5 ms·

Can you quantify or prove that we are more distracted?

conjectures 4y ago
An exhortation to consider effect sizes is different to a claim about the effect sizes in a specific situation. It could be that OP is doing both, but you appear to be neglecting the former.
chaseadam17 4y ago
There’s quite a bit of data. The early chapters of Stolen Focus by Johann Hari provides a good overview of the research, which shows that people are increasingly switching their attention from one thing to another (both in longitudinal research studies and by analyzing things like how long topics trend in the news). He then goes on to summarize research that shows how “intelligence” drops when people switch focus too quickly. Eg speed reading drops retention, multitasking reduces IQ, etc.
- themitigating 4y ago
  That just shows the effects but not whether people were more distracted in the past
  - mat_epice 4y ago
    You responded to the second sentence, not the first. "The early chapters of Stolen Focus by Johann Hari provides a good overview of the research, which shows that people are increasingly switching their attention from one thing to another"
    - jjulius 4y ago
      It's okay, they just got distracted! :P
    - AlexErrant 4y ago
      Screenshot of 4 relevant pages from the book: https://i.imgur.com/AwwdEc4.png https://i.imgur.com/AwwdEc4.png The most important part, for me, was this bit: > What they discovered is there is one mechanism that can make this happen every time. You just have to flood the system with more information. The more information you pump in, the less time people can focus on any individual piece of it.
contravariant 4y ago
Can't recall many people trying to read a book on a bike. For some reason they seem to think it will work when the book is electronic and small enough.
- quadrifoliate 4y ago
  > For some reason they seem to think it will work when the book is electronic and small enough. Do you mean a stationary exercise bike? I don't read books on those because I am usually sweating and I don't want to get that on the book. Also, most paperbacks are pretty springy, so sometimes I need to have one hand holding them open, or some kind of clip system on the bike. iPads or Kindles don't have these problems, so I can certainly imagine using them instead. I don't, probably because of an irrational aversion to getting anything from the grungy gym on my personal devices.
  - Swizec 4y ago
    > Do you mean a stationary exercise bike? You may be surprised to learn people do text and bike. I’ve done it on occasion when running late to a meetup with friends. It’s … not very safe.
  - periphrasis 4y ago
    When the weather gets nice in nyc, the bike lanes fill up with people slowly meandering about the lane as they cycle one-handed, eyes glued to their cellphones. My unscientific, purely vibes based take is that the ubiquity of the smartphone has created such widespread severe dopamine addiction that basic human judgment and even self preservation instinct is increasingly impaired.
    - rakejake 4y ago
      Well, once when I was out walking, I saw someone peeing on a trail side, dick in one hand, phone in the other. There is a social crisis of some sort and we basically have no idea how to get out of it.
BitwiseFool 4y ago
I'm sure this question is coming from an earnest place, but does it not stand to reason that the sheer amount of information we have almost ubiquitous access to, combined with personalized content recommendation, means that we are more distracted than a medieval person who had no exposure to such things? How would one even try to assert this empirically?
- vasco 4y ago
  A medieval person also didn't go through school, likely wasn't taught how to read or forced to work through math problems and do almost 20 years of schooling with the intention of improving their thinking skills, analytical skills, memory and attention. So it is not obvious at all which effects dominate and if this isn't just the same drivel that Gessner spouted in the 1500's about how books and the printing press were going to create an information overload and ruin our attention - https://slate.com/technology/2010/02/a-history-of-media-technology-scares-from-the-printing-press-to-facebook.html https://slate.com/technology/2010/02/a-history-of-media-tech... - https://www.jstor.org/stable/3654293 https://www.jstor.org/stable/3654293
  - themitigating 4y ago
    Wouldn't they have to be more mindful of safety and personal health. Like an increase in dangers from criminals, food, buildings, etc
  - BitwiseFool 4y ago
    Given how popular TikTok and short form content is with the younger generations who are currently in school or just graduated from 20 something years of schooling, I don't think all that intention of improving their "thinking skills, analytical skills, memory and attention" is that effective at countering contemporary distractions. Have you seen the latest trend where Gen Z'ers zone out by watching a TikTok that has a family guy clip, some arts and crafts clip, and some gameplay footage all on the same screen? It is the epitome of distraction and it's catching on like wildfire because people watching these switch between each subject on screen just enough to hold their attention. The algorithm is rewarding that, so more and more TikToks have composite videos. Going back to the subject of contemporary education, one could also speculate that ~20 years of schooling replacing ~20 years of apprenticeship and mastery of a single craft makes the ability to resist distraction worse. Perhaps teaching someone to make wagon wheels for 20 years makes them better able to focus on a single thing than teaching them to learn all sorts of different subjects for a few hours each day? People like to look back at previous generation's moral panics, but I can't help but think there was an element of truth to many of them.
coding123 4y ago
It's obvious
bongoman37 4y ago
[dead]

An exhortation to consider effect sizes is different to a claim about the effect sizes in a specific situation. It could be that OP is doing both, but you appear to be neglecting the former.

chaseadam17 4y ago

There’s quite a bit of data. The early chapters of Stolen Focus by Johann Hari provides a good overview of the research, which shows that people are increasingly switching their attention from one thing to another (both in longitudinal research studies and by analyzing things like how long topics trend in the news). He then goes on to summarize research that shows how “intelligence” drops when people switch focus too quickly. Eg speed reading drops retention, multitasking reduces IQ, etc.

themitigating 4y ago
That just shows the effects but not whether people were more distracted in the past
- mat_epice 4y ago
  You responded to the second sentence, not the first. "The early chapters of Stolen Focus by Johann Hari provides a good overview of the research, which shows that people are increasingly switching their attention from one thing to another"
  - jjulius 4y ago
    It's okay, they just got distracted! :P
  - AlexErrant 4y ago
    Screenshot of 4 relevant pages from the book: https://i.imgur.com/AwwdEc4.png https://i.imgur.com/AwwdEc4.png The most important part, for me, was this bit: > What they discovered is there is one mechanism that can make this happen every time. You just have to flood the system with more information. The more information you pump in, the less time people can focus on any individual piece of it.

contravariant 4y ago

Can't recall many people trying to read a book on a bike. For some reason they seem to think it will work when the book is electronic and small enough.

quadrifoliate 4y ago
> For some reason they seem to think it will work when the book is electronic and small enough. Do you mean a stationary exercise bike? I don't read books on those because I am usually sweating and I don't want to get that on the book. Also, most paperbacks are pretty springy, so sometimes I need to have one hand holding them open, or some kind of clip system on the bike. iPads or Kindles don't have these problems, so I can certainly imagine using them instead. I don't, probably because of an irrational aversion to getting anything from the grungy gym on my personal devices.
- Swizec 4y ago
  > Do you mean a stationary exercise bike? You may be surprised to learn people do text and bike. I’ve done it on occasion when running late to a meetup with friends. It’s … not very safe.
- periphrasis 4y ago
  When the weather gets nice in nyc, the bike lanes fill up with people slowly meandering about the lane as they cycle one-handed, eyes glued to their cellphones. My unscientific, purely vibes based take is that the ubiquity of the smartphone has created such widespread severe dopamine addiction that basic human judgment and even self preservation instinct is increasingly impaired.
  - rakejake 4y ago
    Well, once when I was out walking, I saw someone peeing on a trail side, dick in one hand, phone in the other. There is a social crisis of some sort and we basically have no idea how to get out of it.

BitwiseFool 4y ago

I'm sure this question is coming from an earnest place, but does it not stand to reason that the sheer amount of information we have almost ubiquitous access to, combined with personalized content recommendation, means that we are more distracted than a medieval person who had no exposure to such things? How would one even try to assert this empirically?

vasco 4y ago
A medieval person also didn't go through school, likely wasn't taught how to read or forced to work through math problems and do almost 20 years of schooling with the intention of improving their thinking skills, analytical skills, memory and attention. So it is not obvious at all which effects dominate and if this isn't just the same drivel that Gessner spouted in the 1500's about how books and the printing press were going to create an information overload and ruin our attention - https://slate.com/technology/2010/02/a-history-of-media-technology-scares-from-the-printing-press-to-facebook.html https://slate.com/technology/2010/02/a-history-of-media-tech... - https://www.jstor.org/stable/3654293 https://www.jstor.org/stable/3654293
- themitigating 4y ago
  Wouldn't they have to be more mindful of safety and personal health. Like an increase in dangers from criminals, food, buildings, etc
- BitwiseFool 4y ago
  Given how popular TikTok and short form content is with the younger generations who are currently in school or just graduated from 20 something years of schooling, I don't think all that intention of improving their "thinking skills, analytical skills, memory and attention" is that effective at countering contemporary distractions. Have you seen the latest trend where Gen Z'ers zone out by watching a TikTok that has a family guy clip, some arts and crafts clip, and some gameplay footage all on the same screen? It is the epitome of distraction and it's catching on like wildfire because people watching these switch between each subject on screen just enough to hold their attention. The algorithm is rewarding that, so more and more TikToks have composite videos. Going back to the subject of contemporary education, one could also speculate that ~20 years of schooling replacing ~20 years of apprenticeship and mastery of a single craft makes the ability to resist distraction worse. Perhaps teaching someone to make wagon wheels for 20 years makes them better able to focus on a single thing than teaching them to learn all sorts of different subjects for a few hours each day? People like to look back at previous generation's moral panics, but I can't help but think there was an element of truth to many of them.

coding123 4y ago

It's obvious

bongoman37 4y ago

[dead]