Very luckily. And I think everyone can appreciate that luck.

I always appreciate advices on control of attention and focus. I might not find them valuable (I frankly feel like I can focus just fine with emails singing their songs, for example, so I don't need to completely cut cord). But I would not make a statement against those. I need all the ideas and advices: attention is very hard to control.

However, the whining and fetishizing and conspiracy theorizing must stop. Please. One nation have voted for economic regression while another elected a racist bigot as their First Citizen. Why? Because of all of those whining and fetishizing and conspiracy theories. So, please, stop. For the love of progress, stop.

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#96

Post by CPLX »

throwanem wrote: post #93
jdmichal wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those whose curiosity was piqued: Reading - /rɛdɪŋ/ or "red-ing" Leicester - /lɛstər/ or "less-ter" No idea how they worked out that second one, and Wikipedia isn't too helpful there.

Probably just elision for convenience in speech - the same reason the name of the state in which I live is usually pronounced "Merlin". Perhaps ironically, the only person I've met who pronounced the full name was an English fellow.

Hey that's where I am from too. I call it merelan though.

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#97

Post by ivm »

vorotato wrote: post #13
iak8god wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "impulse issues" are reinforced by the phone. I've very often noticed when I've set aside my phone for a few hours (the rest of the evening until bed or whatever) that I have to literally set it aside at some distance from myself because otherwise it ends up in my hand without my even consciously deciding to check it. It's like a reflex. And then once it's safely at a distance, I repeatedly experience the urge to…

The device aggravates this issue only because the author is unconscious enough that they aren't even aware they are making a decision to use or not use the phone. While it may be a necessary step to take a break from something that captures your attention, it's important to be able to be aware of your behavior and your desires independent of the context. A person should be mindful when they choose to spend time on th…

There are natural "goldfish" states during the day plus procrastination peaks when the current task is very unpleasant. Because of them I keep my phone in 3 meters from my workplace and leisure sites like HN - on a laptop in another room.

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#98

Post by RichardHeart »

http://stopgaming.reddit.com helps some people out. I made a video about why gaming sucks and how you should make real life your game instead. I was shocked that people actually liked it.

It's interesting that he also mentions twitter and facebook but the comments here seem to skip the social media angles. I wonder if we feel subconsciously collectively that gaming has done us more harm than social media. I know it has done me more harm.

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#99

Post by morgante »

magice wrote: post #95

I hate hate hate, bitterly, angrily, and even desperately, those fetishes about a better, nicer, more innocent past. We all heard it; we all partake in the orgy of present-bashing and past-glorying before. However, let's wake up and, seriously, get our attention back to the present. Look, yoga and meditation have existed for a looooooong time. And guess what, for every time period, be it modern "over-loaded" time or…

"It is, unfortunately, one of the chief characteristics of modern business to be always in a hurry. In olden times it was different."

Re: Regaining control of your attention

#100

Post by tdaltonc »

spuz wrote: post #82

Are there any tools that allow you to enforce such things as 'internet only in the afternoon'? I would pay a ridiculous amount of money for a router that could disable access to certain websites according to time based or usage based rules and something equivalent for my phone. I would build it myself but I'm always just too damn distr...

We built an app that doesn't do exactly but, but it's similar. Instead of focusing on external restrictions, it reprograms your mind to make you less distractible.

http://YouJustNeedSpace.com

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