diff --git a/src/content/journal/2017/attention.mdx b/src/content/journal/2017/attention.mdx index 1977567..1ea2aed 100644 --- a/src/content/journal/2017/attention.mdx +++ b/src/content/journal/2017/attention.mdx @@ -2,11 +2,10 @@ title: Self-Defense in the Age of Attention slug: attention author: Stefan Imhoff -date: 2017-11-03 +date: 2017-11-03T08:00:00+01:00 description: A guide on how to get your attention back in the age of constant distraction. -featured: true -cover: /assets/images/cover/attention.webp -tags: ["self-improvement", "minimalism"] +cover: /assets/images/cover/attention.jpg +tags: ["self-improvement", "technology"] --- ## How to Win Back Our Time and Minds @@ -20,16 +19,16 @@ And this is a good thing, as it allows us to extend our minds in directions our The most precious thing you own is not money or time. **It is attention**. We all have the same number of hours on this planet. But what we do with it, what we achieve, is up to us. We decide where we point our attention to. However, do we? ## Feeding the Monster Pointing our attention in the right direction has become harder in the last few years, even for people with a lot of willpower. We have to withstand big corporations with thousands of trained designers, engineers, or product people. They operate in a competitive market **driven by advertising**. And I know this because I’m one of them, and yet I am a victim myself. -Everything is about activating people, making them register, click, scroll, like, use, consume, and stay. We test every part of our interfaces to find out which color, font, and text is the most effective. Compared to the big players like Google, Facebook, or 𝕏, we look like amateurs. +Everything is about activating people, making them register, click, scroll, like, use, consume, and stay. We test every part of our interfaces to find out which color, font, and text is the most effective. Compared to the big players like Google, Facebook, or Twitter, we look like amateurs. Every item you interact with gets analyzed, computed, and stored. Algorithms calculate your next step, your direction. This is how the companies know what you want and when you want it. It enables them to provide you with a never-ending stream of things you crave. @@ -49,11 +48,11 @@ As this is a _metaphorical_ attack on your attention, you should handle it as on ## Avoidance -The first step for successful self-defense is avoidance. Try to avoid as many dangerous situations as possible. In this context, this would mean, staying away from every distraction, which doesn’t add a lot of value to your life. Does Reddit or 𝕏 improve your life? Does surfing hours on Instagram or Facebook help you with your life goals? If not, stay away if possible. This is a personal decision, what might be a distraction to one person, might improve the life of another. +The first step for successful self-defense is avoidance. Try to avoid as many dangerous situations as possible. In this context, this would mean, staying away from every distraction, which doesn’t add a lot of value to your life. Does Reddit or Twitter improve your life? Does surfing hours on Instagram or Facebook help you with your life goals? If not, stay away if possible. This is a personal decision, what might be a distraction to one person, might improve the life of another. These are the countermeasures I took in the last few years or things I experimented with: -- **I deleted many social media apps** like Facebook, 𝕏, Google Plus, and Instagram from my phone. +- **I deleted many social media apps** like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and Instagram from my phone. - **I deleted my bookmarks to social media sites** from my browser and visit them once a week deliberately. I stay less than a few minutes, to get the most important things I missed during the week. - **I deleted all messengers**, except the ones my family is using. - **I stopped reading or watching the daily news** (7 years ago). I’m the last to hear about the newest terrorist attack or the newest threats by Trump to the world. And I avoid the water cooler talks and coffee machine chats as hell. You can’t avoid the news, but not actively searching for news filters out a lot of the noise. @@ -72,4 +71,58 @@ The first step is to recognize, that the own behavior is problematic and harms t My journey started 2 years ago when I began doing mindfulness meditation every morning for 20 minutes. Meditation is the opposite of distraction, it’s focused attention. It doesn’t matter if you point attention to your breath, body parts, an idea, or anything else. Meditation forces you to _be_. Distractions will try to lead your attention away while you meditate. The Buddhists call this **Mind Monkey**, as uncontrolled, restless, confused thoughts will flood the brain during a meditation session. But with time you will get better and be able to focus for longer periods and silence the monkeys. -I think my meditation practice was the main trigger in questioning my behavior with technology, and It is a key factor for a well-balanced person in the future. As we (should) train our body, to strengthen it +I think my meditation practice was the main trigger in questioning my behavior with technology, and It is a key factor for a well-balanced person in the future. As we (should) train our body, to strengthen it, we should do the same with our minds. + +These are a few of the things I did in the last few years to strengthen my awareness: + +- **I started with Meditation** and did more than 730 sessions, more than 210 hours since then. Besides my daily 20 minutes session, I try to do half a dozen of breathing sessions for a minute throughout the day. I used the additional short sessions of my [meditation app](https://www.headspace.com/) to learn about mindful walking, eating, cooking, sleeping, running, and commuting. The app has an extra section for kids and courses for students. +- **I practice selective ignorance**. It’s not easy, but sometimes caring less is the best option, to get the attention back. +- **I try not to use my headphones in the subway**. When I’m reading, I can practice focusing on the book and not on my surrounding. Sporadically, I intentionally do nothing but focus on the people in the subway. +- **I read a lot about the brain and its weaknesses**. If you know all the biases and fallacies, you are less likely to be a victim of them. +- **I read a lot about habit-forming, addiction, and multitasking** (which is not possible in humans). I try to do intentional single-tasking: reading, eating, or watching a TV show, without the distraction of multiple other things at the same time. +- **I started living a [Minimalist](/minimalism/) life**. Fewer things mean less distraction and more attention to the things, which matter to you. +- **I watch and consume intentionally positive, inspiring, creative and uprising** videos or texts (e.g., [TED Talks](https://www.ted.com/)), to change the ratio of positive to negative messages I hear about. + +## Prevention + +While avoidance is about trying not to be exposed to dangerous things, prevention is more about attenuating situations. It’s about making it harder for dangerous things to be successful. + +These are a few of the ideas I implemented or tried in the last few years to prevent my attention is taken away: + +- **I deactivated many push messages**, keeping a few exceptions. I disabled push messages on an app from the moment it first pushed irrelevant, triggering, needy information to me. I allow relevant apps like weather warnings, and family messages to send real-time updates. When an app has useful messages but doesn’t allow selecting which ones, I switch them off. I love _Google Inbox_ because it allows me to select which type of message is allowed to use push messages. +- **I switched off all notification icons** (the red, annoying counters on app icons). +- **I use ‘Do not disturb’ on every device**, including phone, tablet, computer, and landline phone during off-hours (21:00-8:00). My inner family can bypass this wall. +- **My phone is silenced** during work hours (vibrations turned on), and even beyond. +- **I switched off autoplay of videos** wherever possible (YouTube, Netflix, Twitter). And if not possible, I intentionally quit the process of loading the next video, after each video. I go grab something to drink, or do push-ups before I continue watching. +- When in doubt, if I will be able to be aware of the time (like when browsing on Pinterest), I **set a timer** to 15 or 20 minutes, to be reminded of the passing time. +- **I put all my devices on my worktable** when relaxing on the sofa. It prevents the quick _let’s answer this question_ habit and adds a barrier. Plus, it will give you more movement. +- **I put my devices upside down on the table** to not get distracted by incoming messages. +- **I use mute filters to filter out content**, which drives my attention to places I don’t want it to go. +- **I tried to leave my phone in another room** while eating with my family. +- **I switched off Nostalgia features**, like ‘your day one year ago,’ wherever possible. These are annoying because they attempt to activate you again. + +It’s not easy and sometimes even not possible at all to overcome the obstacles of attention-grabbing media with pure willpower. But by building habits of **mindful media consumption**, you might be able to get your attention back. Not every day, but it is a process worth working on. It’s not the device, it’s you. The device can be used to be creative, connect to other people, and be inspired. Or it can be used to distract yourself mindless for hours. It’s your choice. + +By following my advice, I was able to finish redesigning [two](https://www.kogakure.de/) [websites](https://hamburg.stefanimhoff.de/) and wrote a book this year. + +If you have read to this point, without being distracted, kudos! Now put down your phone and look out the window for a few minutes. + +## More links on this topic + +### Videos & Podcast + +- [Look Up](https://youtu.be/Z7dLU6fk9QY) (Garry Turk) +- [Social Media’s Dark Side: How Facebook and Snapchat Try to Steal Our Self-Worth](https://youtu.be/HBRLMoL_vTQ) (Tristan Harris) +- [How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day](https://www.ted.com/talks/tristan_harris_the_manipulative_tricks_tech_companies_use_to_capture_your_attention) (Tristan Harris) +- [Put social back in social media – TEDxLinz](https://youtu.be/gnbLLQwZxeA) (Christian Heilmann) +- [Hurry Slowly](https://hurryslowly.co/) + +### Articles + +- [It’s No Accident We’re Addicted to Our Devices](https://bigthink.com/robby-berman/its-no-accident-were-addicted-to-our-devices) (Big Think) +- [Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/) (The Atlantic) +- [‘Our minds can be hijacked’: the tech insiders who fear a smartphone dystopia](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/05/smartphone-addiction-silicon-valley-dystopia) (The Guardian) +- [Technology is destroying the most important asset in your life](https://qz.com/1091883/technology-is-destroying-the-most-important-asset-in-your-life/) (Quartz) +- [Alarming Statistics That Show Just How Addicted We Are To Mobile Devices](https://www.breakthetwitch.com/statistics-mobile-devices/)(Break the Twitch) + +_This article was first published on [On Advertising](https://medium.com/on-advertising/) and featured by Medium._