How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy(nytimes.com) |
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy(nytimes.com) |
"When I have occasionally set myself to consider the different distractions of men, the pains and perils to which they expose themselves at court or in war, whence arise so many quarrels, passions, bold and often bad ventures, etc., I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber."
Those that enter a room and turn the television set on, and
those that enter a room and turn the television set off."
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Not unique to them but there are quite a few cases where "enemies" were helful to them yet persecuted and the "allies" would have been best off strangled when they first met them to save everyone a lot of heartache.
> So, you’ve arranged to take no calls, you’ve closed your door, you’ve sat down somewhere comfortable, take a couple of deep breaths and if you’re anything like me, after you’ve pondered some problem that you want to turn into an opportunity for about 90 seconds, you find yourself thinking “Oh I forgot I’ve got to call Jim… oh, and I must tell Tina that I need the report on Wednesday and not Thursday which means I must move my lunch with Joe and Damn! I haven’t called St. Paul’s about getting Joe’s daughter an interview and I must pop out this afternoon to get Will’s birthday present and those plants need watering and none of my pencils are sharpened and Right! I’ve got too much to do, so I’m going to start by sorting out my paper clips and then I shall make 27 phone calls and I’ll do some thinking tomorrow when I’ve got everything out of the way.”
> Because, as we all know, it’s easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent, like thinking.
> And it’s also easier to do little things we know we can do, than to start on big things that we’re not so sure about.
> So when I say create an oasis of quiet know that when you have, your mind will pretty soon start racing again. But you’re not going to take that very seriously, you just sit there (for a bit) tolerating the racing and the slight anxiety that comes with that, and after a time your mind will quiet down again.
> Now, because it takes some time for your mind to quiet down it’s absolutely no use arranging a “space/time oasis” lasting 30 minutes, because just as you’re getting quieter and getting into the open mode you have to stop and that is very deeply frustrating. So you must allow yourself a good chunk of time. I’d suggest about an hour and a half. Then after you’ve gotten to the open mode, you’ll have about an hour left for something to happen, if you’re lucky.
> But don’t put a whole morning aside. My experience is that after about an hour-and-a-half you need a break. So it’s far better to do an hour-and-a-half now and then an hour-and-a-half next Thursday and maybe an hour-and-a-half the week after that, than to fix one four-and-a-half hour session now.
By the way, today is the 500th anniversary of the death of one of the greatest human beings in history at doing a lot by spending time ”doing nothing”, i.e., observing, drawing, and thinking: [Leonardo da vinci][2]! Have not seen a Google Doodle, or anything on Apple’s homepage, marking the occasion, which makes me think we need more creative people in charge in the world, to counter-balance the business suits.
[1]: https://youtu.be/Pb5oIIPO62g?t=977
[2]: https://www.simongriffee.com/notebook/leonardo-da-vinci-500-...
I get a hangover from the weekend... because I do nothing. I go for walks, read a book, ask my kids whether they think there are more cats than animals... I work on old recreational maths puzzles. I wander over to my friend's house for tea to catch up on how he's doing. We check for caterpillars in his garden on the way out. I plant wildflowers in my own.
The hardest part of doing nothing is learning to live with all the people who can't.
Very true. Network effect doesn't only have effects online. I've missed out on quite a bit of real life socialization (friends, community, and business) because I never signed up for Facebook and refuse to carry a cell phone.
At least in the last few years people are coming around on Facebook but I still get weird responses to not carrying a cell phone.
How are you supposed to meet strangers and have interesting conversation when they won't look up long enough to see that you are attempting to make eye contact with them?
You would like the book ‘Digital Minimalism’.
So over the last few months I've stopped audiobooks and podcasts (I already don't watch TV).
Kind of counter intuitively, I find this "REAL down time" combined with other physical activities such as jogging and a few minutes of gardening each day provides me with greater self-control.
I find it really interesting you mention gardening, because I've found that doing dishes has the same effect on me. I can just stand in front of the sink, wash the dishes, and introspect on things and let the mind wander. By the end of it, I get a dopamine hit from accomplishing a useful task with immediate visible results, as well as a relaxed state of mind.
At a higher level, though, it's just an enjoyable mode of being. But you can't get into that state if you don't learn how to stop doing things and just lean back for a minute.
It feels quaint to imagine that just twenty years ago, when you agreed to meet someone, you couldn't text/call them with real time updates -- so times were plus/minus ten minutes and people had no problem waiting, sometimes even for hours.
I think kids (at least early on) as you note are pretty excellent antidote. the first year is especially a whole lotta not much (eat, poop, sleep, make noise, repeat).
at work I found using a really old computer was effective, since switching to slack was like a 30 second endeavor, I would just sit in the terminal all day. at home a shitty cell data plan is effective as well.
git clone https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts.git && cd hosts && pip3 install --user -r requirements.txt && python3 updateHostsFile.py --auto --replace --extensions social porn gambling
and going strong.
What I figured so far is that the trick is to stay away from the browser. So I've removed Safari on my iPhone (well, more like hidden), I've changed my rss client to newsboat - command line one, I moved all of my youtube subscriptions into rss, I've written a script that keeps track of videos I would like to watch from those rss subscriptions, downloads them in bulk in background (all hail systemd timers) and then gives me dmenu to pick a video to play in mpv.
I had Google app installed on my iPhone but I noticed that I use this thing to surf mindlessly again, so I deleted it. Basically I can't google stuff anymore on my phone =/. But so be it, it turned into communicator/navigator/music player/food orderer.
I did start reading books again because... Well, taking phone into toilet is pointless now, gotta do something, so I started reading books again. I'm actually reading multiple at the time, there is a paper book in the toilet, there is a book on my iphone and there is a book on my laptop, three completely unrelated topics so whenever I feel like procrastinating I read one of them. Well, except the one in toilet, I'm not procrastinating, I'm working hard there ;-).
Stay away from the browser guys.
At one point I realized that I hadn't thought deeply or creatively about anything in a long time, and it was because I was constantly consuming the mental equivalent of junk food snacks. Endlessly scrolling feeds, banal and unchallenging content that demands nothing more from us than a tap/click/swipe... that little red notification icon is a psychological experiment; a Pavlovian intermittent reward. And it was specifically designed to be so.
I firmly believe the human mind needs periods of boredom, and space free from distraction. Without that space, the mind has no room for contemplation or creativity.
Not to mention my book-reading rate has increased by around 200%. Was I really wasting four books a month of time on Facebook and Twitter? Apparently.
I've noticed that whenever I would start working on grades, or assignments, or whatever, students would never ask for help unless it was dire. When I was at attention, while it wasn't constant, I found myself helping students more. Over time, I've assumed it is because they don't want to "bother" me or break my concentration. However, when all I am doing is waiting for them to ask a question, I seemed to get more activity.
I still have an old iPhone though, with a complementary SIM card, that I use for navigation or when travelling. Typically it stays in my car or in my bag.
I've never been so happy since I left social media and compulsively taking out my phone all the f. time.
I now read a lot in my commute time or just "do nothing" which I find very satisfying : I can think of work or personal life or interests and I'm always gaining something of this free time to somehow ... piece things together.
I think the biggest danger of these products is that they are optimized to co-opt our attention, reducing the time available for this genuinely deep thinking.
CGP Grey talking about water proof phones invading his shower times with podcasts
Work is the same thing. My mind switches between active problem solving, and detachment, while my subconscious is working out a solution. Work usually isn't maximally-stimulating, so I'm always dividing my attention there too.
For something to commandeer my full attention, it has to bear down heavily on my 'main life loop'. Social media often manages to do this, with some really smart person's Quora post incisively dissecting a topic I'm intensely interested in.
My mind 'forages' through social media looking for stimulation. No distraction can literally steal ALL my attention, I always have some left over.
I've altered all my computing environments to avoid any kind of unwanted animation. Animations on computer screens do manage to snatch me out of my current mental loop. If social media did this, then it wouldn't be useful for me and I wouldn't bother with it.
I mean this honestly that unless you can detach in the ways people describe here, it will get worse.
Personally, I've noticed that my depth of thinking has improved since making time for contemplation. I was nervous initially about not having read everything - I was surprised and proud how people said "have you seen xyz" and I had. I'm not that person any more, but my skills as an engineer to solve complex problems has improved.
I'm seriously thinking of switching my computing over to an iPad, to get rid of all the bits of stuff on the periphery of my computing. One app at a time.
Easy enough to modify the environment on our phones and desktops but it’s more inconvenient to avoid IRL distractions.
You’re right in that it’s pretty much is visual/auditory littering at this point.
Its been extremely difficult but doable. Now i know what withdrawal feels like.
Even then how would it create a global economic collapse? I doubt even a complete advertising melt-down (probably impossible situation where effectiveness of ads goes to 0% and it is known) would accomplish more than a recession or depression at most as even uninfluenced people would have needs and desires to meet and global trade could help fulfill them.
Even if a productivity glut drives down the value of labor that would self limit with minimum wage and "working more would get me less of value than taking more time offc
Personally, a lot of my "doing nothing" happens online as well. Whether that's good or bad I can't say, but my goal is definitely not to be productive when I'm randomly browsing the internet.
As the review points out, it works for the author and her artistic lifestyle, but probably wouldn't for me.
Something that drives me nuts now is people staring at their phones while ostensibly hanging out with me and being social. I have a couple of friends who are hardcore Pokemon Go players, and I can't go anywhere with them without them constantly hunting for Pokemon on their phones (or checking FB, or whatever).
It'll cut the number of times you grab your phone in half.
Or buy an Apple Watch (or Android equiv). You'll see your messages on there and realize a whole lot of them require little or no input. Quick glance at the wrist and then you're back to reality.
I have this feeling like sure, I can be idle for an hour or so. But it would be incredibly boring and also why?
Because that is your recovery time, which can be pretty valuable.
If you take part in physical sports/pastimes (for instance I run) you'll know the value of periodicity in training programs: rest days each week, and easy weeks every 3/4/5 (this can vary a lot depending on training program). Training actually does damage, the rest periods allow the body a bit of time to put itself back together better and if you skip them you risk an over-training related injury.
I consider a bit of downtime during the day to have a similar effect on my mind. Sleep of course is the longer rest periods. In sports, it is important to take some full time off now and then too: don't jump into training for one event immediately after the last. For the mental wellness equivalent, this is what proper holidays are for.
The anxiety affects us the same: we feel that by doing nothing for a while we are letting go, wasting time, undoing some good, etc. But really we are doing ourselves some good by not running our bodies at approaching 100% too constantly.
Nor are her actions for that matter: She waxes on about not creating things and then creates a book.
Books in early time also contain trash like internet nowadays. The problem that needs to be solved that we need to find good sources of information, like to find a good book. I like to read old books which have good reputation and reviews. The new book still needs time to be test and refined.
This is what I do:
1) Do nothing
2) Feel your sensations in the body as your doing nothing. In the beginning I sometimes feel aggitated, I just keep observing the my sensations for a couple of minutes.
3) Close your eyes.
4) Congratulations, you are now limited by your fantasy. Have fun, experiment, make up a story, visualize something.
I feel like this misses the point because you're still looking at it through the lens of productivity, albeit a step removed from "writing code" kind of productivity.
In your example you're still doing something -- "trying specifically to drum up ideas for something to hack on".
It seems like, if anything, this is an example of what the author is talking about: the need to turn everything into productivity.
Which reminds me the first time I did a longer silent meditation retreat. Even though this was before the smartphone age, I missed listening to music, talking to people, reading the news, etc. Basically any strong sensory perception. Once you are over the hump and accept these cravings, it becomes easier and you find a certain 'lightness' in not having to react to every emotion immediately.
Since last year or so I have become more conscientious about my smartphone use. And I have tried to curtail use a fair bit. Since smartphones are often genuinely useful (navigation, occasional messaging, music) I didn't want to stop cold turkey. Also, to me it is more interesting to learn to break the addiction while still being able to use a phone responsibly. I removed all games from my phone and most social media apps. All those moments where you'd normally take out your phone have become so much nicer: there are more opportunities to rest your mind, pick up small conversations with people, etc.
Besides the addictiveness of phones, the other problem of social media is that everything has become a reputation game. The other day, I saw a video of Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder just wandering around a park in Seattle in 1992. People recognized him, would come up to him and they'd just chat. Some people would ask an autograph, but that's it. As someone pointed out in the comments, this would not be possible anymore today. If a somewhat famous person would be recognized, people would focus more on getting the perfect pic for Instagram likes than actually connecting with a real person.
Similarly, when I was a teenager, we would just go to concerts, fool around, kiss, play guitar miserably, all the things that teenagers do, without the need to continuously document our perfect party life or being aware of the risk that someone might film you when you do something stupid. We were much freer than kids are now.
That’s essentially the same as trying to quit tobacco.
Yup.. personally I somehow feel it's "wrong" that I sit there and do nothing on the rare occasion I get the opportunity.
I strongly recall going with my parents to the laundromat as a child and sitting there for 3 hrs straight on a chair. I had no phone, no book, no other kids in the building, and the arcade machines and other things all costed quarters that I didn't have. I would just sit there bored out of my skull, and I hated it more than anything else in the world. It wasn't like playing outside with friends where we could invent our own games, it was cold sterile nothing in a smelly building. When people complain about contemporary kids on their tablets or phones 24/7 and how this is bad I always think back to these times when I literally didn't even have a crayon to scribble with. The times I remember fondly of exploring/playing/running around the neighborhood/drawing/ fighting/ etc are more memorable, but in terms of objective measurement, were vastly outweighed by sitting doing literally nothing. I feel like people often view the world with rose-coloured glasses when they write these anti-screen messages.
She vocalized how she thought it was "so indulgent" to lie about for an hour on a late-summer Sunday afternoon in the city.
I grew up in a small, small town and remember a time even in the 90s before there was internet access. And then a time when there was, but it was far from readily accessible.
Entire days could be consumed by riding your bike on country roads past cornfields and sitting at the foot of waterfalls. There was nothing else to do. I read a lot. If that's indulgent I must be the most ugly glutton!
I would say that we unlearn how to simply sit and be without being bored.
This especially helped me with my programming. Sketching a program on paper forces you to more or less skip the concrete code, but think more about flow, structure and goals.
When you are at home with your multi monitor workstation, it can sometimes make sense to take your laptop and sit down at thw kitchen table to break habits and start a focused session (easier to have a youtube video open on a multi display setup).
In the end it all boils down to maintaining a perception about your own work processes and trying not to lie to yourself.
1200 bauds, plain-text ought to be enough for writing something in vim+latex, while setting this up could give me a meaningful project to spend some time on... I must say it has been collecting dust for now, while I procrastinate on HN (not entirely true, but I found that I tend to junk-fill my free time with consuming content and writing "internet conmments" like a fastfood addict).
IMO, that is a substantial and qualitative difference that makes the new “distraction” mediums far more effective and dangerous.
The first 24 will have you eeking out the last bit of battery from gadgets. You can also turn in early for the night, listening to a battery powered radio.
Then in the second 24 hours, with no electricity, see what happens. You might use the daylight hours to tidy up or fix a few broken things. You might read those books that have been collecting dust. You might actually write something with pen and paper. Food is cold, beverages are cold. There is no power shower. Daylight hours matter, you have to get whatever it is you are doing done before it is dark.
48 hours is about enough. You can remind yourself in that time how 24/7 media distractions don't really help. When you get back online none of those missed emails and notifications really mattered. It feels like a mini-holiday has been had. Warm food tastes great again, as does tea/coffee.
Turning off a phone for a few hours only gets you part way into the digital detox experience, flicking the big electricity switch and keeping it off for more than a day is much more enlightening.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=weapons+of+mas...
(The pre-1980 instances appear to be OCR error artefacts.)
The etymology of 'advertise" is "advert" -- to distract the gaze, attention, or focus.
The point is, many people use that lobby. Sure, the owners can legally run 24x7 porn on the screens if they really wanted, but wouldn't we all be better off with no screens there at all?
Nothing sucks like saving a video, forgetting about it, seeing a [Video removed] in your favorites and Youtube not even telling you what it was. That's just bad UX imo..
Digital feeds never end. There's always something new, always something interesting. There's always something. You can keep staring at the screen endlessly. And if one app doesn't give new stuff anymore, there's 10 other apps within a tap away to give you more.
With all due respect, perhaps they're viewing through the glasses of "not having neglectful and/or impoverished parents." A daily 3-hr purgatory, isolated from socialization or stimuli, will not to a kid any good.
Candles exist and are great sources of light. I can do pretty much normal stuff, albeit with less noise. I just make more artwork.
Fire exists and you can cook on it. Refrigeration, however, doesn't. Showers suck because they are cold, but for 48 hours, most will just skip it. Otherwise, heat up water on the fire for washing up.
Depending on where you live, you might not have water. I've lived a few places on a well that absolutely required electricity to have running water.
Besides, what you are talking about is ... relaxation and vacation. Folks do this all the time when they go camping. Or here, stay out in a primitive cabin in the mountains. One doesn't need to go full nomad to experience benefits from a relaxing vacation weekend.
Now that I've said it, I kinda want to do it.
I would say that going cold turkey on the electricity for 48 hours so you get a complete 24 hour cycle is well worth it. Apart from anything else electricity is taken for granted and it should not be.
With our computer backups we only know if the backups work if we can restore from them. We don't just assume it will be okay because we have everything on tape.
Recently the Russians closed off the internet access to the wider web to see if they could cope with the USA cutting the cord.
I would say that testing life without the electricity is one of those things, worth doing not just for 'personal growth' reasons but out of preparedness. It isn't prepper alarmism, there could be a flood, fire or other freak weather incident that puts you off grid.
In a sibling comment there is mention of candles. Most people don't have a lot of these, or, if in a built up area, an actual fireplace. I would advise against doing any preparation as in buying alternative supplies and in that way night is night.
There is an actual climate emergency going on right now and buying a Tesla isn't going to help. Going cold turkey on electricity for the thought experiment value does help. Afterwards you realise that you need little more than what you would normally waste on 'phantom power' losses. Time also becomes valued differently, as per the original article we have an 'attention economy' and electricity facilitates that. When you realise you have to read an actual book in actual silence for 'amusement' and then quite enjoy it, your value system changes.
Don't come to me and simply say "I'm bored." What am I supposed to do with that? If you have an idea of something you'd like to do that involves me, by all means just tell me.
Otherwise, leave me alone.
It is quite in the benefit of other people and groups for you to be “productive”.
Recently, I've observed that you're more likely to meet someone, and end up in a long conversation, close to the point where either you, or they, show up. So, you could strike up a conversation with someone after sitting next to them for 30 minutes, each doing your own thing... but it's been my experience that when you show up, or when they show up, there's more of an incidental openness that can be exploited with a "hello" (or whatever suits the occasion).