4 ms·

I guess I need to somehow stop, but so far I haven't been able to not think 'some mild version of Stockholm syndrome' whenever someone says something like, "Man

I guess I need to somehow stop, but so far I haven't been able to not think 'some mild version of Stockholm syndrome' whenever someone says something like, "Many users have lamented over the lack of multitasking, but for me, this 'missing' feature is a bonus all on its own" like that last person in this blog post. People can't be this unaware that they can turn notifications off and just work on one thing when that is what they want. Is it that they can't bring themselves to do it? Maybe some people need someone else to exert their willpower for them. Come on, HN, give me another viable perspective on this before this one calcifies in my head.

roc 16y ago
I tend to agree. In fact, I find it's just as easy to load up an iPad with distracting notifications as a desktop. So the extent to which people are discovering the benefits of a sort of digital 'cone of silence', but attributing it to a lack of multi-tasking is frankly puzzling to me.
glhaynes 16y ago
I think the word "multitasking" gets way overloaded in these discussions. In this case, it's not that people are happy that their other applications' processes aren't continuing to be preemptively scheduled by the kernel. They're happy that all iPad apps always take up the whole screen. There's certainly a cost to that, but many feel there's a benefit, too.
- nooneelse 16y ago
  Yeah, the connotation has certainly drifted from the technical source of the term, taking on the weight of a whole interaction style. Imho, OS's should put controls on applications like mixers have on channels: "mute" and "solo". A bit off topic, the application of such technical terms to other things, like people, has a bit of fascination to me. Mostly because so much of how we get along in the world and our perceptions/reasoning in general are shaped by the vocabulary we adopt to describe. Anger as heat, a person builds a head of steam, blows their top. Did the experience of anger change when that metaphor took hold? Now people might multitask whereas before they might have thought of it as juggling tasks. The first seems so much more astute; the second not like something to be done with anything important. Ok, I'm seriously procrastinating, now... sorry.
dionidium 16y ago
It reminds me of the "I don't always want to be available" argument against cell phones I heard a lot in the late 90's. Surely those folks knew they were allowed to power the phone off whenever they wanted.

roc 16y ago

I tend to agree. In fact, I find it's just as easy to load up an iPad with distracting notifications as a desktop. So the extent to which people are discovering the benefits of a sort of digital 'cone of silence', but attributing it to a lack of multi-tasking is frankly puzzling to me.

glhaynes 16y ago

I think the word "multitasking" gets way overloaded in these discussions. In this case, it's not that people are happy that their other applications' processes aren't continuing to be preemptively scheduled by the kernel. They're happy that all iPad apps always take up the whole screen. There's certainly a cost to that, but many feel there's a benefit, too.

nooneelse 16y ago
Yeah, the connotation has certainly drifted from the technical source of the term, taking on the weight of a whole interaction style. Imho, OS's should put controls on applications like mixers have on channels: "mute" and "solo". A bit off topic, the application of such technical terms to other things, like people, has a bit of fascination to me. Mostly because so much of how we get along in the world and our perceptions/reasoning in general are shaped by the vocabulary we adopt to describe. Anger as heat, a person builds a head of steam, blows their top. Did the experience of anger change when that metaphor took hold? Now people might multitask whereas before they might have thought of it as juggling tasks. The first seems so much more astute; the second not like something to be done with anything important. Ok, I'm seriously procrastinating, now... sorry.

dionidium 16y ago

It reminds me of the "I don't always want to be available" argument against cell phones I heard a lot in the late 90's. Surely those folks knew they were allowed to power the phone off whenever they wanted.