Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Dealing With Electronics-Induced Inattentiveness?
An anonymous reader writes: I am a graduate student in his twenties who used to be able to read dozens and dozens of lengthy books in his childhood. Over the years, I have noticed that my attention span and ability to concentrate has decreased noticeably, seemingly in synchronization with society's increased connectedness with the Internet and constant stimulation from computers and mobile devices alike. I have noticed that myself and others seem to have a difficult time really sitting down to read anything or focus on anything relatively boring for even more than ten seconds (the "TL;DR Generation," as I sometimes call it).
I see it when socializing with others or even during a professor's lecture. I have tried leaving my mobile phone at home and limiting myself to fewer browser tabs in an effort to regain concentration that I believe has been lost in recent years. Nonetheless, this is an issue that has begun to adversely affect my academic studies and may only get worse in time. What advice do fellow Slashdot users have with regard to reclaiming what has been lost? Should such behaviors simply be accepted as a sign of the times?
I see it when socializing with others or even during a professor's lecture. I have tried leaving my mobile phone at home and limiting myself to fewer browser tabs in an effort to regain concentration that I believe has been lost in recent years. Nonetheless, this is an issue that has begun to adversely affect my academic studies and may only get worse in time. What advice do fellow Slashdot users have with regard to reclaiming what has been lost? Should such behaviors simply be accepted as a sign of the times?
Quit social media, quit 4chan, quit masturbating (BIRM) quit reddit, quit facebook, and go back to reading books again.
Edit your hosts file or put in firewalls if you have to. Get an old flipphone that makes texting difficult and browsing near impossible. Disable your data plan.
Use a hand-me-down laptop/desktop pc that is so horribly slow it's painful to browse modern websites on.
You have the power of time management. Accepting a low attention span as a sign of the times is giving up, like an addict.
Forget about how it affects your academic studies -- the academic world has always been a far stretch from reality, so the older most people get, the less it makes sense to study and learn in heavily structured environments.
Now, regarding the distraction, here's what I do.
Every week, I measure my happiness. There are countless psych-industry surveys, and a few very official ones, but any technique that makes sense for you will work just as well. It can be the number of times you smiled, the ease with which you slept, your willingness to go to work on monday, the number of times you went out with friends, the amount of chocolate you ate, or didn't eat, whatever. Your measure of happiness is all that matters, and any will do, provided that it's the same technique for six months at a time.
So every week, measure your happiness. Again, not your joy (emotion), your happiness (state of mind).
Buy an old "dumb" phone for $10. Basic address book, telephone, crappy texting. The kind of phone that was AMAZING in 1998. The kind of phone that only the very wealthy had in 1996. The kind of phone that only kings had in 1995. The kind of phone that only freakin' astronauts had in 1994.
Use it for two weeks instead of your modern smart phone.
See what happens to your happiness measurements. Maybe they'll go up. Maybe they'll go down.
The point is simply this. Every week, make an arbitrary change from what you're doing today, to something that is or was perfectly amazing to someone else. See if you become a happier person. Forget about measuring by price, or appearance, or opinion, or status. Just look at your own face in the mirror, or feel your own face with your hands, and see what makes you happier.
Do so objectively, and within a year you'll transform so many different parts of your life that you won't even recognize it anymore -- because it'll be a perfect extension of you.
I bought a piece of furniture that most people haven's seen seen the 16th century. It doesn't match any other piece of furniture in the house. But it's super-comfortable, and my favourite place in the house. Sitting in it is an instant-soothe.
1) Experiment. 2) Measure. 3) Adjust. 4) Measure. 5) Iterate.
I suffer from exactly the same thing as the person asking. It's absolutely ridiculous how bad my attention span is. I know that part of the problem is at least in my case caused by anticonvulsant medication that I must take but largely it's also terrible habits that I've developed. It seems that I cannot wait for a page to load without checking some other page "in the mean time" and end up reading (uh, tl;dr reading) that and forget all about the first and then the same happens again... And when doing chores or such, I simply must have some podcast playing in the background, something which "sort of interests me but not enough to demand actual attention".
However, the other day I tried playing games for the first time in a few years and noticed that at least then, I'm extremely concentrated because I must be and because I like it. I'm just wondering if it could really help me regain ability to concentrate in a fun way?
I can only answer this with the example of my own life. I was in roughly the same situation, and decided that like most things, it was the result of habit.
My first step was to get a notebook and mark down what I was doing throughout the day. If I was reading an article while checking email, responding to facebook messages, and bidding on ebay, I wrote that down as unproductive time instead of "reading". I generally wrote down any activity I did for more than 10-15 minutes, and it turned out that most of my day was either "work" or unproductive time. I also began to optimize things like cooking, eating, and showering because I realized how much of my time they took up.
Once I was aware of how I actually spent my time, it was much easier to break these habits. Even easier than breaking a habit is replacing a habit though, so I got a whiteboard and wrote down the things I wanted to do each day besides things that were required like work. I usually had a 5 or 6 things a day once I lumped things together like "Complete errands and pay bills". Most books with psychological leanings tend to recommend changing a single habit at a time. I really think that's likely the best approach for most people. I did slowly eliminate unproductive time even though I attempted to change more things at once. It's all worked out for me as expected and now I spend most of my spare time playing piano, building things(robots usually), or bicycling.
Overall this approach took me 2 years. I can say my attention span has improved dramatically, and I'm vastly happier right now and in better shape. I've also noticed that many of the time wasting activities I used to partake in have been organically eliminated from my life(I no longer have facebook messenger on my phone, I don't own a tv anymore, I avoid getting caught up in the drama that pops up every week on the internet).
Good luck with your own attention resurrection.
I noticed a similar tendency in my own behavior. There are two things that I've done about it. First, around an hour before bedtime, all the electronics go off. Pull out a book of whatever you like to read for recreation. Force yourself to start reading, but don't force yourself to keep reading, because then it will feel like a chore. The deal is that you can read as long as you'd like, but when you put the book down, the light needs to go off too. Second, almost everyone has some kind of creative endeavor that they can pursue on their computer. In my case, there are a small number of programming projects that I've started. Writing software requires long periods of concentration, and if you're working on something interesting, then you'll have more incentive to stick to the project.
If you're unhappy with your level of concentration, then find something you enjoy concentrating on. Then when you're obligated to do something tedious, you at least have the attention span to properly apply yourself to the task.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
The subject says it all, but let me give you specifics. My tools may not be the same as yours, but the same principles apply.
1. Mobile Device
I have a recent Android device. I have turned off all audible notifications in all applications except for phone calls and SMS messages. That brings the notifications down to the '90s dumb phone level. With notifications off, I choose when I'm going to pull my phone out and check things, and my device only interrupts me for important communications (text messages and phone calls).
Delete the Facebook and Twitter apps. You can use Facebook from the browser, and it's more secure that way anyway. Replace Twitter with Twidere, which by default must be launched and the feed updated manually, though it will notify you of direct messages and mentions. Sign out of Google Hangouts. This ensures it only bothers you for text messages, and when you're off your computer, you're signed out of instant messaging and people know they either have to call you or text you if they want you.
2. Computer
I use a KDE-based Linux desktop (currently Manjaro), so you may have to adapt this. KDE has this thing called Activities, which let you group apps by function. Currently, I have only two: Desktop and Social. These are two separate screens that I have to Meta-Tab to switch back and forth to see. I know there are virtual desktop utilities for Windows, and I think the Mac lets you put apps on various screens now, but you're probably guessing where I'm going with this. On the Social activity, I have my email client (KMail) and my Twitter client (Choqok). My email client is set not to show a notification or play a sound when a new message comes in: that would be a distraction. Same with the twitter client (you have to set the system tray icon to Hidden to accomplish this).
Using an email client is important: if you use a browser tab, guess what? You'll see that little number in parentheses telling you how many emails have come in, and you'll then be tempted to check it. Don't use your browser. Use a client.
And while I'm on the subject of browsers, you should have two plugins installed: an ad blocker and a flash blocker. For those sites (like Slashdot) that you want to support, let the ad blocker show ads, but keep the flash blocker active so the ads don't become intrusive. It's easier then to read articles and such without the ads getting in the way. For most sites, block it all. And for heaven's sake, don't keep a Facebook tab open. Visit the site when you want to visit it, and then close the tab.
With this system, when I'm supposed to be focusing on work, I'm on my Desktop activity. I never receive a notification for email or any social network. If I have to use a browser in the course of my work, which is a frequent happenstance, ads and flash are blocked by default, and I don't mix it with my email.
Does this mean I miss stuff? Never. Like you, I realized I have an attention span problem that I didn't have in the past. That attention span problem induces me to check things on a regular basis. What I've removed is the interruptions: I'm probably going to check all those things anyway. That increases the amount of time I'm able to focus, and if I feel the need to check something, my email and twitter feed are a Meta-Tab click away.
What I have found is that I've been able to find that focus and "lose myself" in my tasks again. I am no longer interrupted all the time by things that have a lower priority than what I'm currently doing, and I'm much happier with what I'm able to accomplish as a result.
I hope this helps!
My brain does something different when I get an e-mail. It actually triggers depression. I haven't gotten an e-mail in a long time that was actually good news. Phone calls are pretty much the same thing. Texts are relatively neutral for me.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
This week I found a book in the library, "Ontketen je Brein" (Unchain Your Brain), the result of scientific research by Dutch psychologist Theo Compernolle.
In this book, he show how the brain really works and what adversely affects it.
The main thing he he does not stop repeating is: take a break, go off-line.
The main brain chains are:
Very interesting stuff to read.
I was invited to an event the other day where there were a lot of very wealthy people; Bank presidents and their investors. Open bar, free food, free valet parking and coat check. While in there mostly being a wallflower (because I am not good at this sort of event), I happened to notice that nobody was sitting there staring at a screen. In fact, I heard no alerts, no ringtones, and saw no trusty smartphones strapped sturdily to the hip. Nobody pulled a cell phone out to check the time, or the weather or their messages. During the entire three hour event I saw exactly one of these people look briefly at a cellphone. It was a smartphone, but a very early model with a small screen, and looked well used. She glanced at the time and put it away.
Not drawing conclusions, just something to ponder.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
Get a copy with several editions' worth of footnotes -- they're having remarkably blog-argument-like discussions at a very sloooow rate. My favorite is something like, Gibbon discusses the late classical slave trade in the actual text, a couple versions in an editor leaves an incensed footnote because Gibbon didn't credit the early Christians with ending the slave trade, and in the *next* version Gibbon leaves a laconic description of the thriving slave trade in the nominally Christian country the editor was writing in.