Stolen Focus
Why You Can't Pay Attention -- and How to Think Deeply Again
Johann Hari 2022 Aloha Lib 153.733 HARI Johann
wikipedia b1979 / Kings College Cambridge / plagiarism?
p50 Mihaly Csikszentmihali (cheek-sent-he-high-ee) hiding from bombs in butcher shop, with collaborator corpses on meat hooks
p52 goes to study psychology, shocked by dominance of B. F. Skinner
p57 Positive psychology focus on what makes life worth living
p65 Charles Czeisler
- p66 sleep deprivation stretched normal half-second responses to five seconds
p73 Roxanne Prichard 5 mg melatonin blows out sleep receptors ??? citation needed, nothing obvious in literature
- p80 57% of Americans now do not read a single book in a typical year
- p82 compared to books, screens less understandable and remembered "screen inferiority"
- p84 the "message"? The world can be understood in 280 characters
- p85 Twitter least useful ... your thinking will rapidly degrede
p94 rp304 Mlodinow Elastic: Flexible Thinking in a Constantly Changing World 2018
p96 Poincaré solution for Automorphic Functions while stepping onto a bus
p106 Tristan Harris The Social Dilemma
p119 Aza Raskin
p119 infinite scroll
- p121 social media makes people unempathetic, angry, and hostile
p127 rp307 Age of Surveillance Capitalism
- p133 Sites "frack" you, learn your triggers and target your attention
p136 YouTube recommended Alex Jones Infowars 15 billion times
- p140 rage-driven algorithms of social media and Youtube damages attention and focus
p148 Nir Ayal blog post: Want to Hook Your Users? Drive Them Crazy
p150 Ronald Purser
- p151 Stress is imposed on you
- p153 The average weight gain for an adult between 1960 and 2002 was 24 pounds
- p155 environment designed to invade and raid our focus
- p156 "just ban surveillance capitalism"
p162 Mark Ledwich says YouTube is slightly deradicalizing
- unless you log in so it can track you says Nir
- p164 Common Ground, internal unit at Facebook, 64% join extremist groups because Facebook recommended them
- p165 dismissed by Facebook
p166 Hari, war on drugs: Chasing the Scream
- p166 Swiss grandmother Lydia Hari
- p168 Hari gay, was crime, now OK
p170 Jaron Lanier stopped warning about dystopias, which inspired designers to make them
p173 Bayview near SF, violence and stress
- p176 Children with 4+ types of trauma 32.6 times more likely to have attention or behavior problem diagnoses
p197 Dale Pinnock nutritionist
- p200 kids not fed preservatives and dyes, 50% attentiveness improvement
p202 Joel T. Nigg OHSU, ADHD linked to food
- p205 living near major road, 15% more likely to develop dementia
p205 Yuchi et al
p208 1925 Dr. Alice Hamilton opposed leaded gasoline
Thomas Midgley pushed leaded gasoline, later diagnosed with lead poisoning
p221 Dr. Sami Timimi opposed medicalization of ADHD
- p222 people think psychiatrists are pill dispensers
- p223 Moved "problem child" away from irrational teacher
- p224 struggle to focus labelled ADHD, instead discover underlying problem by listening to child
p224 Alan Sroufe
- p225 ADHD caused by chaotic environment
- p226 reaction to circumstances
- p227 Author's friends use stimulants to concentrate on projects
p228 ADHD stimulant dextroamphetamine reduces meth addict cravings
p228 Adderall same effect
p231 rp325 1999 ADHD 14 month clinical trial
- p233 identical twins treated alike, similar behavior (like ADHD) results
- p234 flawed twin studies aside, no individual gene is has large causal role
- p235 non-twin studies show 20% to 30% of ADHD relates to genes
p235 Joel Nigg at OHSU, Child and Adolescent Psychology
p235 Alan Sroufe genes (ie ADHD) switch by environmental input
- p239 37% of elementary schools have no form of recess, most time spent drilling for tests
p240 Lenore Skenazy
- p240 unaccompanied 9yo children reported as parental negligence to police
- p242 children 3 times more likely to be struck by lightning than killed by a stranger
- p244 children learn their most important skills when they play
p245 Barbara Sarnecka UC Irvine, childhood is exploring, not mapped
p246 Jonathan Haidt play deprivation -> rise in child anxiety
p248 460,000 children missing for more than 1 hour, 105 were actual kidnappings, all but 8 made it home safe
- p249 Classrooms with boxes and toys, kids told to play; some did, many just stood and watched, inert
- p252 Child told what to do - bored, couldn't focus. Allowed to play, attention and reading thrived
- p252 Experiences at school led to feelings of incompetence
p253 Neale Donald Walsch "Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone."
- p254 Parents change when they see their kids do something without help.
p256 No Child Left Behind Act huge testing increases, 22% increase in severe attention problems
- compared to what contemporary control?
p256 Sudbury Valley School structure created by student
- p259 post-1870 modern schools: sit still, shut up, follow orders, prepare for factory work
- p260 rats that play when young are smarter
p261 Evangelische Schule Berlin Zentrum students choose subject, then half of lessons explore it deeply
- p261 Finland, children play until age 7, 5 hours of schoolwork w/o homework until age 16, no testing, free play
- p262 only 0.1% diagnosed with attention problems
- p265 1st attention layer: immediate actions, 2nd layer longer term goals, 3rd layer focus on how and why
- p266 denial of service attacks on our minds
- p268 author's 6 big life changes:
- 1: reduce task switching
- 2: access flow state, ability to focus deeply
- 3: six months of year off social media
- 4: hour walk, let mind wander
- 5: strict about 8 hours sleep
- 6: play freely with children
p275 activists paint warnings on Kingsnorth Coal Station, explain their goals in court, acquitted by jury
- p276 new coal stations cancelled, began to close remaining
- p280 "a steady state economy"
index Nir Eyal
index Tristan Harris
index Aza Raskin