4 ms·

In a notification-heavy, video-ad intensive world, maybe slow refresh will someday turn out to be a feature rather than a bug. Confining one's portable device t

In a notification-heavy, video-ad intensive world, maybe slow refresh will someday turn out to be a feature rather than a bug. Confining one's portable device to applications that preserve mindfulness, focus & attention...

beowulfey 4y ago
The high refresh is what makes epaper notebooks such a joy to use though
mackrevinack 4y ago
every now and again i read hackernews and reddit stuff on my boox ereader and having a slow refresh rate is definitely a good "feature" since it makes it a lot more tedious to read things compared to my phone, which helps me spend less time scrolling aimlessly
- cubefox 4y ago
  This reminds me of the time when I bought my first smartphone, which was quite late. I delayed it as long as possible, but as soon as I had it, I stopped reading books on the train. The Web is just too addictive. At least with snappy refresh rates.
mdp2021 4y ago
The user is the one supposed to be disciplined, "not the dumb device".
- giraffe_lady 4y ago
  Yes, definitely, this and all related problems people have with focus and attention on modern devices is just because they aren't virtuous enough. ???
  - mdp2021 4y ago
    To the original point: "crutches" are not a feature, they are a device. They are not universally useful - the same way that prescription glasses are not. A low refresh display may help some people: it is not helpful in general; some people find featureless text editors less distracting, normalcy greets happily the availability of features and options and hides the GUI with a keyboard shortcut. To your statement: I do not see how «modern devices», on literal terms, can be the issue: they are *organizers* (meant to optimize your time). If people use them differently, that is not a fault in the device. To your statement again: focus and attention are skills that individuals develop. If they are underdeveloped, they should if sough be developed. If your point is elsewhere, please make it explicit. I must presume you do not think that it is the responsibility of your sofa to sculpt your abdominals (nor, for that matter, to make you use your sofa wisely).
- mdoms 4y ago
  You should read Stolen Focus by Johann Hari[0]. People all over the world today are struggling with focus and attention, not because they're not virtuous enough but because tech companies have been intentionally hacking our brains and stealing it away from us. If you don't have time to read the book he did an outstanding interview[1] with Bari Weiss on her podcast Honestly which I urge you to listen to. I used to think of attention in the same way you do, blaming and hating myself because I felt like I wasn't disciplined enough. It's so important to understand that this is something billionaire tech giants have done to us, on purpose. 0 https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/stolen-focus https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/stolen-focus 1 https://www.honestlypod.com/podcast/episode/2f84e8d4/your-attention-didnt-collapse-it-was-stolen https://www.honestlypod.com/podcast/episode/2f84e8d4/your-at...
  - mdp2021 4y ago
    Dear mdoms, first of all allow me to grant you that I will check the material you kindly indicated, when time will allow. But let me confirm my point: if «tech companies have been intentionally [etc.]», this must involve their users, who have been using those services (I can guess which ones they may be) willingly, though innocently. Many of them should also have experiences the other side in life - I hope they received a decent scholarization - and could and should have seen the difference from that side to the other side, and act accordingly taking measures and distances. Many of us have tried experiences in our life, and noticed that they were leading them into something undesirable, and consequently relegated those experiences to appropriate spaces (if any) - this is perfectly normal. In short: if visiting intoxicant.com makes you intoxicated¹, you should probably avoid it, or greatly reduce it, or manage it differently (actively)¹. ¹and note that while they may try hard, it's not an overpowering "injection" - I suppose it must be some bad habit they attempt to instill in users, and which the said users may dodge instead of adopt. You do have a will.
  - mdp2021 4y ago
    And I will also add: suppose that somebody claimed "they cannot help it" (that somebody lures them into it is a different matter) - that when presented with a situation that requires control they lose it: then, you understand, they should treat that as an issue to be overcome with some degree of priority. ...Just like the snipers here that leave a cheap track of their disapproval on the basicmost behavioural "standards".
cubefox 4y ago
That's an interesting point.

beowulfey 4y ago

The high refresh is what makes epaper notebooks such a joy to use though

mackrevinack 4y ago

every now and again i read hackernews and reddit stuff on my boox ereader and having a slow refresh rate is definitely a good "feature" since it makes it a lot more tedious to read things compared to my phone, which helps me spend less time scrolling aimlessly

cubefox 4y ago
This reminds me of the time when I bought my first smartphone, which was quite late. I delayed it as long as possible, but as soon as I had it, I stopped reading books on the train. The Web is just too addictive. At least with snappy refresh rates.

mdp2021 4y ago

The user is the one supposed to be disciplined, "not the dumb device".

giraffe_lady 4y ago
Yes, definitely, this and all related problems people have with focus and attention on modern devices is just because they aren't virtuous enough. ???
- mdp2021 4y ago
  To the original point: "crutches" are not a feature, they are a device. They are not universally useful - the same way that prescription glasses are not. A low refresh display may help some people: it is not helpful in general; some people find featureless text editors less distracting, normalcy greets happily the availability of features and options and hides the GUI with a keyboard shortcut. To your statement: I do not see how «modern devices», on literal terms, can be the issue: they are *organizers* (meant to optimize your time). If people use them differently, that is not a fault in the device. To your statement again: focus and attention are skills that individuals develop. If they are underdeveloped, they should if sough be developed. If your point is elsewhere, please make it explicit. I must presume you do not think that it is the responsibility of your sofa to sculpt your abdominals (nor, for that matter, to make you use your sofa wisely).
mdoms 4y ago
You should read Stolen Focus by Johann Hari[0]. People all over the world today are struggling with focus and attention, not because they're not virtuous enough but because tech companies have been intentionally hacking our brains and stealing it away from us. If you don't have time to read the book he did an outstanding interview[1] with Bari Weiss on her podcast Honestly which I urge you to listen to. I used to think of attention in the same way you do, blaming and hating myself because I felt like I wasn't disciplined enough. It's so important to understand that this is something billionaire tech giants have done to us, on purpose. 0 https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/stolen-focus https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/stolen-focus 1 https://www.honestlypod.com/podcast/episode/2f84e8d4/your-attention-didnt-collapse-it-was-stolen https://www.honestlypod.com/podcast/episode/2f84e8d4/your-at...
- mdp2021 4y ago
  Dear mdoms, first of all allow me to grant you that I will check the material you kindly indicated, when time will allow. But let me confirm my point: if «tech companies have been intentionally [etc.]», this must involve their users, who have been using those services (I can guess which ones they may be) willingly, though innocently. Many of them should also have experiences the other side in life - I hope they received a decent scholarization - and could and should have seen the difference from that side to the other side, and act accordingly taking measures and distances. Many of us have tried experiences in our life, and noticed that they were leading them into something undesirable, and consequently relegated those experiences to appropriate spaces (if any) - this is perfectly normal. In short: if visiting intoxicant.com makes you intoxicated¹, you should probably avoid it, or greatly reduce it, or manage it differently (actively)¹. ¹and note that while they may try hard, it's not an overpowering "injection" - I suppose it must be some bad habit they attempt to instill in users, and which the said users may dodge instead of adopt. You do have a will.
- mdp2021 4y ago
  And I will also add: suppose that somebody claimed "they cannot help it" (that somebody lures them into it is a different matter) - that when presented with a situation that requires control they lose it: then, you understand, they should treat that as an issue to be overcome with some degree of priority. ...Just like the snipers here that leave a cheap track of their disapproval on the basicmost behavioural "standards".

cubefox 4y ago

That's an interesting point.