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How One Writer Is Battling Tech-Induced Attention Disorder (wired.com)
New submitter mirandakatz writes: Katie Hafner has spent the last 23 days in rehab. Not for alcoholism or gambling, but for a self-inflicted case of episodic partial attention thanks to her iPhone. On Backchannel, Hafner writes about the detrimental effect the constant stream of pings has had on her, and how her life has come to resemble a computer screen. "I sense a constant agitation when I'm doing something," she says, "as if there is something else out there, beckoning -- demanding -- my attention. And nothing needs to be deferred." "I blame electronics for my affliction," writes Hafner, who says the devices in her life "teem with squirrels." "If I pick up my iPhone to send a text, damned if I don't get knocked off task within a couple of seconds by an alert about Trump's latest tweet. And my guess is that if you have allowed your mind to be as tyrannized by the demands of your devices as I have, you too suffer to some degree from this condition."
Hafner goes on to describe her symptoms of "episodic partial attention" and provide potential fixes for it: "There are the obvious fixes. Address the electronics first: Silence the phone as well as all alerts on your computer, and you automatically banish two squirrels. But how do you shut down the micro-distractions that dangle everywhere in your physical world, their bushy gray tails twitching seductively? My therapy, of my own devising, consists of serial mono-tasking with a big dose of mindful intent, or intentional mindfulness -- which is really just good, old-fashioned paying attention. At first, I took the tiniest of steps. I celebrated the buttoning of a blouse without stopping to apply the hand cream I spotted on the dresser as if I had gotten into Harvard. Each task I took on -- however mundane -- I had to first announce, quietly, to myself. I made myself vow that I would work on that task and only that task until it was finished. Like a stroke patient relearning how to move an arm, I told myself not that I was making the entire bed (too overwhelming), but that I had a series of steps to perform: first the top sheet, then the blankets, then the comforter, then the pillows. Emptying the dishwasher became my Waterloo. Putting dishes away takes time, and it's tedious. Perhaps the greatest challenge lies in the fact that the job requires repeated kitchen crossings. There are squirrels everywhere, none more treacherous than the siren song that is my iPhone."
Hafner goes on to describe her symptoms of "episodic partial attention" and provide potential fixes for it: "There are the obvious fixes. Address the electronics first: Silence the phone as well as all alerts on your computer, and you automatically banish two squirrels. But how do you shut down the micro-distractions that dangle everywhere in your physical world, their bushy gray tails twitching seductively? My therapy, of my own devising, consists of serial mono-tasking with a big dose of mindful intent, or intentional mindfulness -- which is really just good, old-fashioned paying attention. At first, I took the tiniest of steps. I celebrated the buttoning of a blouse without stopping to apply the hand cream I spotted on the dresser as if I had gotten into Harvard. Each task I took on -- however mundane -- I had to first announce, quietly, to myself. I made myself vow that I would work on that task and only that task until it was finished. Like a stroke patient relearning how to move an arm, I told myself not that I was making the entire bed (too overwhelming), but that I had a series of steps to perform: first the top sheet, then the blankets, then the comforter, then the pillows. Emptying the dishwasher became my Waterloo. Putting dishes away takes time, and it's tedious. Perhaps the greatest challenge lies in the fact that the job requires repeated kitchen crossings. There are squirrels everywhere, none more treacherous than the siren song that is my iPhone."
Can you configure Android or iOS to queue some or all notifications in the background, so you can view them at your leisure like you can do with emails (once new email notifications are turned off, like they can in Thunderbird)?
I'm surprised she managed to become a "writer" if she can't even get dressed in the morning without being distracted.
The case presented was of course at the more extreme end, but how many thousands, probably millions, suffer from the same thing to a lesser but still significant degree?
The distractions around us are indeed endless. Someone sends us a text and wonders why we don't answer within, literally, seconds. We're never off work (in many professions) because we carry our phones everywhere, and we're "always connected."
Electronics have advanced us greatly but there's no free lunch.
So now we see the rise of things like the "Pomodoro Technique" --- a means of doing as the subject of the article did, namely, concentrate on just a single task for a period of time.
Do we own our devices or do they own us?
That is a real and relevant question.
I used to have a similar problem. It's why I don't use Facebook more than once a day, and I never use reddit except when I have a specific question to answer. The constant cycle of needing a spike of validation or novelty then getting bored again within a minute was driving me crazy. But I suspect my problem is more common than what the author writes about. It also sounds worse. Her problem can be solved by not picking up the phone, but the novelty addiction manifests as a gnawing addictive craving.
I'm a lot happier now that I limit myself enough that my brain doesn't get used to that crap.
A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
What is this bullshit masquerading as a news story?
1) Writer has short attention span
2) Writer wants attention, blames digital age for her inability to put the fucking phone down
3) Writer checks herself into "rehab" and writes a shitty story about how it's not her fault
4) ???
5) Profit!
Fucking hell. My entire life revolves around the computer too, since I'm a programmer and hobbyist CG artist. I don't give a flying fuck about tweets or social networking. When I'm off the computer, I'm off the computer, and my devices are sitting in the charging docks. I don't keep my phone on me if I'm hanging around the house. I don't need to keep a tablet within reach. Why? Because I don't give a shit. I don't care if my phone is beeping or making noises or whatever. I'll get around to it whenever I get around to it.
This is not "addiction". It is not Twitter/Facebook/Instagram's fault you're getting notifications. These people *like* the attention they're getting when messages show up on their screen. It makes them feel special and wanted, so they go along with it, rather than building up the willpower to simply ignore them. I have met many people like this before and they're all fucking hooked on this shit... by their own decision. They could stop if they wanted to, but they honestly don't give a shit because "who are they hurting?". So you land up with the digital equivalent of a dog where every notification is SQUIRREL! and nothing ever gets done.
But whatever, let's all give this chick the attention she deserves because she's super awesome now that she's fighting back against the evil tyranny of the services she signed up for! You go girl! Wooooo!
That an iPhone owner would have trouble emptying a dishwasher. It's a sign like riding on the short bus.
"damned if I don't get knocked off task within a couple of seconds by an alert about Trump's latest tweet."
What are you stupid? That's opt-in and has NOTHING to do with the technology except your failure to master it to your needs. "Doctor it hurts when I do this"
Unless I actually need to call someone. There's a good solution to the issue with alerts and Trump tweets. Just uninstall those applications. Personally I think of the smartphone as a communication device and occasional location tracker. News is something you can browse at home on your desktop or something.
It's usually a good idea to have separate work spaces and devices for separate tasks. If you can't have that then have separate application profiles and even desktops. It helps alleviate stress a lot.
I am not sure if I care about your attention span problem, because I didn't have time to read your article. I only saw the first sentence and the title, then went to the next headline...
She's been spamming for her employer Wired for ages and has had other stories make it...
If you didn't go see a trained professional for a diagnosis, then what you have is called Cyberchondria
to constantly switch tasks to the latest fire, never getting time to make ground on the past 'fires'.
That is a real hell.
If you had to go to rehab for things you literally thought of on your own, the problem isn't the electronics. It is the person who refuses to do so. If you have genuine mental infliction preventing you from doing so, rehab is barely going to help. You'd need psychotherapy, medication, and maybe rehab for impulse issues.
So congrats for devising an almost certainly ineffective, obvious treatment a child would have thought of. Go to a psychiatrist and work on that impulse control.
We own them. Turn off the f*cking notifications unelss you're paid to have them on and are willing to do so.
There I solved the great philospphical question of the 21st century. Don't worry I require little in the way of compensation. People like the article writing STFU is all I ask. That and a case of beer a week for life
Get a dumb flip phone. Text and email, maybe GPS...
If she sells her iPhone, she could get a cheap dumb phone and save a fortune.
What?
Table-ized A.I.
How dare she sexualize me like some object? I twitch my bushy tail because it's comfortable. This is the exactly the kind of objectifying language that makes squirrels feel unsafe around people.
This is disgusting. I am squirrel, NOT some sexual twitching seductively.
I'm surprised that she felt the need to contribute to the same problem in others by writing this stupid story although I suppose if you are trying to sell the cure it helps to drum up some business first.
Totally.
Wish I had mod points.
You cannot give yourself ADD by anything that you do. At most all you can do after you are born is develop lazy habits that might superficially imitate it. From what I've heard, the imbalance that causes ADD is formed in the womb, and by the time a person is born, that aspect of their mental state has long since been solidified.
Of course, a person with ADD can often still learn skills over their life that can help them mitigate their neurological disposition and function in society in a conventional manner.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
1) uninstall all those social media apps
2) disable notification from all but your 3 most important services.
3) Stop being a self-indulgent snowflake and get some control of yourself
I temporarily retired (parents died, leaving me enough to coast by for a while; I'll eventually have to go back to work) and while I have a number of electronics and programming projects I want to do, I find I don't really want to do them. I've got a major case of Meh. I can focus on some things - exercise for example; I can bicycle for hours - but sit me down at my desk, and I'll look through /., FB, just about anything but the projects I "wanted" to do. It's not that I can't do them - I've already mastered the fundamental elements involved - it's just that I don't *have* to do them, so I'm not bothered to get after it. I think her phone and other diversions are just masking a bigger problem: She's bored with what she's doing and craves something - anything - more stimulating.
Guys Im aspie tech girl and I cant concentrate! Every where I go is just like World War II. I went to make a foodwich and my Tweetfone rang, and just fighting the urge to grab it was like dying on the beaches at Normandy. Literally, exactly like fighting the holocaust.
Celebrate me guys. Im aspie tech girl.
Its not the device. Its the effect of disconnection from people we really want to be around. Alot of us don't want to be living the lives we are living. We are alone. The people we knew, and love are all gone. There is no one to be with us, no one to comfort us. We are in isolated pockets, all by ourselves. We can't say who we are in real life to other people. That would lead to us being ostracized by the community. Some of us the sole liberal in a community of conservatives. Some the sole gamer in a family that hates gaming.
But online, it doesn't matter how far away that other person is. They are always a tap away.
That Childhood friend that you moved away from because your parents got new jobs? Can always be with you online.
The friend you never met because they live on the other side of the country? You can meet them online.
The family member in the hospital you are concerned about? Keep tabs online.
With the internet, there is no time when you can't have access to the people you care about constantly, and you want their attention back constantly, because you want the ideal outcome to happen. You want to hear about that things that validate you and your way of thinking, and your lifestyle, [Social Media] fullfills that need for community.
Soon you want to withdraw from the community you find hostile. You find unwelcome. In the US, thats obviously real life in the US. You'll neglect your real life relationships because they don't see eye to eye to you. the fissure between you and the real people around you will grow distant, and hostile.
Seems Typical of the generation, She blames the devices rather than her own abnormal behavior and need to interact with the device.
I have internet addiction, but at least mine is over reading educational stuff and not "social" media garbage.
Because that's exactly what's going on in this post, and the only reason I'm commenting is so I can disparage the poor choice of title for this post.
... a side effect of "multitasking" where we are constantly pulled in multiple directions. I've read a few papers about it but it's been a while since I've seen one. This guy mentions it:
http://www.speakeasyinc.com/thoughts-and-reflections-from-our-global-experts/
It's been the solution for ADD for decades. Decades! Alternatively, meth can also be used. Meth has a longer half-life than cocaine, and pound for pound, sells more or less at the same price.
I swear to God, people today are the biggest bunch of fucking whiners ever. They blame everyone and everything except themselves.
Talk about "western" problems. OMG.. I can't stop looking at my cellphone! Someone needs to be blamed and take responsibility for this horror.
First start with basic 'paying attention' practice (often called Mindfulness, but I don't want this confused with the dumbed down fluffy thing that Mindfulness has become in the West). Do this in a room with no distractions. Record a voice reminding you, repeatedly, of the exercise. Reduce the frequency of the reminders to zero. Then repeat in a room with some distractions. Gradually build the distraction level to greater than everyday life. As you get proficient, use daily life itself as distraction practice.
But just like the piano, mastery doesn't come without repeated, regular, diligent and exacting practice. You've gotta 'just do it'.
Nobody made you sign up for Twitter.
I don't have Twitter at all and Facebook is used through a web browser instead of the app. Which basically means it's hardly used at all because it's so broken.
I have WhatsApp, SMS, Email and the phone. I religiously forbid websites from sending notifications too.
I think those are by far enough channels for people to reach me. All the other shit has no business interrupting me in the first place.
Why would I allow "news" to distract me?
Then close email and close all web browsers.
See? It is easy to do!
This has nothing to do with the technology or devices, it's a mental problem, and probably one of insecurity. No one needs to add themselves to twitter lists, or FB alerts/tagging, or any other pointless drivel.
Beyond work commitments, no one needs to have any interruptions from any service they join. And anyone that claims to be a professional knows damn well how to disable all the crap.
Creating personal echo chambers is damaging. It's why the so-called millennials cannot cope with real life and are constantly getting triggered.
Healthy people don't have a problem with this. She has a form of OCD. Look it up.
I keep hitting myself in the face and it hurts really bad. Does anyone know how to make my face stop hurting?
Wait I know, STOP HITTING YOURSELF IN THE FACE!
I fucking hate people. These are the same assholes I see on their phones when they are driving. You can always tell as they drive like they're drunk. All because OMGWTFBBQ SOMEBODY TWEETED about something asinine.
Agreed. Apps need the attention of the user in order to serve them ads. If you can make sure the user pays more attention, then they see more ads and you make more money.
That's why apps like Facebook and Twitter are specifically engineered to be addictive. There is no urgency at all in the fact that your grandma has posted photo's on Facebook. Yet the apps generates a notification for it *ding*. You open the app and you see the notification tab has a little '8' badge above it. You've got 8 messages. You like it neat. Read it! Clean out those messages and remove the badge!
Scroll through the timeline. First message: not that interesting. Second message: ad. Third message: bingo! Nice content. Endorphin. Nr 4 is not that interesting. Maybe 5? No, an ad. 6 is a little interesting, let's keep on scrolling past those ads. See where I'm going here?
Twitter: same. Trump tweets are *not*, I repeat *not* interesting. There is no need at all to read them. Unfollow the dude.
I repeat: apps are engineered to keep you addicted. Keep that in mind. Act upon it.
This is your sig. There are thousands more, but this one is yours.
When your child does this, you know what you should do.
You take the phone away, turn it off, only allow use in certain hours.
Because you're an adult, I expect you to a) be able to do it to yourself, b) not NEED to do that as you have impulse control, c) notice if you're failing in that and grow up rather quickly.
The problem extends because people don't even apply this to their children anymore, let alone themselves. You're an adult. Grow up and stop it. Same thing that I say to smokers. If you are purely acting on base impulses and instincts, of course you'll never cure such things. Just say "Oh, no, I shouldn't be doing that" and stop it. It's not like an iPhone is coated in some addictive narcotic (though it's priced like that).
Nobody expect immediate compliance and perfect application, but come on. You know it's bad for you and you're still allowing it to happen. There's a part of your brain that's been around for millions of years and whose purpose is basically to do nothing more than override the instinctual part of your brain by applying reason. It's basically the bit that makes you a human and not an ape.
Try using it.
Forget notifications, the damn summary is TL;DR
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Oh, wait...
> "I blame electronics for my affliction,"
This is the root of all problems. Blaming stuff around us. It's pizza, it's coca cola, it's the drugs, terrorists, electronic gadgets, alcohol, ..
It's not the electronics, it's YOU. The same pattern can be seen with people that eat and drink a lot more than they should, drug addicts, etc.
Meat, fat or carbs are not the problem.. sugar is fine, bread is fine, fat is fine, vodka is fine, beer is fine. Stuffing your face in it and abusing everything around you IS THE PROBLEM, why so difficult to understand this ?
These people are addicted to consuming stuff... just constant desire for mental stimuli, lack of self control, twisted values. Blame yourself for that, and then do something about it.
Rather than requiring the author to STFU, you could exercise some self-control and just not read the article.
Turn off the f*cking notifications unelss you're paid to have them on and are willing to do so.
This right here. People complain about notifications and then swipe them away. Why not long press them instead and then deny the app from producing them in the first place. Many apps which spam notifications also kindly provide fine grained control of them. E.g. I am not in the slightest interested in getting a notification of who's birthday it is from Facebook. Turned off. I'm not interested in someone talking in groups, requesting charity, broadcasting live video, etc, etc.
Well, you can deal with that with some discipline. And by 'discipline', I mean teaching discipline to others. Never answer your phone unless you want to, never read or reply to messages unless you're in the mood, and never answer to any work-related issues outside office hours unless you're somehow being paid for it. The trick is just to reply consistently late, or to be consistent with being inconsistent. If you have difficulties with the latter, use a random number generator to determine the reply time.
It's not just shiny object affliction. This chick apparently has a stack depth of 1.5 items.
Even after fifteen consecutive distractions, I still usually know I left the kettle on.
To begin with, I have about a five-task planning horizon. This isn't even a stack. On a good day, I can be actively pursuing three tasks in parallel, while sizing up two more off to the side (and maybe grabbing utensils soon to be needed, if in my other flurry I discover them near to hand).
I originally learned to do this playing too many arcade games in my early twenties. I played one game with two joysticks for so many hours, that my cognition perceptibly split in two. I became completely aware of one planning horizon for navigation (mostly evasion, some targetting) and a separate planning horizon for aggression (the weapon stick) and some kind of mutual constraint optimization going on between these (this sometimes in the heat of the moment fell by the wayside, and my two hands would simply continue to function independently, each hand sort of making guesses about what the other hand might do—there was often a point in those old arcade games where the game would decide you had already played long enough, and it was time to terminate you with extreme prejudice; often I managed to beat the game nevertheless, but good luck keeping both hands on a fully coordinated, shared page for the death-defying duration; this was back during the Miller's Crossing "ethics" phase, where game designers felt obligated to give you a real chance, however slim).
I also have a sleep disorder, and regularly in the thick of my sleep disorder, my elite, simultaneous planning horizon shrinks down to a single task (or portion thereof). Damn is that annoying. And there's this voice that follows me throughout the whole day: "You know what? If you had your real brain, you'd have dunked that basketball three times just on the way to the bathroom to take a piss. And today you haven't managed to dunk that basketball even once in the past hour, sitting in your work chair, occupied with nothing else."
And I go, "thanks for the vote of confidence; and, oh yeah, ba da bing for reminding me where I was heading just now".
On the squirrel front, I have a somewhat different problem than the chick of the moment. My verbal intelligence is like Uncle Buck. Once he enters the room, it's very hard to send him packing again so I can return to working on math or code: 300 immobile lbs of curtain-ring Velcro. Consequently, I've also subjected myself to this kind of sad self-chaperonage, but for a different reason: to try to keep my word-brain at bay for long enough to accomplish other things.
Ideally, I would get through three two-hour blocks by mid-day and that would be the end of my technical obligations. But even ten minutes of Rachel Maddow (is the world still here? huh? is it? huh?) while I consume my morning coffee and jot a few notes in my journal is sometimes enough to compromise my entire morning. My squirrels are mainly verbal notions; they are generated internally, from the very first meagre sign of a toasted bread crumb, all the way until the sun goes down.
When I was feeling up for it, I used to sometimes cook a five course meal, with five unfamiliar recipes, selected from an unfamiliar cuisine (one time it was Korean, another time some country in Africa), involving maybe a dozen unfamiliar ingredients, while aiming to serve all of these dishes hot more or less at the same time. Usually I managed four, while shunting a problem child into "maybe tomorrow", or "maybe next time". Which should make it obvious why I clipped the following paragraphs on first encounter:
Time Is on Your Side — 7 October 2015
Blaming devices that they CHOOSE to use for their 'afflictions'...
Speak for yourself
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
Just turn off the notifications. The only apps I allow notifications from are phone (duh), text messaging and some selected chat apps. I also allow a few occasional-use apps, like the parking app I use in my city (because running out of parking time is a pretty important notification), but only those that do not pester me at inappropriate times.
Everything else is turned way the hell off. I also disable any kind of notification "peeking" that loves to invade my screen space at the worst times. Somebody texted me? Great, I'll read it later, I don't need to read the stupid preview popup.
IMO it's the only way to actually use a smartphone for anything remotely useful.
Eat the rich.
People like the article writing STFU is all I ask.
Why would you need them to shut the fuck up? Are you unable to ignore them? Do you find they attract your attention when you don't want to give it?
Perhaps you should consider drinking a little less, particularly if you are going to write things like this in public. Nobody is going to start buying you beer until you become a great deal more coherent, less hypocritical and start making some sense. Pathetic.
If you had to go to rehab for things you literally thought of on your own, the problem isn't the electronics. It is the person who refuses to do so. If you have genuine mental infliction preventing you from doing so, rehab is barely going to help. You'd need psychotherapy, medication, and maybe rehab for impulse issues.
So congrats for devising an almost certainly ineffective, obvious treatment a child would have thought of. Go to a psychiatrist and work on that impulse control.
Who modded this fucking imbecile up? The fucking words aren't even in the right order. If they were, he'd barely be an incoherent faggot.
The case presented was of course at the more extreme end, but how many thousands, probably millions, suffer from the same thing to a lesser but still significant degree?
The distractions around us are indeed endless. Someone sends us a text and wonders why we don't answer within, literally, seconds. We're never off work (in many professions) because we carry our phones everywhere, and we're "always connected."
Electronics have advanced us greatly but there's no free lunch.
So now we see the rise of things like the "Pomodoro Technique" --- a means of doing as the subject of the article did, namely, concentrate on just a single task for a period of time.
Do we own our devices or do they own us?
That is a real and relevant question.
It is a real question but not even a little relevant. You own your devices. If you let them 'own' you then it's your own failing.
I completely agree. Ever since I first got on the Internet all those years ago I have never treated email as something I have to respond to straight away - in fact, as you say, I have found it better to always wait before replying (an hour, a day, whatever seems appropriate to me and the message). People then realise that once they've sent you a message there is no point in hanging around waiting for an instant reply and they get on with their lives.
"But how do you shut down the micro-distractions that dangle everywhere in your physical world.."
Ignore them?
I mean, that's what grownups generally do.
-Styopa
if you can't even button your shirt in one go without being distracted, you have bigger problems then facebook, twitter and all other distractions a smartphone can bring.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
But that's the problem with writers, isn't it? That combination of imagination and persuasiveness makes accounts of their experiences highly unreliable, though entertaining.
Mark Twain lost the fortune he made writing investing in inventions. The problem was that he couldn't resist something that fired his imagination.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
People are chided for not answering, and feel coerced into these social obligations and then it's Stockholm syndrome.
I was at the pharmacy, and I overheard this guy stressing and struggling with his blood pressure even though he has an exercise regimen, eats right, etc. Before he left, I said you just have to unplug sometimes, and I showed him my dumb-as-warts flip phone, switched off.
...STFU is all I ask. That and a case of beer a week for life
The alcoholic trying to point out other people's flaws.
Have another beer. It will help numb the sting when Irony dick-slaps you in the face.
Dafuq is a "comforter"?
I see a lot of folks on here complaining with the general tone of "The author should be as well-adjusted and capable as I am". Well they're not. Big whoop. Let's not whine and actually do something productive here.
1) I think the problem is getting worse. It used to just be email. Now it's email, phone, OS, websites and even my freakin' web browser itself that want to push notifications.
2) Yes, I'm well adjusted and adapted to this environment. I've spent the majority of my life interested in tech. It's no big surprise that other folks who merely use devices (instead of being passionate about devices) might get swamped by this.
Here are some helpful links:
A great guide for turning off different types of iPhone notifications:
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/t...
Another guide for both Android and iOS:
http://www.pcworld.com/article...
A guide for Windows 10:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/...
And for Chrome (Including turning off sites asking permission, which I hate almost as much as actual notifications)
https://support.google.com/chr...
In tandem with all of this, I also recommend ad-blockers and paying for media services which eliminate advertisements (Pandora, Netflix, etc.). This helps provide a more distraction-free environment and helps maintain a low-distraction life.
This sig has been enciphered with a one-time pad. It could say almost anything.
We own them. Turn off the f*cking notifications
She tried doing that, but was distracted by notifications every time she tried figuring out how.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Healthy people don't have a problem with this. She has a form of OCD. Look it up.
By the way, you are correct, other than a little strong on the "healthy people" aspect.
The telephone is just what brought out her symptoms, and she was unable to cope with it. I've managed to deal with computers and smartphones for a long time, and simply turn off notifications for everything, and if an application is badly behaved, it goes away.
I've done this because when I'm working a problem, I'm totally immersed in it, and find deep concentration is a plus - I'm probably the opposite of her mental processing.
She just needs to use technology in a manner that is conducive to the way her mind works.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
I suspect her real problem is writer's block. The squirrels are just her excuse to procrastinate.
It's simple: TURN OFF YOUR FUCKING PHONE.
Stop being such a pathetic, sheep-like follower. Stop responding to every fucking picture of some idiot's bagel or their tweet about some other meaningless bullshit that has NO effect on your life.
Just turn off your phone. Or if that's too traumatic for you, log out of your social media accounts. Better yet, delete them. No one gives a shit about what you're doing or where you're doing it or what kind of sandwich you had for lunch. NO ONE CARES.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Ummm, as a lifelong suffer myself, this sounds more like textbook ADHD than anything tech-induced. All the tech did was provide a handy tool to make the problem really really obvious. Beyond that, your doing everything more or less correct to deal with the ADHD, same as you would hear in any book, guide, blog or counseling on ADHD. I agressively silence all nitifications of any kind on my phone, desktop, tablet, everything. I do the same named and mindfully practiced serialising of processes to deal with my attention wandering. Tech didn't cause this, nor is it making it worse, it's just an enabler which, since machine are not yet sentient and autonomous, can be easily shut off.
Well, you can deal with that with some discipline. And by 'discipline', I mean teaching discipline to others.
I had a millennial guy try to train me that way. His "orders" were "Don't call me, don't leave voicemal. Don't email me, I won't answer. I only accept texts."
I took a nice long walk to his office and explained very politely that we had technical problems to work on that won't work in text form, and he would either take my phone calls, or every time I needed to interface with him, I would take that walk across the building to visit him personally, and not be at all happy about the waste of my time. And if he had an issue with that, I would be accompanied by the director.
He decided that taking my phone calls wasn't that bad after all.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
It's partly the fault of the devices. Facebook, Google et al employ psychologists whose single-minded goal is to make their sites more sticky and addictive. Just google "Facebook Addiction" to see many articles on this topic.
I found myself spending way too much time on Facebook, so I deleted my account for a while. Then I discovered a browser plugin called "F.B. Purify" that I configured to hide everything except status updates from those few friends I still followed. No shared videos, no "Jane liked this" or "Bob commented on that", no ads. It was a far less addictive experience and I spend maybe 15 minutes/day on Facebook, which is manageable.
Anyway, all of this is to say: Don't discount the addictive power of technology. It can stimulate your brain in similar ways to addictive drugs.
This Podomoro Technique is nothing more than the basic principle of Zen practice. It's been around for thousands of years. Why? Because so has the human inclination be distracted or to reach for the easier and more enticing task (writing is really really really hard to do long term). All Zen basically says on the matter is, focus on only what you are doing right now.
We own them. Turn off the f*cking notifications unelss you're paid to have them on and are willing to do so.
This, I don't believe in "phone addiction" or any other such bollocks. You only have weak people who lack the self control to put the damn thing down or the intelligence to set up predefined DND period (Do Not Disturb, not Dungeons and Dragons for the contextually impaired).
A phone is a controllable object you are in charge of. If its ruling your life its because you're not disciplined enough to own one.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Yeah. Educational stuff like RSS taglines, "Cure For Cancer Found?", or "Alien Life On The Sun?" Or maybe "Length Of Penguin's Penis STUNS Scientists".
Yep. I'm sure it's AAAAAAALLLLLL very educational.
Me I like big cock tranny porn.
You're projecting.
Distractions are only there if you let them. Here is what I do:
1) I turn my phone silent during working hours. There's an app for that. I inform my friends that I will not be reacting while at work. The one exception I had was when my mother was in palliative care in the last two months of her life. She could call me and I would pick up, regardless what the meeting was about or where I was.
2) My phone is private, so my company better not call my outside office hours for work related stuff. My N+1 and N+2 have it, but is not allowed to pass it on. HR does not have my number, because why?
The moments I had a company phone, it was very clear for what they could call me and for what not. It was also clear that I did not have a function where I MUST be available outside office hours, so if I saw it and picked it up, fine. If not, it was fine as well. It is my free time, not their time.
People who had on-call jobs had a rotating system and where compensated for both the time they had to be on-call (even if nothing happened) and extra IF there was a call.
3) My mails are read on specific times. I have turned off the pop-up. People learn to deal with it. I read them in the morning, just after lunch and just before I leave. If there is something that needs to be solved NOW, just walk up to me.
Yes, I understand that this is not a solution for everybody. Some of those will be.
What you need to do is determine what the issue is and work from there. Put your phone on silent during dinner. Eat at a table, not in front of tv or at your desk and put all devices in silent mode during that period.
In that half hour or hour people can do things without you. If you are really that important, ask for a raise.
Also understand that an emergency is not something that happens every day. If anything it happens 2 times a year. If it happens more often, it is business as usual.
So just start with your breakfast, lunch and dinner time. Next do it with time you are together with friends and/or family and tell them you want them to do the same.
One friend of us didn't want to, because his work was important, so we started with sending him messages while he was on the phone. Next we told him that he was not welcome if he looked at his phone. He stopped doing it.
I work to live. I do not live to work. But that is pretty much accepted, including the CxO by all in Socialist Europe.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
I like big cock cadaver porn. Nothing says "Good morning" like naked corpses.
What is this shite?
http://www.acetonestudio.com
This is maybe an extreme example, but I would argue that we need more granular control over our notifications. They are a distraction and take us away from doing deep work, being in a state of "flow", etc. Google's notification settings are more granular, but iOS is embarrassingly bad. I turn off all notifications, but it would be nice to have them come in at all say, once or twice an hour.
Step one: put down your goddamn phone when you are with people.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
First, Katie needs to fucking delete her damn twitter account. Seriously - she subscribes to Trump??? Then maybe she should limit her time on the facebook, myspace, linkedin, instagram, or whatever... Just an idea... Then she needs to reign in texts and tell people to back the fuck off or maybe she nees to develop better procedures for alerting if it's work related.
Then, she needs to implement a little self control. Which it sounds like she has zero control. Like most people today.
It's a bit harsh, but people today take NO personal accountability. Tech made me do it. The fucking gun made me shoot that rotten drug dealer. The dirty needle is at fault for giving me HIV because I'm a heroin junkie. The colorful bottles make me drink. On and on and on...
Learn some actual psychology then maybe you won't rush to judgement over others failure to live up to your ignorant expectations. Yes, if you learn some science you may have to question your beliefs... You may have a difficult time breaking from a long time or life-long attachment to a way of life just like this woman has and it takes strength to recognize and fight a problem that can easily go unnoticed and then be easily dismissed as a defensive reaction.
We are APES! There is no magical act which makes us separate from all of creation.
Sorry mindless religious followers, you have much to learn which does not mean giving up all your faith although it may feel like that which is why you choose remain in the dark. You can take heart, because even non-believers have bought into many of your beliefs without realizing it. This idea that Humans are separate from nature and we are not 99.9% the same as an APE being one of your basic beliefs.
Humans use their brainpower to RATIONALIZE their stupid APE behaviors almost all the time. Get into cognitive psychology and it will dispel the myth. We evolved problem solving survival skills not logic; all the great stuff we did was a lucky re-purposing of our brain power. We'd be far better at math, logic, emotions if we had evolved for thinking and not just survival. It is quite likely we did it to compete for scarce resources as we over populated because we were at the top of the food chain before we had large brains (latest science.) This would account for our war like tribal tendencies; as well as the fact any pack animals which can out distance every creature on earth and throw things can take down any animal thru attrition. It explains our inability to scale properly... We are wrecking the environment just like mindless animals who lack predators...we don't control our birthing rates either... yeah, we are so above other animals... just because we can think during our idle time between consuming and mating? Unlike other animals we are never satisfied, we use our survival brain power to increase lazy time... to the point of hurting our own health... just like Apes hurt their own survival by being content to sit in trees most the day instead of thinking up ways to do even less. (now make them envious of other apes...which even tiny monkeys have been proven to experience and you might get smarter groups dominating...)
This in no way an argument in support of employing social Darwinism today. (I don't have time to take on a popular American belief too.)
Some people are genetically weaker at fighting off certain kinds of temptation but management is still a learned skill that some people were not raised with which puts them at a severe disadvantage (like an Ape) when trying to learn it as an adult. (brain power does impact how well you can over-ride it... but it's not as strong as most think.) The culture is designed to exploit and promote poor skills in these areas and the technology does a great job compounding the issue. Even if you are skilled at controlling your impulses let me feed you some seriously dangerous drugs and see just how strong you can cope with your biology triggering impulses just as strong than psychologically driven ones.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
But a case of beer per week is only 3.4 drinks per day. That seems way too low.
Could also be the Earth is flat and space is fake. No freemasons on the moon. No biggen bangen. No evolution. No monkeys spinning round on the magic space marble.
It was only TL:DR because you got distracted.
We used to call this being "immature", but some people felt offended. So, now we come up with other crap names like internet addiction and tech induced attention disorder. Horseshit, they just need to grow up and take some fucking responsibility for their own actions.
Just another day in Paradise
"I'm distracted by my phone. So, here's a book I wrote on, 'How not to be distracted by your phone'.........Buy it maybe?"
Not as good as the "my DAMN balls" guy.
If you drink 3-4 beers everyday, you are an alcoholic.
Bass turd! I was expecting links. Now I have to google penguin penis.
how do I unfollow someone I don't follow?
I find myself stuck for good with Nokia 6120c (for classique) - keeping Opera mini there, therefore getting basic Internet. Possibilities to set critical business mail accounts are there, tested Exchange and POP3, but left that to computer after all. There is beauty of calmness in old audio equipment as well - 78 or 33 LPs. I am shooting analog films on funky plastic cameras. It is not that inconvenient at all. I make my own food mostly from raw meat, fruits, vegetables. And I have destroyed my Facebook account, keeping like 3 shallow others to overcome blocking by those, who cannot stand freedom of speech.
Servant of karma
Who pays for this? Daddy?
What a pathetic excuse for a human being.
Like a completely useless child.
No friends.
What happened to creimer's account? That was my favorite distraction for when I should be doing something productive.
Turn off all the alerts.
Seriously, TFS said she has trouble buttoning a shirt without being distracted. The electronics are not the problem.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
CBS, NBA, Comcast, Toyota, Obama, health, customer, etc. care though. :P
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Yeah.
Wish you had a penis.
Some of you folks deserve a visit from the FBI ....
"People will come to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think." - Neil Postman