9 ms·
Stop overstimulating your mind with digital entertainment
- meristohm 5y agoBoredom is useful for creativity, I’ve found. How do you set yourself up to be creative?
- okr 5y agoI reqd articles how to set up myself for being creative. ;)
- TheSpiceIsLife 5y agoI occasionally buy licenses for creativity software. Kinda similar to how I use my gym membership ;)
- blacktriangle 5y agoFor me, I'll unplug the internet, but that's because my creative outlet is programming and it's really really hard to have the discipline to program and not browser the web (case in point I'm writing this reply.) As developers this is challenging since so many of our tools require network access. I've had minimal luck with various site blockers since you can always just disable them. So here's my plan: 1) Prepare. Download documentation you will want and invest in dead-tree copies of relevent books. 2) Have 2 desks, one with your computer, and one without. I physically move to the non-computer desk for design work and thinking, then get up and move to the computer desk to program. A comfy chair for more creative thinking is a nice addition to this setup. 3) Make it really hard to turn the internet back on. When I started this I would actually go and put the modem outside in my car to make it annoying enough to turn the internet back on. As I've gotten more comfortable with this practice I find it's enough to just go and turn off the modem, but I've found that simply turning off wifi on the computer is not enough distance. Sounds extreme, but by seeing how much work I need to do to disconnect has taught me how much of an addict I really am and given the motivation to work on the problem. Through this process I've gained a new level of respect for Emacs. The built-in documentation browser is amazing, both the tools for browsing and the quality of the documentation. I'm able to figure out everything I need to about Emacs without touching the network.
- rootusrootus 5y agoI totally relate to this. The Internet is so addictive it's easy to just switch away from getting useful work done. I can't turn off the whole Internet for the house or my family would string me up, but I may try something more localized. Here I am on HN commenting... This also makes me want to put a lock on the refrigerator that can only be unlocked by running a certain distance on a treadmill. LOL. I have to create artificial grit, I don't have an overabundance of the natural kind.
- the_local_host 5y agoI find that boredom is death for creativity, but tedium is a goldmine. If I'm not doing anything, I don't think of anything. If I have a tedious but active chore, I need to bring a notepad along with me to capture all the ideas.
- faeyanpiraat 5y agoYou can best figure out how you want your next vacation to go during you dayjob. Go to the beach for a couple of days to get a groundbreaking work related idea.
- yowlingcat 5y agoI had a friend in college who was a writer. He intentionally spent a summer lettuce farming for this specific reason. He was pretty happy with the results creativity-wise.
- KineticLensman 5y ago> If I have a tedious but active chore, I need to bring a notepad along with me to capture all the ideas I find I'm quite mentally creative when doing tasks such as cutting the grass, which I don't find tedious, but instead require a sort of process-control mental activity. I actually enjoy cutting the grass for its physical side combined with the opportunity to get a good looking result from a task that takes about an hour. Hoovering doesn't inspire the same mental creativity.
- munk-a 5y agoFor me, at least, cutting the grass is a rather meditative activity where I'm sorta in nature - enjoying a relatively nice day (I avoid cutting grass when it's raining because why would you ever do that). None of my troubles are in view (unless the exterior needs work) so I can relax and enjoy it. Compare that to vacuuming where you're within your space but aware of the fact that things are messy - potentially needing to contend with children or pets to actually get vacuuming done, and frequently shifting furniture and thinking about how to finish off the task in the quickest manner. To me mowing the lawn is an activity where my mind can disengage apart from watching for the occasional suicidal squirrel - while vacuuming is an activity where my brain is constantly on the watch for something being amiss and me accidentally chewing up an expensive cable or rug. This all aligns closely with what I think the distinction is for tasks that allow you to be creative - something relatively straightforward that requires your hands to be busy but where you can mostly zone out. For this purpose I like eating "slow fruit" namely pomegranates and grapefruits - where I take both fruits apart laboriously by hand after peeling them (eat the grapefruit like an orange - but peel each slice). While I'm doing this my mind is free to do whatever and my hands continue with only minimal guidance.
- munchbunny 5y agoMy personal experience is that creativity, paradoxically, is a lot like exercise: it's often best done on a regular basis, on a schedule, and you need time to accumulate momentum, and you get better at it with repetition. It's also best done without the pressure of "I must come up with something". Sometimes there really is pressure and I have to spend some time to trick myself to build up momentum. I like to schedule time to go on a 30 minute walk with my phone in Do Not Disturb mode.
- agumonkey 5y agoAlso related to this weird delay after thinking about something. You often get new ideas 15min after you stopped trying. You need to stop to explore mentally somehow.
- j_m_b 5y agoThere is no evidence dopamine fasting does anything. It's just the latest techie health fad.
- fierro 5y agoThis is a pretty demonstrably false statement. I think what you mean to say is that dopamine fasting may have no concrete benefits? But certainly manipulating/controlling your own dopamine levels does do something, unless you're contending that dopamine itself does nothing, which you're not. Dopamine fasting does let your receptors upregulate and resensitize. Take Adderall every day for a month and see how you feel -- you'll realize your receptors have been pretty downregulated and you need a break.
- beforeolives 5y agoThe question is whether this still applies if in the last statement you replace Adderall with social media or "modern music". I've personally found no benefit from deliberately limiting digital stimulation. But these things are of course very difficult to measure and assess objectively.
- kayodelycaon 5y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine_fasting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine_fasting > Detractors say that the overall concept of dopamine fasting is unscientific since the chemical plays a vital role in everyday life; literally reducing it would not be good for a person,[10] and removing a particular stimulus like social media would not reduce the levels of dopamine in the body, only the stimulation of it.[10] Ciara McCabe, Associate Professor in Neuroscience at the University of Reading, considers the idea that the brain could be "reset" by avoiding dopamine triggers for a short time to be "nonsense".[9] > Cameron Sepah, who has promoted the practice of dopamine fasting, agrees that the name is misleading and says that its purpose is not to literally reduce dopamine in the body[9] but rather to reduce the impulsive behaviors that are rewarded by it.[6] For further thought: Stimulant medication significantly improves excessive impulsivity in those with some types of executive function disorders. ADHD is extremely well studied in this regard.
- RootReducer 5y agoThis is ridiculously preachy. I do think the overall thesis is correct, in that boredom can be a powerful force for creativity and inspiration, but paragraphs like this make the article completely off-putting: "If you want to let music inspire you and enjoy its real beauty, I have few very simple rules: Classical Music and no “skipping”. Then I will trust my appetite." I do like sitting down and actually focusing on an album, but suggesting only that only classical music is worthy of appreciation is absurd. There is an amazing variety of wonderful modern music in a multitude of genres.
- wayoutthere 5y ago> There is an amazing variety of wonderful modern music in a multitude of genres. Truth. I picked up playing guitar over the pandemic. While I primarily play bluesy / folky / indie stuff on my own time, I find myself listening to 80s metal for inspiration because it’s honestly super nerdy from a music standpoint. You’ll actually probably learn more applicable technique dissecting an Iron Maiden song than a classical piece.
- elevaet 5y agoI'm not a fan of Metallica's aesthetic (or metal in general), but honestly when I listen to those guys' music I hear genius.
- fierro 5y agoyeah that particular passage is cringe and colors the whole article as condescending, when in reality there are a lot of good points made.
- canadianfella 5y ago> when I was visiting a deserted island in Brittany, to look at my friend directly streaming the video of the ocean. I started to feel a deep feeling of disgust. This article disgusts me.
- pnathan 5y agoI think Deep Work is a much better discussion of this problem; without the shame/disgust/morality play that's being enacted here.
- beforeolives 5y agoDo you mean Digital Minimalism? Cal Newport is the author of both Deep Work and Digital Minimalism but the latter book is the one that deals with the topic of the article.
- fierro 5y agoI think Deep Work is highly related to the discussion of distractions and superficial "candy like" experiences. Pretty tough to do deep work (and conversely, easy to do shallow work) when you're assailed with notifications, constantly responding to texts, etc.
- fierro 5y agofacts
- rchaud 5y agoDeep Work's first maybe 3 chapters are all you need. Cal Newport is a master of writing some good blog posts on a topic, and then with padding them with 250 pages of boring drivel, and selling it as a book.
- awillen 5y agoThere's just so much of this that is the author insisting that his preferences are right and anyone else is wrong. "Modern music is like junk food." There's amazing modern music, and total crap. Labeling the millions of hours of modern music as all bad is at best lazy, and at worst has undertones of racism (the only good music is that produced by dead white guys). "Let me tell you: regulating your emotions with an external tool is dangerous. You start depending on it. You crave it when you don’t have it. It is called addiction." - again, just insanely lazy generalization. I regulate my emotions with an external tool most days. It's called exercise. It is a very good thing, not an addiction (trust me, I'd love to stop, I really don't enjoy exercise at all). The bit about photos? I visited my mom's house recently and looked at the photos of my deceased grandparents. According to this guy, that's going to keep me in a slump. This piece is generally pretty lazy ("I bet that 95% of Millenials start their day by looking at the phone." - first of all, if you're going to criticize a whole generation, at least spell it right, and second of all, why don't you do some kind of research instead of making unsupported assumptions about the behavior of a group of millions of people?) and extremely arrogant. I award OP no points and may god have mercy on his soul.
- blacktriangle 5y agoYou do realize that lots of popular old music was written by all races? Stop trying to see racism everywhere where where there is none, it'll do wonders for your blood pressure.
- awillen 5y agoI exercise for my blood pressure (you might've caught that in the comment you were responding to), but thanks for the suggestion! He specifically says classical music is the only acceptable kind, and the vast majority of the history of classical music was devoid of non-white people. You should read the things you're responding to a little better - it'll do wonders for your comprehension.
- maininformer 5y agoBecause non-white people do not have classical music? I agree with the parent, you see racism where it doesn't exist. Why would your mind go to only "white" classical music? PS I'm Iranian-Armenian; both have rich "classical" music history. I have myself enjoyed Celtic, Chinese and Japanese folk music. Music and rhythm is so ingrained in us that I don't need to do research to know all other nations had music in all eras too.
- SerLava 5y agoNo.
- Natfan 5y agoPerfect argument. Care to elaborate as to your reasoning?
- sirbranedamuj 5y agoI don't think that was an argument, I think it was an answer to the command in the title.
- Bancakes 5y agoNo.
- llbeansandrice 5y agoI don't exactly disagree with the premise but the tone is so authoritative and harsh that it's difficult to take seriously. Not to mention pulling out "A Brave New World" after the first paragraph. This reads like a college freshman essay, including the typos. It's "time and time again" not "times and times again".
- agumonkey 5y agoIt's happening just a few too many times but when I let my phone inside when going out for long I can sense a little "should I go back in case ..." followed by a "to hell with the web" while my brain oozing of joy. A deep "finally.." Super strange honestly
- abxytg 5y ago> I observe many people, interestingly the majority of it are girls, that seem to never stop messaging with their boyfriend, their friends, their mother,… It was just the same old "I wish I was deep" stoic drivel till here and it's clear this was probably written by a 17 year old.
- wayoutthere 5y agoIt feels like the author here is accidentally right for all the wrong reasons. The central premise — that being constantly on digital devices prevents the boredom that ultimately inspires us to do something better — is pretty trivial to be honest. But by framing it in moralistic language, it comes off as insultingly trite. For conversations like this I find it helpful to bring the focus to your personal experience. Say “this is what I did and how it affected me” and not “you have to do these things to be happy”. The former allows the reader to make an inference and decide for themselves if your experience sounds compelling, the latter is a command with no authority.
- axbytg 5y agoCan we just remove this? It's an abstract for this guys motivational book. We get that taking your hand off your penis allowed you to do something with your life. Good content for other teenagers maybe?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- MisterBastahrd 5y ago"Classical music and no skipping" LOL. That's all I need to see from the author to know to ignore his advice. Logic dictates that if you're looking to suppress excess stimulation, then no music is better than background music. Likewise, if focusing is your goal, then a pair of simple noise cancelling headphones or maybe a nice nature sounds track would be better. Classical music, after all, was created at the whims of an elite ruling class. Big money and its influence on the art form didn't begin with modern music. "I observe many people, interestingly the majority of it are girls, that seem to never stop messaging with their boyfriend, their friends, their mother,…" Life advice from a child. What a brave new world, indeed.
- raziel2701 5y agoI struggle when I stay in a room alone with my thoughts. I start feeling heat in my head and desperation starts to kick in even though it's not physically painful. It's such a strange thing, my mind just wants to be distracted, kind of like a substance addiction. I've never taken it seriously to further investigate what's going on in there. I wonder if others experience something similar? I can tolerate a few minutes before my mind starts to wander and before I know it I am no longer in a room doing nothing, but engaged with a screen. Makes me feel like I have no free will.
- mattowen_uk 5y agoYou are addicted my friend. I'd suggest some sort of anti addiction therapy.
- randomopining 5y agoForce yourself to sit in silence and meditate. There is no easy solution. Just do it.
- reggieband 5y ago> I started to feel a deep feeling of disgust. I skimmed the article very quickly since I didn't like the authors writing style. That line at the end struck me though. I'm not against cynicism in general but it is particularly destructive when combined with bitterness and contempt. That helped me realize why I couldn't get through a paragraph of the essay without wanting to skip forward. This rant isn't coming from a place of love but instead it feels like it is coming from a place of contempt. It seems the author feels they are above others. They are dictating the correct behaviour like a priest to sinners.
- smoldesu 5y ago> How to avoid digital autism and let your mind rest and recover This line couldn't have been written by someone who's opinion I respect or care about. Basically stopped right there.
- ibrahimsow1 5y agoSame. That being said I googled the term and it's not as derogatory as I thought[0], still not good though. [0]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5849631/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5849631/
- smoldesu 5y agoI'm more against how oxymoronic it sounds. Many of the smartest programmers who I've worked with are on the autism spectrum, so I don't really see what the writer is lobbying against. Conflating a biological disability like autism with the choice of being lethargic or easily-impressed is just terrible writing, on an objective level. Their simile basically entirely operates on your willingness to give into bias.
- gotoeleven 5y agoThank you language police for all that you do.
- HellDunkel 5y agoAre there any interesting theories on the interplay of creativity and boredom?
- mahathu 5y ago>Spotify and its fellows allow us to constantly switching [sic] track [sic], always trying to hit the next “high”. Have you ever noticed that after while no music satisfies you? No? The author sounds like such a condescending, self-congratulatory and ill-informed asshole. I don't understand how this is upvoted here at all.
- rchaud 5y agoIt's very Jordan Peterson-y in its prescriptiveness; he definitely has his fans on HN.
- the_only_law 5y agoIf I get bored of music, I just find some new stuff. Sometimes it takes a while, but yeah no, no idea what this guy is talking about.
- alpaca128 5y ago> With the introduction of the TV in the 60s, the PC in the 90s and the smartphone in the last decade, we have changed the main way of consuming information That's what people used to say a decade after the printing press was invented too. And the bit about music is ridiculous; elitism based on ignorance. Anyone claiming that only their favorite genre is acceptable to listen to either has a too high opinion of themselves or has been missing out on >99% of available content, perhaps even due to a fear of "overstimulating" their mind. Some idle time now and then, maybe at a regular walk outside, is definitely helpful not only for creativity. But that doesn't mean the rest of the daily activities are bad. At least for me I'd say both are necessary.
- sirbranedamuj 5y agoThe only worthwhile advice here is to turn off notifications.
- rchaud 5y agoThere are much better articles on the topics of digital addictions, and as a bonus, they come without the paternalistic writing style. "Listen to classical music only!" OK grandpa. He does have a point when he mentions that music in the Spotify era is produced in industrial quantities, and can be quite generic. I also do agree that playlists engender a tendency to rapidly switch from song to song, compared to listening to a full album. But you can't fix that with classical music. If people wanted to seek it out themselves, they would.
- keb_ 5y agoAn alternative to reading this awfully preachy, condescending blog post is to instead watch this clip of Andrei Tarkovsky[1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vvdtaaprzw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vvdtaaprzw