

Kinds of Focus - bdr
http://andrewbadr.com/log/18/kinds-of-focus/

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gruseom
_[Reading articles online is] a shallow kind of learning._

I couldn't agree more, and often wonder if we've even begun to work out the
implications of this.

~~~
greenyoda
I also agree, and I'm also troubled by how addicted I've become to shallowly
browsing dozens of such articles a day. I find that it's getting harder and
harder for me to concentrate on something like a lengthy book for long periods
of time, something I used to do frequently. But it's ironic that the author of
that article is himself writing articles in his blog for people to read online
- articles that contain some interesting opinions but have no particularly
deep content.

~~~
bdr
Working on it...

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no_more_death
Wow -- just reading this, I felt my concentration patterns change.

This is why, as a Christian, I meditate on _something,_ instead of simply
emptying my mind. I spent an hour or so in Psalm 119 this morning,
contemplating a few verses, comparing with my life, and shaping my thinking to
fit those verses.

Here's a thought. What if 50 of us committed to checking /newest at a
particular time (say, 5 am), finding 2 articles worth reading, and adding a
substantive, reflective comment to start things off?

That would gigantically impact Hacker News if we did that. In fact, I'm going
to do that right now.

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unimpressive
Too long; Didn't Read

TL;DR

TL

We're already seeing conventions popping up to deal with this change in
behavior. They just aren't formalized yet.

I think this will be another advantage that hypermedia will have over regular
old print, you will be able to present your information in "layers". A TL;DR
for reference, a summary, and then the full article.

Of course, that speaks nothing to the nature of the actual articles. I think
theres a point where you've "read enough" and need to go do something else for
a while, see what works and what doesn't. I took a two month long hiatus from
HN to focus on other stuff recently. It helped. The first n articles at some
point become much more helpful than the next nth articles.

~~~
chronomex
> I think this will be another advantage that hypermedia will have over
> regular old print, you will be able to present your information in "layers".
> A TL;DR for reference, a summary, and then the full article.

Abstract, introduction, paper.

~~~
unimpressive
I was talking about in other contexts besides Academia. But yes, that is one
solution. And it does work in print. But it has to co-exist alongside the
other content.

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r41nbowcrash
>When the number of incoming stimuli is reduced, the mind gradually perceives
finer details in the ones that remain. This is famously true of blind people,
but you can consciously narrow your attention to the same effect.

Or starts hallucinating stuff (ganzfeld effect, Charles Bonnet syndrome)

"Open systems communicate and live. Closed systems do not communicate, become
non-discerning, uninteresting and die." - Col. John Boyd

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saavedra
I disagree. When I find an article online that exposes a point of view that I
haven't seen yet about some matter, I often keep thinking about it the whole
day and I even discuss it with other people. That's really a contribution to
my mind.

Plus, it's only exploring new things that you get interested and feel
motivated to learn more about them.

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KalobT
Keeping an open mind is always great. However, being unable to focus on one
task and become superior at it is quickly becoming an issue. Today, if I
remember correctly, the average attention span is only 8 seconds. Remember:
Jack of all trades is the master of none.

~~~
pirateking
Disagree with your last point.

A jack of all trades is a master of the unique combination of his relative
skill in each of those trades.

