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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."
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.
If you didn't go see a trained professional for a diagnosis, then what you have is called Cyberchondria
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.
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'
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.
I'm surprised she managed to become a "writer" if she can't even get dressed in the morning without being distracted.
Seems like fairly typical behavior for a writer. You're pulling on your pants, and suddenly notice the curious way that dust motes in ray of sunlight swirl on the thermal currents of the room. It occurs to you that maybe that's the way a space battle might look like, with thousands of ships moving in three dimensions.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.