A crucial part of the ideology of work-discipline
December 4, 2023 2:01 AM Subscribe
Our own perceptions of our current period of distraction therefore need to be seen in a longer perspective. Concentration is a social, learned behaviour that is more necessary in some contexts than in others. The modern appetite for bingeing on box sets and multi-episode podcasts makes it clear that we are not losing the ability to concentrate, merely directing it towards different media. We concentrate when we want to. from The big idea: are our short attention spans really getting shorter? [Grauniad; ungated]
From my own experience I'd be inclined to disagree with his argument about concentration and the time-clock. If you're being time-managed, you're concentrating on the end of the day, not on the work; you're going to waste as much time as possible.
posted by Cardinal Fang at 2:40 AM on December 4, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Cardinal Fang at 2:40 AM on December 4, 2023 [6 favorites]
Mine's about the same.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 4:25 AM on December 4, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by Short Attention Sp at 4:25 AM on December 4, 2023 [8 favorites]
As far as my attention spa
posted by ZenMasterThis at 7:49 AM on December 4, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by ZenMasterThis at 7:49 AM on December 4, 2023 [7 favorites]
Seems like there are two things being mashed together here, that maybe shouldn't be.
The first is discipline: commitment to "doing your work", whether that's employment, or completing something you've obligated yourself to do. The task might require long periods of focused effort, or it might require juggling and responding to a barrage of demands and information. Can one push away other stimuli or distractions to put enough focus on the "work"?
The other is attention-span; do you like a constant stream of stimuli, or do you like being immersed in one specific activity? The former can be stimulating, or it can just be a pacifier/time-waster/avoidance-tactic (hello social media). The latter - achieving 'flow', or 'getting into the zone' - has been deemed a desirable state with psychological and other health benefits.
It's often hard to find and commit to some goals, and to carve out distraction-free time dedicated to focusing on just one task or project, but when I can, that's my happy place. (he said, while avoiding obligations and distracting himself on Metafilter)
posted by Artful Codger at 8:23 AM on December 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
The first is discipline: commitment to "doing your work", whether that's employment, or completing something you've obligated yourself to do. The task might require long periods of focused effort, or it might require juggling and responding to a barrage of demands and information. Can one push away other stimuli or distractions to put enough focus on the "work"?
The other is attention-span; do you like a constant stream of stimuli, or do you like being immersed in one specific activity? The former can be stimulating, or it can just be a pacifier/time-waster/avoidance-tactic (hello social media). The latter - achieving 'flow', or 'getting into the zone' - has been deemed a desirable state with psychological and other health benefits.
It's often hard to find and commit to some goals, and to carve out distraction-free time dedicated to focusing on just one task or project, but when I can, that's my happy place. (he said, while avoiding obligations and distracting himself on Metafilter)
posted by Artful Codger at 8:23 AM on December 4, 2023 [3 favorites]
While I really enjoyed Carr's book when it came out, and love a good theory that Everything's Getting So Much Worse, this idea that our attention spans--our very brains!--are being negatively affected by technology, arises in the same way a lot of these other theories do, by assuming a kind of golden age where we all lounged around in front of the fire reading thick tomes of German philosophy, following every word with our capacious 19th-century attention, storing it all away in the great storehouses of memory that, as we're always reminded, allowed people to memorize and recite all of Homer. Kids these days and their Tiketty-Toks will never memorize Homer!
So it's nice to see this being pushed back against, that reading-big-books is relatively recent historically (and that those very books were a big problem because they were taking your mind off more important things, like needlepoint and whist). It's fair to ask historically who had free time, and how did they come about it, before we start making blanket assertions about our poor modern minds and their brokenness. (I would now go off on a tangent about the medicalization and psychologization of modern culture, where we insist on viewing social problems as individual pathology, but from what I understand from the recent MetaTalk muting thread, people often skip comments that are more than a couple of sentences long.)
posted by mittens at 8:29 AM on December 4, 2023 [17 favorites]
So it's nice to see this being pushed back against, that reading-big-books is relatively recent historically (and that those very books were a big problem because they were taking your mind off more important things, like needlepoint and whist). It's fair to ask historically who had free time, and how did they come about it, before we start making blanket assertions about our poor modern minds and their brokenness. (I would now go off on a tangent about the medicalization and psychologization of modern culture, where we insist on viewing social problems as individual pathology, but from what I understand from the recent MetaTalk muting thread, people often skip comments that are more than a couple of sentences long.)
posted by mittens at 8:29 AM on December 4, 2023 [17 favorites]
this is really well wri.....look over there! a bird!
posted by lalochezia at 8:42 AM on December 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by lalochezia at 8:42 AM on December 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
I can't find it now but I read an article recently that talked about how our new media environment actually requires a lot of attention. In fact, you're supposed to pay attention to a million things at once! It's a different type of attention than is required to focus on a long essay.
posted by tofu_crouton at 9:07 AM on December 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by tofu_crouton at 9:07 AM on December 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
we need the Attention Spa!
posted by supermedusa at 9:39 AM on December 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 9:39 AM on December 4, 2023 [5 favorites]
mittens, I know I do.
posted by evilDoug at 9:53 AM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by evilDoug at 9:53 AM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
The modern appetite for bingeing on box sets and multi-episode podcasts makes it clear that we are not losing the ability to concentrate, merely directing it towards different media. We concentrate when we want to.
I am not 100 percent sold with this example. I know what my own behavior is when bingeing, partially because the economics of streaming seem to have dictated a certain structure that allows for long stretches where the plot is not advancing and I'm probably in my phone waiting for A Thing to Happen. It's a pretty multi-tasky experience for me.
And reading a book from start to finish is not a moral act.
... but I'm very onboard with this. When I read _Racecraft_ it was on my Kobo ereader and so I missed the visual indicator of the book structure and I slogged through a section I shouldn't have expecting a connection to be made that was not. I didn't need to read the whole thing. I've relieved myself of the guilt of skipping introductions and forewords (Jesus Christ, Dan Simmons' unhinged intro to _Carrion Comfort_'s re-release). There's just too much to read, and after a few years as a development editor for Idiot's Guides I learned that book economics sometimes mandate extra pages to no good end, so I can't feel bad about that.
posted by Pudding Yeti at 10:24 AM on December 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
I am not 100 percent sold with this example. I know what my own behavior is when bingeing, partially because the economics of streaming seem to have dictated a certain structure that allows for long stretches where the plot is not advancing and I'm probably in my phone waiting for A Thing to Happen. It's a pretty multi-tasky experience for me.
And reading a book from start to finish is not a moral act.
... but I'm very onboard with this. When I read _Racecraft_ it was on my Kobo ereader and so I missed the visual indicator of the book structure and I slogged through a section I shouldn't have expecting a connection to be made that was not. I didn't need to read the whole thing. I've relieved myself of the guilt of skipping introductions and forewords (Jesus Christ, Dan Simmons' unhinged intro to _Carrion Comfort_'s re-release). There's just too much to read, and after a few years as a development editor for Idiot's Guides I learned that book economics sometimes mandate extra pages to no good end, so I can't feel bad about that.
posted by Pudding Yeti at 10:24 AM on December 4, 2023 [2 favorites]
In not that much of an extension of the inflammation theory of depression, I think inflammation plays a role in ADHD as well, and that there is more than there used to be, as there seem to be many more cases of autoimmune syndromes in general.
Basically, your brain has to switch around from thing to thing to keep your immune system from having enough time to drag in the heavy artillery: excitotoxicity, etc.
posted by jamjam at 11:25 AM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
Basically, your brain has to switch around from thing to thing to keep your immune system from having enough time to drag in the heavy artillery: excitotoxicity, etc.
posted by jamjam at 11:25 AM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
neurodi neuroverge
...also is there an Idiot's Guide to Acronyms?
I sense a growth market.
posted by y2karl at 11:44 AM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
...also is there an Idiot's Guide to Acronyms?
I sense a growth market.
posted by y2karl at 11:44 AM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
It's true that as I've gotten older my concentration is not getting better.
But, it has also always been true that I've never had much patience with sloppy writing and ideas presented in a muddled manner, and as I've aged I have even less patience. Don't get me started about YouTube essays/lectures that take too long to get to the point, they just fill me with rage.
posted by ovvl at 2:51 PM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
But, it has also always been true that I've never had much patience with sloppy writing and ideas presented in a muddled manner, and as I've aged I have even less patience. Don't get me started about YouTube essays/lectures that take too long to get to the point, they just fill me with rage.
posted by ovvl at 2:51 PM on December 4, 2023 [1 favorite]
We experence significant congnative declines as carbon dioxide levels increase, which presumably yields similar effects.
Afaik atmospheric increases shouldn't causes much impairment per se, but indoor levels double or tripple the outdoor levels, so our homes' and offices' temperature control should already be harming our congnative ability.
Improve ventalation, without just recirculation. And make kids play outside, includiong doing some outdoor reading.
posted by jeffburdges at 3:49 AM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
Afaik atmospheric increases shouldn't causes much impairment per se, but indoor levels double or tripple the outdoor levels, so our homes' and offices' temperature control should already be harming our congnative ability.
Improve ventalation, without just recirculation. And make kids play outside, includiong doing some outdoor reading.
posted by jeffburdges at 3:49 AM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
Just look at the crawlers on the TV when you are trying to watch something or the way some movies are made with almost constant switching of camera angles or pop ups when your are trying to read an article on the web.
posted by DJZouke at 5:08 AM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by DJZouke at 5:08 AM on December 5, 2023 [1 favorite]
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