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We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

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Re: We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

#91
post #54
post #50

One way to combat this (if you’re physically capable): long distance running without headphones. It forces you to focus on one thing alone: finish your route. I’ve found that my mind wanders, but the pain exerted by running for an hour or so inevitably brings you back.

isnt the pain of running long distance a distraction too though?

Sure, but on a scale from 0 to 10 - it’s a 2. You can also walk or hike and then the only distraction is the scenery.

Re: We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

#92
post #17

It is interesting how manufactured distraction-free sessions like yoga, meditation, paid retreats, have emerged to fill the demand for idle time. We’re forgetting how to unplug unless it’s a product or service that we can buy. The distraction issue is the number one issue holding back most of the young people in the mentorship group I’m part of. They’re so glued to their phones to check minute-by-minute updates about…

> Bitcoin is especially distracting right now, as they’re all nervously watching the real-time changes of their $1000 portfolios to see if they need to be sad about losing money because it’s crashing or sad about not investing more money because it’s going up. Great way to articulate this! This very experience is relatable although in my case with normal stocks, and something very interesting happened. I sold some st…

Notice how your mood changed by just thinking differently. This can be done with anything. Its not the event(e) that makes us feel, its the callback(us).

Re: We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

#93
post #20

It is interesting how manufactured distraction-free sessions like yoga, meditation, paid retreats, have emerged to fill the demand for idle time. We’re forgetting how to unplug unless it’s a product or service that we can buy. The distraction issue is the number one issue holding back most of the young people in the mentorship group I’m part of. They’re so glued to their phones to check minute-by-minute updates about…

It's called being young. They're emotional and inexperienced. 50 years ago this used to be normal. Now for some reason everybody expects perfection out of everybody at all times. Insanity.

Very good point. I'm 30, check reddit/instagram/FB more than I ever did in college, yet I'm more more disciplined during my work and study than I was in college.

Re: We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

#94

I wonder if we see a rise in ADHD in kids nowadays because it is an increasingly useful adaptation to our environment. "Hyperfocus is the experience of deep and intense concentration in some people with ADHD. ADHD is not necessarily a deficit of attention, but rather a problem with regulating one’s attention span to desired tasks." I don't know, but "hyperfocus" on a hobby you love sounds exactly like what most peopl…

I wonder what the officially diagnosed number for adhd is and it it is rising over the decades; literally all my kids of my friends and acquaintances 'have adhd'. Most are not diagnosed by a medical professional but self diagnosed. A lot of people I talk with (people over 35-40) have self diagnosed themselves as having adhd to explain their issues in life. Did the actual number increase? Did the definition broaden? W…

I don't even know how you would notice if you had ADD while working construction or some other manual labour job. While performing office work makes everyone feel like they have ADD if they aren't performing as they expect themselves too.

Re: We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

#95
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your story reminds me of the Indian allegory of the man who mistakes a rope for a snake.

Mind sharing that one?

I think he meant this one. Grerk also had something similar but can't locate the reference.

https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com//mobile/view/1...

Re: We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People seem to have a strange way of 'investing'. For me, it falls into 2 categories: 1) Long term investements which I almost never look at. Regular scheduled deposits going into an index fund. 2) Bets. Fun little side gambles which I always do for one purpose - aquiring something in the real world. Example: I want a new M1 macbook, but rather than drop $1k, I gamble $3k bitcoin. If it makes enough profit for the ma…

> which I am OK losing. This is the most important concept of investing. You should never place an amount you wouldn’t be ok losing. If losing every cent of an investment could cause financial ruin, you’re investing too much.

I had an economics teacher who very interesting and he taught us exactly this. He also actually owned a shop, so every economic theory he could explain with a real world example.

Re: We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

#98
post #84
post #50

One way to combat this (if you’re physically capable): long distance running without headphones. It forces you to focus on one thing alone: finish your route. I’ve found that my mind wanders, but the pain exerted by running for an hour or so inevitably brings you back.

Bicycle and motorcycle travel works too. You can think about things, but you're mostly focused on staying in movement.

Came on here to say it's exactly what I use cycling for. 5 hours on the bike means 5 hours not looking at my phone or laptop. Just turn the legs over and let your mind wander or stare into the landscape (or deal with traffic, which sucks).

Re: We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

#99

It is interesting how manufactured distraction-free sessions like yoga, meditation, paid retreats, have emerged to fill the demand for idle time. We’re forgetting how to unplug unless it’s a product or service that we can buy. The distraction issue is the number one issue holding back most of the young people in the mentorship group I’m part of. They’re so glued to their phones to check minute-by-minute updates about…

I am going to make a counter point, albeit one that I don't like: Advising kids to lean away from modern life and push back on the progress of distracting technologies will actually be a more anti-social move than not. What I mean is that to exist and live in the modern world increasingly requires adept skills at managing bespoke technological platforms. To be a social being in the 21st century is largely about navig…

What if, hypothetically speaking, we knew that this is a sickness on the species-scale? Would you still say accept — and thus - succumb to it? I am not unconvinced that we have let these platforms go too far with our kids and minds; to the point where they have become cancers in our societies.

Re: We live in an age of distractions, dealing with constant mental stimulus

#100
post #98
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bicycle and motorcycle travel works too. You can think about things, but you're mostly focused on staying in movement.

Came on here to say it's exactly what I use cycling for. 5 hours on the bike means 5 hours not looking at my phone or laptop. Just turn the legs over and let your mind wander or stare into the landscape (or deal with traffic, which sucks).

Hi Pascalo, I have exactly the same feeling when going on a bike tour. We just did a 5-day, 250km bike ride along the Danube river here in south-Germany and it was one of the most incredible experiences I've had. On the saddle I feel free and my mind is resting. High-five!!
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