4 ms·

'Weird and Daunting': 7k Readers Told Us How It Felt to Focus

66 points by gumby 2y ago

sandworm101 2y ago
Am I a bad person for starting this exercise, then immediately alt-tabbing over to type this comment into HN? (The counter appears to still run when the window is not in focused.)
- Flop7331 2y ago
  Congratulations on pulling off a trick at only your own expense.
brudgers 2y ago
https://archive.ph/3FtOo/again?url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/01/upshot/experiment-focus-painting-art.html https://archive.ph/3FtOo/again?url=https://www.nytimes.com/2...
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
standardUser 2y ago
Many of the responses mention meditation, which I think is exactly what this is. With meditation we usually think of certain ways of managing our thoughts or breath or using some sort of mantra (I've never tried that last one), but I think any exercise that is challenging our ability to focus is functioning as mediation. It also reminded me of "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" which is one of four Roald Dahl stories that Wes Anderson made into short films for Netflix.
- Void_ 2y ago
  That would make deep work meditation as well.
hkxer 2y ago
I tried this exercise just after finishing the article. Feels silly to say, but really a remarkable experience. I recently left tech to go back to school, but the program that I got into is very different than what I had envisioned. As I reflected on this recent negative event, my perception changed in those ten minutes, reframing the challenge as an opportunity.
- sdwr 2y ago
  I've noticed a similar feeling recently. Like I'm operating at max capacity without realizing it, and just a few minutes is enough time to unwind and reframe.
smokel 2y ago
The test appears to have been implemented as a JavaScript button with a timer. How many people would have simply set a timer for 10 minutes, then wait for a bit and return to the page to see if they had won a prize?
- throwanem 2y ago
  The Page Visibility API has been around for quite a while: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Page_Visibility_API https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Page_Visibi... That said, as far as I can tell they aren't actually using it, although it is pretty hard to tell - I don't find any mention of it (as the string "visibilitychange", or "hidden" as an object prop, in the minified code) in the page or the linked sources. The timer did disappear after I had had the tab backgrounded for a little while, but clicking "I Quit" only pops a premium upsell sheet, so who knows. In entire fairness, though, I don't think they're really treating it as a particularly rigorous experiment in the first place. Assuming good faith on participants' part in the general case seems reasonable, especially given that it is paywalled and thus not too susceptible to widespread gaming of the 4chan stripe. And they are using Sentry and DD RUM on the experiment page, so if it really meant that much to them, they probably could filter out at least some confounders. (edit: On reflection, they'd have done well to support the fullscreen API here, which in its modern iteration I believe can be used with any block-scoped element, or maybe just any element. But it looks like the UI for this had to be put together in a hurry and maybe mostly outside the confines of their CMS, so I don't suppose I can really blame whoever wrote it for the omission.)
- scotty79 2y ago
  or you could stand up and go grab a coffee ... or look at your phone or other device instead
photonthug 2y ago
> You might think of this chart as the shape of attention. After clicking to start, thousands rapidly exited, some immediately, some after a minute or two. But if you could make it past three minutes, you were more likely to finish than to give up. And once you hit five minutes, your odds of completing the exercise were very high. A quarter who started made it to the 10-minute mark. This is interesting but the whole experiment is completely undermined by the fact that one cannot choose the painting, or at least choose from a list of paintings. Personally I clicked through to see what it was, then left after 10s because I didn't like what I found. I do like impressionism but not the out of focus and "about to go blind" cataract kind, which actually gives me a headache. For me at least, a blank wall would be preferable to a fogged up scene, assuming a 10 minute timer and a computer screen.
- chemeril 2y ago
  What you've described is part of the experiment, which asks the question "can/will you focus for ten minutes on something that you did not choose and may not immediately tickle your neurons?". For most the answer is 'no'. The lack of choice is by design.
  - sandspar 2y ago
    This is a form of brainwashing. Cult leader: "Will you repeat the word 'Love' 10,000 times out loud?" Why? Leader: "Asking 'Why' means you've failed and shall be liquidated." It's a way of forcing people to commit to you while simultaneously demolishing their critical capacity.
    - voltaireodactyl 2y ago
      Certainly true, but boredom is also the foundation of creativity so there is some middle ground worth seeking out.
    - gumby 2y ago
      Perhaps also a good way to explore why so many kids are bored in school.
SoftTalker 2y ago
I didn't see any breakdown by age and I was wondering if people who grew up without phones had an easier time of it. I can sit down for 30 minutes outside on my porch with my phone inside and just look at the trees. It's calming and not difficult at all.
- Tade0 2y ago
  I've seen this referred to as "raw dogging reality" in an anecdote about a man who brought nothing to a 10h flight - not even a book. Personally since the moment I learned that people stare at screens to avoid processing emotions, it's become much easier for me to just stare at the sky. In such moments I feel a lot like an ape released after years of captivity.
  - thefaux 2y ago
    Yeah, I have noticed this effect. I use my phone less than most people in public, but I often have the instinct to reach for it to avoid something about my environment that is at least mildly uncomfortable.
  - Flop7331 2y ago
    I find having kids made a big difference. I have nothing to do? Nice.
aatd86 2y ago
I would be interested in knowing what a fMRI would show and also how it affects people's bodily sensations/nervous system. Why is it so hard for some people?
blueyes 2y ago
This is only tangential, but Adam Gazzaley's The Distracted Mind (2016, MIT Press) provides an excellent anatomy of focus and attention, working memory, goal management and overall cognitive control, then places them in the context of modern technology to discuss how people can fight distraction. https://www.amazon.com/Distracted-Mind-Ancient-Brains-High-Tech/dp/0262034948 https://www.amazon.com/Distracted-Mind-Ancient-Brains-High-T... It's the first time I read someone properly explain all the parts and tasks involved in attentional control in the service of achieving goals.
swayvil 2y ago
They should ask people who meditate. They study the act of focusing a lot. Have special names for various depths of it and such.
brailsafe 2y ago
I have ADHD, and this was not particularly difficult on it's own, but two observations do come to mind. 1) Ironically, medication might have made this harder than it otherwise would have been. 2) The worst part of the experience was trying to ignore the guiding prompts that only stopped by about a minute in. It felt like my manager checking in on Slack for an update on something I'm totally locked in on, and that alone made me want to quit, but thankfully they did stop. I'd also compare it to hearing some chew food with their mouth open while I'm trying to program or read. Have some fucking manners NYT
- HPsquared 2y ago
  The text was super distracting. They say "don't do anything else, focus on the picture" then bombard me with text messages.

66 points by gumby 2y ago

Am I a bad person for starting this exercise, then immediately alt-tabbing over to type this comment into HN? (The counter appears to still run when the window is not in focused.)

Flop7331 2y ago
Congratulations on pulling off a trick at only your own expense.

brudgers 2y ago

https://archive.ph/3FtOo/again?url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/01/upshot/experiment-focus-painting-art.html https://archive.ph/3FtOo/again?url=https://www.nytimes.com/2...

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

standardUser 2y ago

Many of the responses mention meditation, which I think is exactly what this is. With meditation we usually think of certain ways of managing our thoughts or breath or using some sort of mantra (I've never tried that last one), but I think any exercise that is challenging our ability to focus is functioning as mediation. It also reminded me of "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" which is one of four Roald Dahl stories that Wes Anderson made into short films for Netflix.

Void_ 2y ago
That would make deep work meditation as well.

hkxer 2y ago

I tried this exercise just after finishing the article. Feels silly to say, but really a remarkable experience. I recently left tech to go back to school, but the program that I got into is very different than what I had envisioned. As I reflected on this recent negative event, my perception changed in those ten minutes, reframing the challenge as an opportunity.

sdwr 2y ago
I've noticed a similar feeling recently. Like I'm operating at max capacity without realizing it, and just a few minutes is enough time to unwind and reframe.

smokel 2y ago

The test appears to have been implemented as a JavaScript button with a timer. How many people would have simply set a timer for 10 minutes, then wait for a bit and return to the page to see if they had won a prize?

throwanem 2y ago
The Page Visibility API has been around for quite a while: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Page_Visibility_API https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Page_Visibi... That said, as far as I can tell they aren't actually using it, although it is pretty hard to tell - I don't find any mention of it (as the string "visibilitychange", or "hidden" as an object prop, in the minified code) in the page or the linked sources. The timer did disappear after I had had the tab backgrounded for a little while, but clicking "I Quit" only pops a premium upsell sheet, so who knows. In entire fairness, though, I don't think they're really treating it as a particularly rigorous experiment in the first place. Assuming good faith on participants' part in the general case seems reasonable, especially given that it is paywalled and thus not too susceptible to widespread gaming of the 4chan stripe. And they are using Sentry and DD RUM on the experiment page, so if it really meant that much to them, they probably could filter out at least some confounders. (edit: On reflection, they'd have done well to support the fullscreen API here, which in its modern iteration I believe can be used with any block-scoped element, or maybe just any element. But it looks like the UI for this had to be put together in a hurry and maybe mostly outside the confines of their CMS, so I don't suppose I can really blame whoever wrote it for the omission.)
scotty79 2y ago
or you could stand up and go grab a coffee ... or look at your phone or other device instead

photonthug 2y ago

> You might think of this chart as the shape of attention. After clicking to start, thousands rapidly exited, some immediately, some after a minute or two. But if you could make it past three minutes, you were more likely to finish than to give up. And once you hit five minutes, your odds of completing the exercise were very high. A quarter who started made it to the 10-minute mark. This is interesting but the whole experiment is completely undermined by the fact that one cannot choose the painting, or at least choose from a list of paintings. Personally I clicked through to see what it was, then left after 10s because I didn't like what I found. I do like impressionism but not the out of focus and "about to go blind" cataract kind, which actually gives me a headache. For me at least, a blank wall would be preferable to a fogged up scene, assuming a 10 minute timer and a computer screen.

chemeril 2y ago
What you've described is part of the experiment, which asks the question "can/will you focus for ten minutes on something that you did not choose and may not immediately tickle your neurons?". For most the answer is 'no'. The lack of choice is by design.
- sandspar 2y ago
  This is a form of brainwashing. Cult leader: "Will you repeat the word 'Love' 10,000 times out loud?" Why? Leader: "Asking 'Why' means you've failed and shall be liquidated." It's a way of forcing people to commit to you while simultaneously demolishing their critical capacity.
  - voltaireodactyl 2y ago
    Certainly true, but boredom is also the foundation of creativity so there is some middle ground worth seeking out.
  - gumby 2y ago
    Perhaps also a good way to explore why so many kids are bored in school.

SoftTalker 2y ago

I didn't see any breakdown by age and I was wondering if people who grew up without phones had an easier time of it. I can sit down for 30 minutes outside on my porch with my phone inside and just look at the trees. It's calming and not difficult at all.

Tade0 2y ago
I've seen this referred to as "raw dogging reality" in an anecdote about a man who brought nothing to a 10h flight - not even a book. Personally since the moment I learned that people stare at screens to avoid processing emotions, it's become much easier for me to just stare at the sky. In such moments I feel a lot like an ape released after years of captivity.
- thefaux 2y ago
  Yeah, I have noticed this effect. I use my phone less than most people in public, but I often have the instinct to reach for it to avoid something about my environment that is at least mildly uncomfortable.
- Flop7331 2y ago
  I find having kids made a big difference. I have nothing to do? Nice.

aatd86 2y ago

I would be interested in knowing what a fMRI would show and also how it affects people's bodily sensations/nervous system. Why is it so hard for some people?

blueyes 2y ago

This is only tangential, but Adam Gazzaley's The Distracted Mind (2016, MIT Press) provides an excellent anatomy of focus and attention, working memory, goal management and overall cognitive control, then places them in the context of modern technology to discuss how people can fight distraction. https://www.amazon.com/Distracted-Mind-Ancient-Brains-High-Tech/dp/0262034948 https://www.amazon.com/Distracted-Mind-Ancient-Brains-High-T... It's the first time I read someone properly explain all the parts and tasks involved in attentional control in the service of achieving goals.

swayvil 2y ago

They should ask people who meditate. They study the act of focusing a lot. Have special names for various depths of it and such.

brailsafe 2y ago

I have ADHD, and this was not particularly difficult on it's own, but two observations do come to mind. 1) Ironically, medication might have made this harder than it otherwise would have been. 2) The worst part of the experience was trying to ignore the guiding prompts that only stopped by about a minute in. It felt like my manager checking in on Slack for an update on something I'm totally locked in on, and that alone made me want to quit, but thankfully they did stop. I'd also compare it to hearing some chew food with their mouth open while I'm trying to program or read. Have some fucking manners NYT

HPsquared 2y ago
The text was super distracting. They say "don't do anything else, focus on the picture" then bombard me with text messages.