I think it's just information overload. There's so much information everywhere now clamoring at you for attention. Our brains aren't made for processing this much information. Going on a media diet helps. Going completely offline helps even more.

Something I do when I struggle to focus is to add different stripped down user accounts to my computer.

I wanted to dabble in rust so I added a user called ~rs that literally only has access to two application hotkeys (via niri). super+enter opens a terminal, F1 opens the offline rust documentation. Yeah I can just log out and scroll HN, but there's a enough friction to that, that it doesn't really happen very often.

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willmadden 2 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

It's more than information overload. It's an overabundance of distractions specifically designed to steal your attention. I block dark pattern sites during working hours. It helps immensely.

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coffeefirst 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That's smart. It's also revealing.

It was a choice to make technology that absolutely hammers you with information. It was not the right choice.

I want to build and use stuff that promotes focus. I only have a vague inkling of what this means, but it's quieter, less instantaneous. And it's going to be an uphill battle because everyone else is doing the opposite.

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marginalia_nu 3 hours ago | parent [-]

A lot of the choices were to be fair quite accidental. Computers didn't use to be like this, but a lot of the reasons they weren't were properties of how the technology worked. A low-DPI 15" CRT monitor simply can't display very much information at any given moment. A slow single core CPU just doesn't permit browsing the web while your code is compiling. As that changed, we simply piled on multitasking capabilities without asking if we should.

But yeah, it's an interesting space to experiment in. I feel we could be doing much of this a lot better than we are now. My mise-en-place work accounts is very much a hack, and considerable work to set up.

	▲	projektfu 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Before 1992, we browsed newsgroups, watched TV, or played with swords while compiling. That is, if you weren't using Turbo Pascal, with its near-instantaneous turnaround. https://xkcd.com/303/

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wormpilled 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

That's a really cool technique.

> Yeah I can just log out and scroll HN, but there's a enough friction to that, that it doesn't really happen very often.

You can make sure the friction is high by having your password be something difficult to remember, written down on a note, and keeping that note somewhere "out of reach".

	▲	marginalia_nu 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I don't think it's helpful to increase the friction more than it already is, then it just becomes annoying, which makes it more likely you'll stop working like this. You don't have to become a desert father to fix your attention. My hypothesis is that what's hurting focus and attention is context and task switching. It too easy to open a bunch of tabs and get stuck in the xkcd loop[1] whenever you get stuck or something gets a bit boring, so that becomes a thing you do without thinking about it. Having mise-en-place workspaces where things that aren't necessary for what you are doing are out of reach, and reaching for them means you have to log off and lose your state, is generally more than sufficient to fix the problem. It's not that you can't ever check your socials or scroll HN (that wouldn't work for me as part of running a business is a digital presence), you just can't do it while working on something. Makes everything just a little bit more deliberate. (Also on a practical note, chrome/chromium in app mode is great for this, if you do need to be able to go online, but in a limited sense) [1] https://xkcd.com/1411/

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mettamage 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Yeah I can just log out and scroll HN, but there's a enough friction to that, that it doesn't really happen very often.

What an awesome tip!

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Svennor 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Absolutely. There is no more boredom in today's world. Not a second. But boredom is important for the mind to rest.

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plastic-enjoyer 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> I think it's just information overload. There's so much information everywhere now clamoring at you for attention. Our brains aren't made for processing this much information. Going on a media diet helps. Going completely offline helps even more.

I wonder how much is real information, i.e. information that truly is related to your life, interests and within your sphere of influence; and how much is just noise that camouflages as information.