8 ms·

I used to have 'buckets' I would stick things into, and they would stay there forever. Context switching was not a problem. Whatever I had put in that bucket wa

I used to have 'buckets' I would stick things into, and they would stay there forever. Context switching was not a problem. Whatever I had put in that bucket was so strongly associated with the context, that when I switched, the bucket would be there waiting for me. I think I basically had built something like a memory palace before I had the concept of a memory palace. Best way I think I can discribe it... it's almost like in my short term memory rather than trying to cram in every individual variable, I was just including a pointer to a struct containing the variables for those contexts. When I would call up that pointer, I'd get the entire struct and just keep going. I'm not sure if it's age, alcohol use, stress, always-on internet, genetics, or what, but now I'm lucky if I can remember what task I'm in the middle of if I start thinking about something else while doing it. I find myself just as able to solve problems when I can remember things, but a lot less able to remember things, making me feel a lot stupider and/or slower than I used to be. Context-switching is a real challenge now. FWIW, I used to be A LOT better at tuning out the world/distractions than I am now; I feel like that changed when my kid was born.

bytematic 8y ago
That is pretty close to how I think too. I also rarely commit things to memory which are easily referencable, which is annoying.
- a-dub 8y ago
  I like to joke that this is the reason why Google does their silly on-the-spot interviews where they expect people to recall algorithms from memory... They know that the machine they've built erases the need to memorize anything, that people are adapting to it and they want to make sure that if the day ever comes when their whole thing comes crashing down, there's a flying chance in hell that they'll have people on staff who can rebuild a search engine, without a working search engine, before society descends into Idiocracy.
0xFACEFEED 8y ago
I've been going through exactly the same issue since my kid was born (in my early 30s now). Reading your post was weird. I wonder if it's worth digging in to our situation more seriously. Is there a specialist we can talk to about this kind of stuff? Are there tests? The only conclusion I've come to is, putting it simply, we're dealing with: a) more things b) more complicated things. I had less to worry about when I was younger and the problems were comparatively simple. Now I'm getting paid a ton of money to work on very complex systems. This requires juggling more information that's way more complex. I dunno.
- jv22222 8y ago
  My wife who is a therapist says this issue relates to the executive function part of our brain. Also, there seems to be increased cases of ADHD in kids. She has told me that many times ADHD medication can increase executive functioning. It might be worth investigating in cases like this.
- vanviegen 8y ago
  Could it be that you're not getting the amount/quality of sleep you got before your kid was born?
  - sundvor 8y ago
    The lack of good sleep is an absolute brain frier. Not to mention the added exhaustion of trying in vain to get her back to sleep at 3am.
inetknght 8y ago
I'm in the same boat for memory. I've never had children though. Early 30s. Old people might say it's just part of getting old. Perhaps there's something more to it than that. Plaque build-up of some sort, for example, in memory processing?
- ianai 8y ago
  Stress is enough to severely diminish memory and many other things. When I was worried daily about my continued employment I suffered in many ways, poor memory included. My back was a wreck as well. PT said they see that all the time. Stress manifests itself throughout the body. Lucky thing it comes back once the stress is alleviated!
- docbrown 8y ago
  >Old people might say it's just part of getting old. This is true to an extent. Motor and cognitive skills may diminish slowly with age but memory impairment diseases like Alzheimer’s and Dementia are /never/ a normal part of aging.
- tracker1 8y ago
  I'm now in my early 40's, and it's mostly the same as when I was younger... but it's like there's some memory corruption. I'll remember a concept but lose the word, or when interrupted it just take a moment for me to shake out of where I was, and then have to ask the person interrupting to repeat what they said.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Izkata 8y ago
The pointer description seems exactly right to me - I've also always done the context-bucket thing, and never had issues jumping right back in. What's been happening to me feels like I have too many pointers. I can still jump straight back in without needing to rebuild the context, if I can find the right one, because it's still there. It might just take a bit to find the right one though.
- gmfawcett 8y ago
  Only trying slightly to be funny, but the next logical step is to make a new bucket that contains pointers to the other buckets. It's turtles all the way down. :) On a tangent... I'm a heavy Org-mode (Emacs) user, and while many org-masters use a sophisticated setup to keep track of and analyze their tasks, I use a really stupid two-level approach: - Every project has its own orgfile, full of important things to do. Nothing fancy, just a bunch of TODOs, sometimes with priority markers on them. - I also keep an "umbrella" org file that is just a list of the project names, and a short bullet-list of the next one or two things needing doing in that project. There's no automation here, I just review the project files from time to time, and figure out what next-step summary to write in the "umbrella". - If a project is more important than another project, I just put it closer to the top of the umbrella. No clever algorithm needed to calculate absolute priority levels from relative (project-specific) ones -- just move the pointer up the list. - If a project needs to be put on the backburner, I keep the project file, but remove it from the umbrella. I might add it back again in a month or two if necessary. - When something urgent comes up, or I don't have time to file it, I just stick it at the top of "umbrella" and deal with it later. Some weeks I'm just living "in the umbrella" with no time to be organized... but that's okay, when things settle down, I file everything and try to be more organized again. So my "umbrella" file is my "bucket of pointers to buckets", plus a scratch-space for hasty notes. It's been working well for me for a few years now. This really was a big tangent. :) Back to the real subject: I feel exactly the same way that others here do. I knock items off my list like mad -- I feel very efficient -- but some days I couldn't tell you what I did the same morning without consulting my Org files first. It's a creepy, vacuous feeling, but I guess I've accepted it as the price of efficiency.
  - 8y ago
Swizec 8y ago
For me this is stress related. The more things on my mind, the worse my memory and focus get. It’s like my brain is saying ”Dude wtf how can you focus on this mundane task when there is a friggin dragon standing right behind you!!!??” Meditative practice helps. Writing things down so they’re not on my mind. Morning pages, five minute journals, running, things like that. When I cannot focus for shit I’m usually stressing out about something or tired. Sometimes both.
- dtech 8y ago
  > When I cannot focus for shit I’m usually stressing out about something or tired. Sometimes both. And then you underperform at work, causing more stress and less sleep. It's a nasty vicious cycle.
munchbunny 8y ago
That used to be my experience as well. However, I do think two different things happened. One is that I'm getting older. I'm not in my mental prime anymore. But the second is that everything is more complicated. In high school, you could just sit down and crank out some homework while watching Youtube videos and chatting with friends. And you would just sit down and crank out some homework. Yesterday, I got into work thinking I was going to write some code, and... oh wait, this depends on chasing down an issue in code owned by someone else, and I need to get answers to some questions about how this other component works that I depend on, and this other piece of code I need to modify doesn't actually work the way I thought it did. Even within the same task, I'm constantly context switching between mental modeling, communicating with other people, and code reading/writing. Also, I'm reconciling all of this against a multi-stage rollout plan where different people will see different behaviors. It's complicated in a way that teenage me never really had to deal with. It's no wonder I've spent several days feeling like I got nothing done. I did a lot of unwinding hidden dependencies, but very little of it was actually writing code. Most of my time was spent figuring out what questions were the right ones to ask in order to get the answers I needed, which might not end up being what I thought I needed. Teenage me never had to deal with that kind of complexity.
- someguy101010 8y ago
  You pretty much described my day today
- wlll 8y ago
  > It's no wonder I've spent several days feeling like I got nothing done. I did a lot of unwinding hidden dependencies, but very little of it was actually writing code. Oh man, this really resonates with me. So much of my work time is spent manipulating the yak stack it's crazy. The feeling when you can just crank out some code with no external speedbumps is magical though.
- flossyspeaker 8y ago
  Spot on.
- irrational 8y ago
baxtr 8y ago
The best thing I have done to keep the buckets and remember stuff: - I write everything down that comes to my mind, immediately - I keep a Trello board with 5-6 lists, 1 for work, 1 for private stuff, 1 for side-projects, 1 for books I’m planing to read. Only rule: it has to fit on a screen - when working, I try to move away from the laptop as often as I can, I print things out and read them offline, make notes etc.
SquishyPanda23 8y ago
I have better memory now than when I was younger. I think a lot of this is which skills you've been practicing. A lot of people practice attention in high school and college (e.g. being forced to listen to lectures or do homework). You can also practice attention as an adult, and I think it will help in many cases.
sametmax 8y ago
I have the same problem, so I implemented GTD. Not only it compensates it very well, but I noticed that my memory got better for things outside of the system. There is definitly an overload there.
rhacker 8y ago
I'm going to say this carefully - but, for me, having a significant other massssssively takes up an enormous part of my daily mental model that didn't exist when I was a kid or a teen. Not saying it's a bad thing, but there's this other very complex being I have to care for and make sure things are going OK there in some cases at unpredictable amounts of attention. And I'm not saying that I'm not a hugely complex being myself that my SO has to care for and place tons of attention on either.
- improv32 8y ago
  Enthusiastically agree. Learning to manage serious commitment like that it what has done the most for my growth as a person, I think
- naavis 8y ago
  Very much agree. I used to get much more stuff done when I was single, because I had a lot of time to myself. Being in a relationship is very different, albeit very nice. I'm working on organising my life so that I would have some more solitary time, though. I've only recently realized how much I need it to recharge.
snarfy 8y ago
> I'm not sure if it's age, alcohol use, stress, always-on internet, genetics, or what, but now I'm lucky if I can remember what task I'm in the middle of if I start thinking about something else while doing it It might be something simple. I was having similar problems. It turned out I needed B12 supplements.
- stevenjohns 8y ago
  Seconding the supplement option. A good, balanced supplement routine (or diet adjustment, but that's a lot more commitment) and starting the day with useful memory games (i.e five or so Duolingo challenges) has improved my memory, both short and long term, significantly.
crazygringo 8y ago
In my experience and the research I've read, you've almost mentioned all the top relevant reasons: alcohol use, stress, and reduction in sleep (kid being born). It's unlikely to be age. I'd highly recommend last year's "Why We Sleep" [1] for more info on memory performance and how it's impacted far more that you'd suspect by full (and quality) sleep, which is in turn impacted far more than you'd suspect by alcohol and stress (not to mention kids). [1] https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144316 https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501...

bytematic 8y ago

That is pretty close to how I think too. I also rarely commit things to memory which are easily referencable, which is annoying.

a-dub 8y ago
I like to joke that this is the reason why Google does their silly on-the-spot interviews where they expect people to recall algorithms from memory... They know that the machine they've built erases the need to memorize anything, that people are adapting to it and they want to make sure that if the day ever comes when their whole thing comes crashing down, there's a flying chance in hell that they'll have people on staff who can rebuild a search engine, without a working search engine, before society descends into Idiocracy.

0xFACEFEED 8y ago

I've been going through exactly the same issue since my kid was born (in my early 30s now). Reading your post was weird. I wonder if it's worth digging in to our situation more seriously. Is there a specialist we can talk to about this kind of stuff? Are there tests? The only conclusion I've come to is, putting it simply, we're dealing with: a) more things b) more complicated things. I had less to worry about when I was younger and the problems were comparatively simple. Now I'm getting paid a ton of money to work on very complex systems. This requires juggling more information that's way more complex. I dunno.

jv22222 8y ago
My wife who is a therapist says this issue relates to the executive function part of our brain. Also, there seems to be increased cases of ADHD in kids. She has told me that many times ADHD medication can increase executive functioning. It might be worth investigating in cases like this.
vanviegen 8y ago
Could it be that you're not getting the amount/quality of sleep you got before your kid was born?
- sundvor 8y ago
  The lack of good sleep is an absolute brain frier. Not to mention the added exhaustion of trying in vain to get her back to sleep at 3am.

inetknght 8y ago

I'm in the same boat for memory. I've never had children though. Early 30s. Old people might say it's just part of getting old. Perhaps there's something more to it than that. Plaque build-up of some sort, for example, in memory processing?

ianai 8y ago
Stress is enough to severely diminish memory and many other things. When I was worried daily about my continued employment I suffered in many ways, poor memory included. My back was a wreck as well. PT said they see that all the time. Stress manifests itself throughout the body. Lucky thing it comes back once the stress is alleviated!
docbrown 8y ago
>Old people might say it's just part of getting old. This is true to an extent. Motor and cognitive skills may diminish slowly with age but memory impairment diseases like Alzheimer’s and Dementia are /never/ a normal part of aging.
tracker1 8y ago
I'm now in my early 40's, and it's mostly the same as when I was younger... but it's like there's some memory corruption. I'll remember a concept but lose the word, or when interrupted it just take a moment for me to shake out of where I was, and then have to ask the person interrupting to repeat what they said.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

Izkata 8y ago

The pointer description seems exactly right to me - I've also always done the context-bucket thing, and never had issues jumping right back in. What's been happening to me feels like I have too many pointers. I can still jump straight back in without needing to rebuild the context, if I can find the right one, because it's still there. It might just take a bit to find the right one though.

gmfawcett 8y ago
Only trying slightly to be funny, but the next logical step is to make a new bucket that contains pointers to the other buckets. It's turtles all the way down. :) On a tangent... I'm a heavy Org-mode (Emacs) user, and while many org-masters use a sophisticated setup to keep track of and analyze their tasks, I use a really stupid two-level approach: - Every project has its own orgfile, full of important things to do. Nothing fancy, just a bunch of TODOs, sometimes with priority markers on them. - I also keep an "umbrella" org file that is just a list of the project names, and a short bullet-list of the next one or two things needing doing in that project. There's no automation here, I just review the project files from time to time, and figure out what next-step summary to write in the "umbrella". - If a project is more important than another project, I just put it closer to the top of the umbrella. No clever algorithm needed to calculate absolute priority levels from relative (project-specific) ones -- just move the pointer up the list. - If a project needs to be put on the backburner, I keep the project file, but remove it from the umbrella. I might add it back again in a month or two if necessary. - When something urgent comes up, or I don't have time to file it, I just stick it at the top of "umbrella" and deal with it later. Some weeks I'm just living "in the umbrella" with no time to be organized... but that's okay, when things settle down, I file everything and try to be more organized again. So my "umbrella" file is my "bucket of pointers to buckets", plus a scratch-space for hasty notes. It's been working well for me for a few years now. This really was a big tangent. :) Back to the real subject: I feel exactly the same way that others here do. I knock items off my list like mad -- I feel very efficient -- but some days I couldn't tell you what I did the same morning without consulting my Org files first. It's a creepy, vacuous feeling, but I guess I've accepted it as the price of efficiency.
- 8y ago

Swizec 8y ago

For me this is stress related. The more things on my mind, the worse my memory and focus get. It’s like my brain is saying ”Dude wtf how can you focus on this mundane task when there is a friggin dragon standing right behind you!!!??” Meditative practice helps. Writing things down so they’re not on my mind. Morning pages, five minute journals, running, things like that. When I cannot focus for shit I’m usually stressing out about something or tired. Sometimes both.

dtech 8y ago
> When I cannot focus for shit I’m usually stressing out about something or tired. Sometimes both. And then you underperform at work, causing more stress and less sleep. It's a nasty vicious cycle.

munchbunny 8y ago

That used to be my experience as well. However, I do think two different things happened. One is that I'm getting older. I'm not in my mental prime anymore. But the second is that everything is more complicated. In high school, you could just sit down and crank out some homework while watching Youtube videos and chatting with friends. And you would just sit down and crank out some homework. Yesterday, I got into work thinking I was going to write some code, and... oh wait, this depends on chasing down an issue in code owned by someone else, and I need to get answers to some questions about how this other component works that I depend on, and this other piece of code I need to modify doesn't actually work the way I thought it did. Even within the same task, I'm constantly context switching between mental modeling, communicating with other people, and code reading/writing. Also, I'm reconciling all of this against a multi-stage rollout plan where different people will see different behaviors. It's complicated in a way that teenage me never really had to deal with. It's no wonder I've spent several days feeling like I got nothing done. I did a lot of unwinding hidden dependencies, but very little of it was actually writing code. Most of my time was spent figuring out what questions were the right ones to ask in order to get the answers I needed, which might not end up being what I thought I needed. Teenage me never had to deal with that kind of complexity.

someguy101010 8y ago
You pretty much described my day today
wlll 8y ago
> It's no wonder I've spent several days feeling like I got nothing done. I did a lot of unwinding hidden dependencies, but very little of it was actually writing code. Oh man, this really resonates with me. So much of my work time is spent manipulating the yak stack it's crazy. The feeling when you can just crank out some code with no external speedbumps is magical though.
flossyspeaker 8y ago
Spot on.
irrational 8y ago

baxtr 8y ago

The best thing I have done to keep the buckets and remember stuff: - I write everything down that comes to my mind, immediately - I keep a Trello board with 5-6 lists, 1 for work, 1 for private stuff, 1 for side-projects, 1 for books I’m planing to read. Only rule: it has to fit on a screen - when working, I try to move away from the laptop as often as I can, I print things out and read them offline, make notes etc.

SquishyPanda23 8y ago

I have better memory now than when I was younger. I think a lot of this is which skills you've been practicing. A lot of people practice attention in high school and college (e.g. being forced to listen to lectures or do homework). You can also practice attention as an adult, and I think it will help in many cases.

sametmax 8y ago

I have the same problem, so I implemented GTD. Not only it compensates it very well, but I noticed that my memory got better for things outside of the system. There is definitly an overload there.

rhacker 8y ago

I'm going to say this carefully - but, for me, having a significant other massssssively takes up an enormous part of my daily mental model that didn't exist when I was a kid or a teen. Not saying it's a bad thing, but there's this other very complex being I have to care for and make sure things are going OK there in some cases at unpredictable amounts of attention. And I'm not saying that I'm not a hugely complex being myself that my SO has to care for and place tons of attention on either.

improv32 8y ago
Enthusiastically agree. Learning to manage serious commitment like that it what has done the most for my growth as a person, I think
naavis 8y ago
Very much agree. I used to get much more stuff done when I was single, because I had a lot of time to myself. Being in a relationship is very different, albeit very nice. I'm working on organising my life so that I would have some more solitary time, though. I've only recently realized how much I need it to recharge.

snarfy 8y ago

> I'm not sure if it's age, alcohol use, stress, always-on internet, genetics, or what, but now I'm lucky if I can remember what task I'm in the middle of if I start thinking about something else while doing it It might be something simple. I was having similar problems. It turned out I needed B12 supplements.

stevenjohns 8y ago
Seconding the supplement option. A good, balanced supplement routine (or diet adjustment, but that's a lot more commitment) and starting the day with useful memory games (i.e five or so Duolingo challenges) has improved my memory, both short and long term, significantly.

crazygringo 8y ago

In my experience and the research I've read, you've almost mentioned all the top relevant reasons: alcohol use, stress, and reduction in sleep (kid being born). It's unlikely to be age. I'd highly recommend last year's "Why We Sleep" [1] for more info on memory performance and how it's impacted far more that you'd suspect by full (and quality) sleep, which is in turn impacted far more than you'd suspect by alcohol and stress (not to mention kids). [1] https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144316 https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501...