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Bet they'd have been more distracted if you held a no-expense-spared carnival with entertainers and games and sports of all sorts and intellectuals and blow-har

Bet they'd have been more distracted if you held a no-expense-spared carnival with entertainers and games and sports of all sorts and intellectuals and blow-hards from all over the world gathered in and around their monastery, whooping it up and putting on plays, shows (some of them... gasp, sex shows!), speeches, round-tables, demonstrations, et c., 24/7, non-stop. That's what every place is like, now, with always-on available-everywhere Internet. Any of us can switch from whatever we're doing, to paying attention to the carnival, in about two seconds flat, anywhere, any time—and that's when the carnival's not actively bugging us to come take a look. It's always right there, tempting us.

bovermyer 4y ago
Yeah, this is my problem. ....and Hacker News is part of it, at the moment. Gonna close this tab and go work on something for awhile.
gausswho 4y ago
See also allegory Plato's Cave. I think I'll sign off the world wide carnival for today.
soiler 4y ago
That is a significant part of it, but there's more to the problem. Consider the simple task of looking up the definition of a word that you've been pondering. In pre-internet times, you'd physically have to move your body toward a specific room and seek a specific book. There may be a carnival, but even if you look that way and get distracted, you can reorient yourself and refocus on your goal by simply assessing your physical positioning and posture in space. "Ah yes, I am standing in this hallway facing east because that's where the library is." On your phone, you pull it out of your pocket and unlock it. Probably the unlocking is not distracting on its own, but it's also quite possible that you've got some "useful" information on your lockscreen which can distract you immediately. Bad start, but let's pretend it doesn't happen. Ok, now you're on your phone. There's a bunch of different apps, many of them actively trying to capture your attention - carnival-goers calling out to you to look at their show. Alright, distraction achieved - now tear yourself away and get back to your task. What was that task again? You see a bunch of apps, and you're curious about what's in them. And it would only take seconds to get a little bit of value from any of them - news, uplifting stories, comedy, whatever. Can context help? You're in the same place physically and emotionally that you are for most of your life, on your couch (or maybe in front of your actual computer). Nothing is different from the times when you are actually intentionally opening those apps. Oh well, it will come to you, just pass some time at the carnival...
echelon 4y ago
In a perverse sense, maybe it's good. The choices we make can be divided into creation and consumption. The more you can push yourself to create, the more power you'll wield. If you can control what you consume, it'll make you a better creator. Easily available distraction raises the activation energy of your would-be competitors. If you can avoid the distraction yourself, you can get ahead. A twisted way of looking at it, but it has some truth.

bovermyer 4y ago

Yeah, this is my problem. ....and Hacker News is part of it, at the moment. Gonna close this tab and go work on something for awhile.

gausswho 4y ago

See also allegory Plato's Cave. I think I'll sign off the world wide carnival for today.

soiler 4y ago

That is a significant part of it, but there's more to the problem. Consider the simple task of looking up the definition of a word that you've been pondering. In pre-internet times, you'd physically have to move your body toward a specific room and seek a specific book. There may be a carnival, but even if you look that way and get distracted, you can reorient yourself and refocus on your goal by simply assessing your physical positioning and posture in space. "Ah yes, I am standing in this hallway facing east because that's where the library is." On your phone, you pull it out of your pocket and unlock it. Probably the unlocking is not distracting on its own, but it's also quite possible that you've got some "useful" information on your lockscreen which can distract you immediately. Bad start, but let's pretend it doesn't happen. Ok, now you're on your phone. There's a bunch of different apps, many of them actively trying to capture your attention - carnival-goers calling out to you to look at their show. Alright, distraction achieved - now tear yourself away and get back to your task. What was that task again? You see a bunch of apps, and you're curious about what's in them. And it would only take seconds to get a little bit of value from any of them - news, uplifting stories, comedy, whatever. Can context help? You're in the same place physically and emotionally that you are for most of your life, on your couch (or maybe in front of your actual computer). Nothing is different from the times when you are actually intentionally opening those apps. Oh well, it will come to you, just pass some time at the carnival...

echelon 4y ago

In a perverse sense, maybe it's good. The choices we make can be divided into creation and consumption. The more you can push yourself to create, the more power you'll wield. If you can control what you consume, it'll make you a better creator. Easily available distraction raises the activation energy of your would-be competitors. If you can avoid the distraction yourself, you can get ahead. A twisted way of looking at it, but it has some truth.