

The distraction society - pier0
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8603346.stm

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amix
B.F. Skinner has done a lot of research in reinforcement and one of his
findings is that intermittent rewards beat predictable rewards - both for
animals and humans. It's the basic principle of why slot machines are
addictive and why we get addicted on getting the next "email fix".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforcement>

Kathy Sierra has written on how this theory applies to Twitter, which is worth
a read:
[http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2007/0...](http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2007/03/is_twitter_too_.html)

Solving this issue is probably hard since it's followed by humans and
animals... So it must be programmed deep into us.

~~~
nooneelse
Aside from the old-school methods for developing willpower and prudence, I
suppose we could try some pharma paths to altering behavior and the reward
pathways.

What about something like a low dose of Ritalin (low enough to just encourage
focus, not force it) and then a time released reward circuit promoter to
positively reinforce the focused behavior pattern that the Ritalin helped
bring about. Tie the focused behavior to some sensory stimulus (Pavlov's
Buddhist attention bell) by association. Then, over time, make the positive
reinforcement a bit random and intermittent to exploit that same hook you
mention and back down the Ritalin dose to zero as the behavior pattern takes
good root. (In retrospect, maybe I learned the wrong lessons from Brave New
World. :-)

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jamesbritt
"What about something like a low dose of Ritalin (low enough to just encourage
focus, not force it) "

One, finding the right dosage is a trick all by itself; two, Ritalin does not
force focus. It ups the level of dopamine available to the brain. An improved
ability to focus may be one of the results, but (sadly) it's not so
predictable.

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nooneelse
Ritalin was just a stand-in that had the right connotations for the
discussion. Something that plays the role of enabling/encouraging focus. The
real point was surrounding that state of focus with a turned-up reward system,
and then using the random rewards to get the person hooked on getting and
staying in the desired focus state.

~~~
jamesbritt
OK, I see. Yeah, the idea of "psychic training wheels" would be good, help get
people first _doing_ , then coupling the reward to that action, such that over
time one acquires an innate desire to do that action again.

Sometimes that's how things work for me. If I can just get myself over the
aversion hump I'm often then able to get on a roll and keep going. By then
there's a workable feedback loop of effort and results.

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boredguy8
Any discussion on this topic really should include Postman's "Amusing
Ourselves to Death" (1985), in which he argues Huxley's "Brave New World",
rather than Orwell's "1984", more accurately portrays the future dystopia
against which we must be on guard.

[http://www.recombinantrecords.net/docs/2009-05-Amusing-
Ourse...](http://www.recombinantrecords.net/docs/2009-05-Amusing-Ourselves-to-
Death.html)

~~~
adulau
Good point, Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death" is really a good reference
about our "entertaining society" and especially his concept "Information-
Action" ratio. As our society is evolving into fast/ephemeral information and
often really distanced from our reality. The effect of this irrelevant
information which is limiting our real actions.

Another good reading on this topic is the work of Guy Debord especially "The
Society of the Spectacle" where is explaining the degradation of social life
due to the spectacular media.

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patio11
Disable email notifications and check your email on a defined schedule. It is
one of the quickest ways to improve your productivity. (I do it when I wake up
in the morning and when I go to sleep -- this tends to minimize wait times for
customers in America.)

~~~
driekken
Also, doing customer support before going to sleep serves as a wonderful
soporific :)

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nooneelse
Shining a light in your eyes (the basis of many a type of screen) isn't,
though. It can muck with your circadian rhythm (that is the basis of bright
light therapy). There are some timer programs that automate turning down
screen brightness in the evening..

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robryan
The worrying thing is this isn't the first time I've though about the irony of
getting distracted from what I'm doing by reading an article on distraction.

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driekken
_According to a 2007 study by Loughborough University academic, Thomas
Jackson, most of us reply to e-mails immediately - many within six seconds.
Then it takes at least a minute to recover our thoughts. Not long after, more
e-mails arrive, with more checking, and so on._

While reading the article I caught _myself_ not remembering for a while what
it is that I am currently working on :)

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kirill_blazhko
This problem strongly influences people who try to start a business.
Unfortunately many of them tend to be distracted heavily due to the fact that
building a new business is a tough task and they irrationally avoid it.

The more hard (or mind intensive) work you have to complete the more willpower
you have to use to not to be distracted.

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rosshudgens
I'm getting distracted by the sheer number of people talking about how they
got distracted while writing a distraction article. We get it.

Added irony, reading this article instead of working. Subtracted irony,
writing that sentence after writing the above paragraph.

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DanielBMarkham
First person that types tl;dr gets a pie in the face

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epochwolf
tl;dr

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DanielBMarkham
All out, drat you.

All I have left is this this sucky golden ratio doohickey, something Euler
sent over, and a stack of these things from Feigenbaum. Hard to make a pie
with any of that.

~~~
realitygrill
_niiiice_. Though I'm pretty sure I'm missing something here.

