I caught myself going towards the new tab button about 2 minutes into this video.
i definitely noticed this when i was in uni. for probably every lecture in my last 2 years i would always have my laptop or my phone out and i'd be idly doing something like checking fp or hacker news or something. i'd never fully pay attention to the lecture, i'd only ever tune in if i think something sounds important. notifications on my phone would also take me out of the lecture
tho i think recently i've been doing a good job fighting this, mainly thanks to my work. at work, i'm not allowed to take my phone to my desk, so i've got a major distraction out of my working time. my development machine is also not connected to the internet. i have to use a separate internet-connected computer. so when i'm using my development computer i am 100% focused on my work, and it's harder for me to get distracted since i'm unable to just alt-tab to chrome and start scrolling through hn or fp, i have to turn to face my internet computer to do that.
i feel like i'm starting to get my attention span back. i've stopped obsessively scrolling through my phone unless i well and truly have nothing to do.
I wonder if posting here defeats the purpose of the video somewhat.
The last time I listened to myself was about an hour ago. I've been writing a journal for the last couple years and it's been the most staggeringly useful thing I've ever done. Hundreds of pages now reflecting on myself and trying to improve a little each day.
I think CGP is absolutely right about the lack of reflection, but I don't think it's a modern phenomenon. I had the same problem when I was in school back before we had the internet, or even computers. Either the teacher was boring, and my mind drifted off, or the subject was too interesting, and my imagination got distracted with possibilities. Same doing homework. And time spent socialising was just one huge distraction, either people venting complaints or gossiping, there was never any reflection there.
Although these are just anecdotes, I think the human mind getting distracted is just an element of human psychology, and modern technology has allowed us to see the extent of it. Next thing to do is figure out how to overcome it.
I really liked it.
Yeah, self reflection isn't some lost art, very few people actively took part before the advent of modern media.
I watch most videos on 2x speed. I feel like I'm broken.
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