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Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Psychology of Your Twenties,

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Speaker 1: the podcast where we talk through some of the big

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Speaker 1: life changes and transitions of our twenties and what they

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Speaker 1: mean for our psychology.

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Speaker 2: Hello, everybody, will welcome back to the show. Welcome back

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Speaker 2: to the podcast. New listeners, old listeners. Wherever you are

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Speaker 2: in the world, it is so great to have you here.

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Speaker 2: Back for another episode, another topic, another deep dive, as we,

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Speaker 2: of course break down the psychology of our twenties. Okay,

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Speaker 2: there has been a trend that I've been noticing recently,

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Speaker 2: both within myself but also those around me, across social media,

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Speaker 2: amongst my workmates, even from you guys, the listeners that

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Speaker 2: everybody is talking about, and that is our collective declining

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Speaker 2: ability to con and our ability to focus. So many

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Speaker 2: of us in this day and age are struggling to

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Speaker 2: stay on task, struggling to keep away from our phones

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Speaker 2: and kind of push back against like the siren call

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Speaker 2: of TikTok and Instagram. One professor has even stated that

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Speaker 2: our levels of inattention have reached an epidemic rate. That

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Speaker 2: might sound a little bit extreme, but I think that

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Speaker 2: it's something that all of us can relate to I

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Speaker 2: want you to seriously ask yourself the simple question of

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Speaker 2: when was the last time you were able to spend

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Speaker 2: a complete hour on a single task without getting distracted?

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Speaker 2: For me, I think for most of us we probably

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Speaker 2: can't remember that time. It's pretty safe to assume that

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Speaker 2: there has been a gradual decrease in our attention spends

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Speaker 2: going on for some years. A lot of us really

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Speaker 2: started noticing it post COVID and post Long Down, when

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Speaker 2: a lot of us really did get quite engrossed in

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Speaker 2: short form content on TikTok, when we lacked any structure

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Speaker 2: to our days, when we were allowed to kind of

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Speaker 2: follow any impulse that we had because there was nothing

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Speaker 2: else to do. That has seemingly bled into where we

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Speaker 2: are now and the consequences of that time. And I

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Speaker 2: think a whole number of factors is contributing to our

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Speaker 2: inability to focus and concentrate for a sustained period of time.

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Speaker 2: The area I think we notice it most is when

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Speaker 2: it comes to those kind of activities that require us

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Speaker 2: to be concentrated for some time. So I'm going to

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Speaker 2: say more than an hour at least, But where there

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Speaker 2: are our little short term consequences if we don't stay focused,

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Speaker 2: so things like study or remote work, where yes, there

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Speaker 2: are things that you need to get done, but you

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Speaker 2: are in charge of your own timeline, and so you

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Speaker 2: can get drawn into doom, scroll into Wikipedia, deep dives

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Speaker 2: into TikTok, look up at the clock, realize that thirty

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Speaker 2: minutes have gone by, and you know, having to kind

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Speaker 2: of try and start all over again, only to find

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Speaker 2: yourself a few minutes later drawn back into some other

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Speaker 2: task or some other source of entertainment. I think that

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Speaker 2: is the area where a lot of us arenoticing this occurring.

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Speaker 2: The other space is around daily planning and getting things

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Speaker 2: done on a daily level, daily tasks, but also in

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Speaker 2: conversations with others. I don't know if this is just

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Speaker 2: something I've noticed amongst my friends that we've spoken about,

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Speaker 2: but our conversations are becoming a lot more quick, and

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Speaker 2: there is a lot more space and a lot more

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Speaker 2: kind of like jumping around rather than like a continued

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Speaker 2: sustained focus on one topic. So I asked you, guys,

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Speaker 2: how many of you had noticed a shift in your

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Speaker 2: attention span in the last two five years. Eighty eight

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Speaker 2: percent of you had noticed at least some difference in

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Speaker 2: an area of your life, and sixty percent of you

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Speaker 2: noticed a huge difference within that. That was from almost

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Speaker 2: eight thousand responses. So this is not like a small number.

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Speaker 2: This isn't a small minority of the population, and it

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Speaker 2: shows that this impact on our ability to focus and

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Speaker 2: the impact that we're feeling on our attention spans is

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Speaker 2: significantly burdening. Those of us in our twenties and those

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Speaker 2: of us in younger generations. Think back to when we were,

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Speaker 2: you know, in our early mid teens. I remember that

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Speaker 2: I could sit down and read a book for hours

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Speaker 2: and the time would just fly by. I could focus

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Speaker 2: on my homework for a solid chunk of time before

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Speaker 2: I needed a break. I could watch TV and not

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Speaker 2: kind of needs to be on my phone at the

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Speaker 2: same time, I could have conversations and not be thinking

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Speaker 2: about my to do list and all the other things

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Speaker 2: that I needed to get done. I think our attention

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Speaker 2: spans are shrinking in very measurable and observable ways, and

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Speaker 2: it's valuable that we talk about it. So in today's episode, firstly,

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Speaker 2: we're going to understand why why is this happening? Do

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Speaker 2: we only have our phones to blame, or is it

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Speaker 2: kind of a broader combination of burnout, of overstimulation, of

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Speaker 2: repetitive workloads, of trying to do everything at once, and

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Speaker 2: you know, big media and marketing companies really leveraging what

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Speaker 2: they know about our attention spans. But also, what is

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Speaker 2: the impact if you haven't already seen an impact for yourself,

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Speaker 2: what is some of the psychology saying about what this

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Speaker 2: means for us long term? And finally, is there a solution?

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Speaker 2: I feel like that is quite a rhetorical question. Of

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Speaker 2: course there is. I wouldn't be talking about this if

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Speaker 2: I didn't have something that you could do about it.

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Speaker 2: So we're going to talk about it. And I also

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Speaker 2: wanted to hear from you guys. You all wrote in

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Speaker 2: some incredible responses about you know, late stage ADHD diagnoses

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Speaker 2: which are becoming so much more common. You spoke about

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Speaker 2: screen times above nine or ten hours a day, deleting

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Speaker 2: apps and then re downloading them later, miss deadlines, you know,

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Speaker 2: late night spent compensating for all the distractions. There were

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Speaker 2: so many valuable insights that came from you, all the listeners,

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Speaker 2: and I want to share it all. So without further ado,

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Speaker 2: I'm going to stop rambling and let's discuss what it

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Speaker 2: is about our attention spans these days and why it

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Speaker 2: seems harder than ever to stay focused. Let's get into it,

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Speaker 2: so let's quickly get up to speed on some of

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Speaker 2: the basics of attention. We tend to think of attention

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Speaker 2: as being only one thing, the ability to focus on

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Speaker 2: one specific task for a continuous period of time without

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Speaker 2: being distracted, and it's something that's in our control. What

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Speaker 2: we're talking about when we talk about a controlled, sustained

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Speaker 2: period of focus is actually only one form of attention

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Speaker 2: called sustained attention. We also have selective attention, where there

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Speaker 2: are multiple stimuli and things going on in the environment

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Speaker 2: and we have to choose to focus on just one

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Speaker 2: and tune in or filter out the other distractions. And

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Speaker 2: then we have alternating attention. This is also known as multitasking,

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Speaker 2: where we switch back and forth between tasks that have

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Speaker 2: different cognitive demands. So this might sound efficient, right, You're

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Speaker 2: writing your essay whilst also listening to a lecture, or

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Speaker 2: you're texting and driving. That's the classic one. But study

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Speaker 2: after study will tell you that when you're performing two

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Speaker 2: or more tasks at once, especially ones that are cognitively

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Speaker 2: demanding and splitting up your focus. This will actually lead

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Speaker 2: to lower efficiency on both tasks. It makes us sloppier,

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Speaker 2: it increases our stress. But also, I think I can

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Speaker 2: speak from experience, it takes so much more time than

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Speaker 2: if you've just done each thing, you know, one after

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Speaker 2: the other and consecutively. So that is alternating attention. And

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Speaker 2: the final kind of attention we have is divided attention,

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Speaker 2: and this is very similar to alternating. It basically highlights

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Speaker 2: our ability to react to two or more different demands

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Speaker 2: or things in our environment simultaneously. So this kind of

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Speaker 2: attention dividing attention is just less cognitively demanding. It basically

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Speaker 2: is you know, your ability to watch TV whilst also

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Speaker 2: eating normally. The actions that we're doing are quite procedural.

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Speaker 2: So of all these kinds of attention, the area where

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Speaker 2: a lot of us are suffering is selective attention. Basically,

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Speaker 2: our environment has a lot of stuff going on, and

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Speaker 2: we have to choose to only focus on one thing

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Speaker 2: within that in order to get shit done. I think

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Speaker 2: most people without chronic attention issues or conditions or neurotypes

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Speaker 2: like ADHD could likely focus fairly well if they were

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Speaker 2: given a task in a quiet, empty room. That is

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Speaker 2: where sustained attention really flourishes, when we only have one

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Speaker 2: thing to do, one thing to focus on, nothing else.

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Speaker 2: But in a very modern world, these conditions they are

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Speaker 2: so rare. Our lives are filled to the brim with

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Speaker 2: opportunities for distraction or competing stimuli, and so we need

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Speaker 2: to be able to filter all those other things out

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Speaker 2: and prioritize what's in front of us. That is becoming

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Speaker 2: a lot harder, leading to a greater reliance on alternating attention,

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Speaker 2: switching back and forth from our phone to our computer,

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Speaker 2: to our environment to somebody talking without limited success. Some

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Speaker 2: people who are a lot more qualified than me have

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Speaker 2: sought some answers and explanations to this problem of our

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Speaker 2: diminishing selective and sustained attention. So there was a recent

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Speaker 2: study in the UK done at King's College, London, and

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Speaker 2: it found that about half of US adults think that

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Speaker 2: our attention spans are getting shorter, and that number is

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Speaker 2: actually going to go up for people between the ages

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Speaker 2: of eighteen and thirty four. Sixty six percent of us

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Speaker 2: in that age bracket, which I'm assuming is probably you

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Speaker 2: noticing a change, a shift and one that is noticeable.

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Speaker 2: So there is like a common myth that has been

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Speaker 2: swirling around that our attention spans are now so poor

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Speaker 2: that they rival that of a goldfish. It might feel

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Speaker 2: that way sometimes, but actually we're still very much winning

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Speaker 2: that competition, but only by a little bit. And we

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Speaker 2: know this based on a longitudinal study that is actually

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Speaker 2: still going on now. So one of the leading race

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Speaker 2: churches in this space, in the space of attention, is

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Speaker 2: doctor Gloria Mark and she is a psychologist and a

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Speaker 2: professor from the University of California, Irvine. Now, back in

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Speaker 2: the early two thousands, whilst she was studying people's attentional rhythms,

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Speaker 2: which we're going to get back to a little bit

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Speaker 2: later on, she started to notice that the people she

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Speaker 2: was observing were really not doing too good at staying

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Speaker 2: on track when it came to the tasks that they

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Speaker 2: were being asked to do. So she switched focus. She

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Speaker 2: wanted to see how long most of us, or the

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Speaker 2: people that she had sampled for her studies, could stay

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Speaker 2: on a task or a project before moving along, and

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Speaker 2: whether that this was being impacted by new technologies. So

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Speaker 2: at the time it wasn't. It was kind of like phones,

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Speaker 2: but also computers. It was really before like the social

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Speaker 2: media craze. But because she started early, she was able

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Speaker 2: to track our attention spans through the use big societal

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Speaker 2: shifts in our access to technology. So she started back

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Speaker 2: in two thousand and four, that's almost two that is

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Speaker 2: two decades ago. And what they would do at the

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Speaker 2: very beginning was they would quite literally follow people around.

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Speaker 2: They would shadow their participants for a day with stopwatchers.

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Speaker 2: That was the best kind of technology they had available

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Speaker 2: to them at the time. And for every single activity

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Speaker 2: that they did, they would record the start time and

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Speaker 2: the stop time. So if you are on a screen

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Speaker 2: working on a word doc, as soon as you pick

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Speaker 2: up your phone to check your email, you stop doing

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Speaker 2: the word dock activity, and the time of the email

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Speaker 2: activity starts. As soon as you stop with your email

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Speaker 2: and you go and look at TikTok, for example, the

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Speaker 2: email activity stops, TikTok starts. And they wanted to see

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Speaker 2: how long people were spending on each different activity before

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Speaker 2: they seemingly got bored and moved on to the next.

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Speaker 2: Back in two thousand and four, the average attention span

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Speaker 2: was about two and a half minutes. Throughout the years,

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Speaker 2: it's become even shorter, So around twenty twelve it was

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Speaker 2: seventy five seconds, and then in the last you know,

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Speaker 2: five six years, that has almost halved again to where

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Speaker 2: we are now, which is roughly forty seven seconds. That's

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Speaker 2: the average amount of time that we spend concentrating on

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Speaker 2: a task before we shift focus. And if that number

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Speaker 2: seems quite impossibly small, there have been other studies that

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Speaker 2: have since replicated the exact same finding within seconds and

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Speaker 2: again and again. Around forty seven forty five seconds is

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Speaker 2: the median. If you want to test that for yourself,

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Speaker 2: have a look at your phone pickup data in your settings.

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Speaker 2: So I will out myself. I will go first. I

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Speaker 2: looked at this earlier today and yesterday I picked up

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Speaker 2: my phone around two hundred and thirty five times across

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Speaker 2: a fifteen hour period. That is sixteen times an hour,

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Speaker 2: so almost once every five minutes. Now that's not exactly

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Speaker 2: forty seven seconds, but you've got to remember once every

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Speaker 2: five minutes, but I'm probably spending a minute on it

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Speaker 2: each time. I'm probably jumping between different apps, and then

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Speaker 2: I'm coming back to the task, then I'm picking up

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Speaker 2: the phone again. It is all kind of averaging out

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Speaker 2: to a forty second you know, median amount of time

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Speaker 2: that you can spend focused on one thing. I will

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Speaker 2: say that this sounds alarming. A lot of researchers have

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Speaker 2: noted that this is very much task dependent. So if

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Speaker 2: you are doing something really engaging, you can really focus

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Speaker 2: on that single thing for a while, compared to if

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Speaker 2: you're sitting in sitting in on a task that is

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Speaker 2: repetitive or unnecessary, boring, like a work meeting that you

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Speaker 2: really don't feel like you need to be at, or

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Speaker 2: a lecture where you're not really being given an opportunity

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Speaker 2: to engage, especially if it's online. Right, You're more prone

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Speaker 2: to distraction in those cases because you're not fully immersed

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Speaker 2: or engaged in what you're doing. So in this way,

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Speaker 2: the idea of an average attention span is quite vague,

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Speaker 2: because I think most of us would find it hard

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Speaker 2: to not wander off or seek out another form of

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Speaker 2: entertainment when we're doing something that doesn't really require a

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Speaker 2: lot of mental effort. Right, if you're just staring at

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Speaker 2: a screen for five minutes doing nothing, not really engage

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Speaker 2: in your brain. Of course, there is going to come

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Speaker 2: a time where you get bored, and especially your brain

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Speaker 2: gets bored and pushes you to seek out, you know,

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Speaker 2: a tasty little spike of dopamine from something else in

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Speaker 2: your environment. So I wanted to hear from you guys.

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Speaker 2: When it came to this for me, I really began

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Speaker 2: to notice my declining focus back when I started full

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Speaker 2: time work, but especially when I would work from home.

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Speaker 2: There was no accountability. There was no pressure of an

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Speaker 2: exam or an assignment deadline at university. There was no

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Speaker 2: one watching over my shoulder, and so that digital temptation

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Speaker 2: of my phone was pretty easy to fall into. This

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Speaker 2: only got worse when I quit my full time job

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Speaker 2: and I started working exclusively for myself. Yes, I am

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Speaker 2: super passionate about what I do, and I have a

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Speaker 2: lot of motivation to get stuff done. But when you

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Speaker 2: are alone for eight hours a day most days, working

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Speaker 2: in your house in the same environment, there are a

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Speaker 2: lot of opportunities for distraction. But it's also quite boring

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Speaker 2: and understimulating to be doing the same thing, And so

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Speaker 2: my brain kind of circles my environment, and it circles

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Speaker 2: my surroundings, and it is always looking for something better

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Speaker 2: to be doing that is going to feel more enjoyable.

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Speaker 2: I think it's a really good point to be made here,

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Speaker 2: especially in our current work environments. For a lot of us,

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Speaker 2: you can't really sit down, buy yourself for eight, nine

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Speaker 2: ten hours a day, stare at a screen and not

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Speaker 2: expect yourself to be distracted, or you know, believe that

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Speaker 2: you could pay attention for that entire time. The human

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Speaker 2: brain just doesn't work like that. So I wanted to

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Speaker 2: hear from you guys, and what you had to say

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Speaker 2: about this. Here is someone who articulated it quite well.

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Speaker 2: Since COVID, my attention span has suffered greatly. I am

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Speaker 2: such a routine person and I like to be productive. However,

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Speaker 2: I somehow pick up my phone for a five minutes

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Speaker 2: scroll and then an hour or two has been wasted

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Speaker 2: away due to an unintentional brain rotting death scroll. Then

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Speaker 2: I feel ashamed and guilty, yet also paralyzed because I

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Speaker 2: think that I've wasted the whole day, and there I go,

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Speaker 2: I have to start again tomorrow. That shame spiral this

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Speaker 2: person mentioned is something we need to speak about, because

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Speaker 2: the more powerless and overwhelmed we feel, the more this

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Speaker 2: object our phone controls us. Because it feels almost personified right, like,

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Speaker 2: it's not this inanimate object, it is this thing that

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Speaker 2: is staring back at us that can truly impact and

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Speaker 2: influence our emotional state. And there is this constant tug

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Speaker 2: of war between wanting to assert control over our phone

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Speaker 2: but feeling like it's constantly winning, and finding that we're

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Speaker 2: constantly being pulled in by a notification, by a call,

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Speaker 2: by a text, by an email, by just our brains,

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Speaker 2: constant seeking out of the dopamine that we know our

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Speaker 2: brain will provide. Here's another perspective that I think touches

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Speaker 2: on something similar. I always need to have some real

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Speaker 2: slash videos playing in the background, or else I'll feel

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Speaker 2: super bored and constantly distracted by my own thoughts that

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Speaker 2: are telling me to not touch my phone. I've been

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Speaker 2: trying to set fifteen minute Instagram reminders, but it's not

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Speaker 2: helping it all. I hate it so much. It feels

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Speaker 2: like I'm no longer living in the moment. I think

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Speaker 2: that's what makes this so difficult again, is knowing how

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Speaker 2: we want to live our lives, knowing what we could

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Speaker 2: do with all that time, lamenting it how unproductive we are,

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Speaker 2: and feeling powerless like our phones have kind of hijacked

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Speaker 2: our previously functioning attentional systems, and no matter what we do,

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Speaker 2: we cannot influence this behavioral pattern. So I want to

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Speaker 2: hear from one more person who has something to say

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Speaker 2: on this as well. My attention span has been seriously

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Speaker 2: impacted ever since I graduated high school. Beginning in college,

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Speaker 2: I've noticed a severe decline in my ability to focus,

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Speaker 2: to pay attention, or stay motivated in school, work, family obligations,

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Speaker 2: even in conversations with others unless I am really interested

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Speaker 2: in it. I've also seen an uptick in my issues

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Speaker 2: with organization, forgetfulness, and procrastination, even with things that I

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Speaker 2: really care about. It's frustrated the people in my life

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Speaker 2: who depend on me, or I end up having to

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Speaker 2: ask them for help, like when I forget my keys

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Speaker 2: for the sixth time and my roommate has to come

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Speaker 2: home to let me in. That very functional impact is

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Speaker 2: also something that needs to be acknowledged. It's like our

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Speaker 2: brain has lost its executive functioning skills and it's kind

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Speaker 2: of sabotaging us in a way. If you have a

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Speaker 2: neurodevelopmental disorder like ADHD, it makes sense that you would

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Speaker 2: have trouble paying attention or you would you know, struggle

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Speaker 2: with your impulse control. But the global prevalence for ADHD

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Speaker 2: is around six to nine and a half percent. Probably

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Speaker 2: that is a lower end estimate when you know, we

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Speaker 2: start focusing on things like late stage diagnosis or the

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Speaker 2: fact that they are very poor criteria for identifying women

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Speaker 2: and girls, especially women of color, people of color, and

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Speaker 2: also some of the stigma towards neurodis developmental disorders. That

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Speaker 2: rate of prevalence might be a little bit higher, probably

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Speaker 2: around ten percent, but that doesn't really match up with

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Speaker 2: the eighty percent of people who are experiencing this decline, Like,

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Speaker 2: we can't all have ADHD, right, that would be a

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Speaker 2: global phenomena, So there must be another explanation. I will say,

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Speaker 2: if you do think that ADHD would provide the answers,

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Speaker 2: it is something that is likely that you have. You

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00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:27,040
Speaker 2: should listen to episode one hundred and forty eight with

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Speaker 2: Ellie Middleton. She is an ADHD and autism advocate, and

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Speaker 2: she goes into this more. She talks a lot about

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Speaker 2: late stage and late onset and diagnosis when you're an adult,

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Speaker 2: and also some of the misconceptions. But for people without

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Speaker 2: a diagnosis or who you know don't believe they have ADHD.

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Speaker 2: There can be little explanation for why our attention spans

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Speaker 2: are suffering, So I want to talk about some of

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Speaker 2: the other reasons that we are struggling to focus and

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Speaker 2: struggling to concentrate after this short break, I think when

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00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:08,880
Speaker 2: we are looking for an explanation for why our attention

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Speaker 2: spans are so fucked, we need to focus on what

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Speaker 2: some people say as the main culprit. Of course, it's

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Speaker 2: our phones that is often the first place that our

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Speaker 2: mind goes to. Our phones and the apps that they

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Speaker 2: contain provide so much temptation but also more stimulation than

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Speaker 2: we can ever really get out of our everyday lives

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Speaker 2: and everyday moments, which is quite sad. But when you

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Speaker 2: think about the design of social media apps, for example,

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00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:42,600
Speaker 2: or the way that you receive notifications for texts, for calls,

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Speaker 2: for messages, it is all meant to achieve one thing.

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Speaker 2: It is meant to keep us hooked, keep us online,

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Speaker 2: and keep us using So, as one author put it,

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Speaker 2: screens and our phones in particular present a very unique

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Speaker 2: mindfield of distraction because they are providing us with a

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Speaker 2: constant flow of information and stimulation. At its core, Social

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Speaker 2: media in particular was designed to capitalize on how we think,

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Speaker 2: so it's little surprise that we're really drawn to it.

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Speaker 2: It's not just the fact that there are algorithms catching

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Speaker 2: our attention. We have this sense that we have to respond,

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Speaker 2: we have to check. We don't want to be left out,

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Speaker 2: and we know that if we go to our phones

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Speaker 2: for entertainment, it will provide. In the same article, it

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Speaker 2: goes on to explain that human brains, we know this already,

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Speaker 2: They really crave novelty, they really like excitement, but also

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Speaker 2: social connection and all of these apps that we find

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Speaker 2: ourselves addicted to essentially provide that in a very easily

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Speaker 2: accessible format. And it also provides a sense of reward.

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Speaker 2: So every time you go to your phone for that dope,

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Speaker 2: mean hit, you know that you will find something that

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00:24:03,560 --> 00:24:06,359
Speaker 2: will satisfy you. You know that you will find a

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00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:09,399
Speaker 2: funny video. You know that you will find some piece

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00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:12,520
Speaker 2: of gossip or a photo of a friend that makes

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00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:16,119
Speaker 2: you feel kind of clocked into this broader social network,

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00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:19,840
Speaker 2: so it keeps you coming back for more. The other factor,

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Speaker 2: another component of this, is that when you continuously give

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Speaker 2: into the temptation which it's hard not to do, right,

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Speaker 2: That's the whole point of this design, Like they want

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Speaker 2: you to stay hooked. So when you do what they

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00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:36,600
Speaker 2: have essentially instructed you and manufactured you to do, and

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Speaker 2: you pause a task to check your phone, your brain

397
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Speaker 2: also has to shift gears. It has to stop what

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Speaker 2: you were previously doing and move on to this new task.

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Speaker 2: And this process, this kind of jumping about that negatively

400
00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:56,439
Speaker 2: affects the overall speed and quality of your work in

401
00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:59,920
Speaker 2: the short term and in the long term. The more

402
00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:04,480
Speaker 2: you engage in task shifting, the more your brain wants

403
00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:08,359
Speaker 2: to wander off and look for that new thing, because

404
00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:12,960
Speaker 2: you have somewhat conditioned it into thinking, Okay, when I've

405
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:16,119
Speaker 2: spent five minutes on something, ten minutes on something, I

406
00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:19,360
Speaker 2: get a reward, I get to change focus. And you've

407
00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:24,560
Speaker 2: become very much used to alternating your attention rather than

408
00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:29,960
Speaker 2: sustaining your attention. In other words, to put it more simply, essentially,

409
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:31,840
Speaker 2: what is happening here is that our brains are getting

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00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:36,359
Speaker 2: used to constant diversions, and that these diversions have become habit.

411
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Speaker 2: So that is why you don't even consciously think about

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00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:43,439
Speaker 2: it before you pick up your phone to check a

413
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:46,679
Speaker 2: message before you pick up your phone, to check social

414
00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:49,400
Speaker 2: media before you get up and go to the bathroom,

415
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:51,320
Speaker 2: even though you don't need to go right it's because

416
00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:54,240
Speaker 2: this is a habit that has been kind of implanted

417
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Speaker 2: in your brain. So even when you have a conscious

418
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Speaker 2: intention to not do something, the procedural and automatic nature

419
00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:06,240
Speaker 2: of our social media habits, in particular of our reaching

420
00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:10,840
Speaker 2: for distraction of all of those things have become quite

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00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:15,719
Speaker 2: permanent and, like we said, quite automatic. So let's hear

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00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:19,679
Speaker 2: from our listeners about this. Because somebody DMed me and

423
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:22,920
Speaker 2: it was a really great example of how this happens.

424
00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 2: I have no attention span, and I think that is

425
00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:30,360
Speaker 2: largely due to short form content like TikTok. I've been

426
00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:33,800
Speaker 2: desperately trying to put my phone down and increased time

427
00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:36,600
Speaker 2: doing stuff I love that doesn't involve a screen. I

428
00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:39,480
Speaker 2: deleted TikTok a couple of months ago. However, my screen

429
00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:42,879
Speaker 2: time is no better, and I still find myself stuck

430
00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:46,639
Speaker 2: on my phone. My UNI work has suffered dramatically this

431
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:50,440
Speaker 2: last year, and I cannot, for the life of me, concentrate.

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00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:53,639
Speaker 2: I haven't been able to finish any crochet projects, something

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00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:56,399
Speaker 2: that I love doing, and I can't finish books either.

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Speaker 2: It's really frustrating. And I think my phone use is

435
00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:03,520
Speaker 2: the biggest issue. I mean, right now, I've been sat

436
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:06,160
Speaker 2: on it for an hour instead of getting dressed. Thank

437
00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:08,280
Speaker 2: you so much for sharing. I think the other factor

438
00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:11,480
Speaker 2: in this is that going to our phones for entertainment

439
00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:16,000
Speaker 2: is so easy. It's like the easier, easiest alternative. It

440
00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:19,080
Speaker 2: is the path of least resistance because it is so

441
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:25,320
Speaker 2: effortless to be immediately carried away, whereas reading or crochet

442
00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:29,159
Speaker 2: projects like this person mentioned, they take more time to

443
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:32,080
Speaker 2: get into. They really require a bit of a setup.

444
00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:35,280
Speaker 2: You know. It's so much easier to go from working

445
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:38,040
Speaker 2: on a task that requires a lot of cognitive effort

446
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,359
Speaker 2: like at work or at UNI and going to your

447
00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:43,280
Speaker 2: phone where your brain can shut down, versus having to

448
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:47,240
Speaker 2: completely shift to getting into a book, getting into a plot,

449
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:51,800
Speaker 2: getting into creating something. But what's fascinating to me is

450
00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:55,359
Speaker 2: that the creation of something, the pursuit of something, the

451
00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:59,560
Speaker 2: engagement with something like knowledge like fiction like a book,

452
00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:03,680
Speaker 2: or or something active like making things, it is more

453
00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:06,360
Speaker 2: fulfilling in the long term, but it just takes more

454
00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:10,440
Speaker 2: effort to start and nowadays we have an easier alternative, right,

455
00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:14,000
Speaker 2: Like we can just go and look at short form videos.

456
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:18,439
Speaker 2: We can just get our hit there. So the question

457
00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:20,359
Speaker 2: that I kind of want to pose in response to

458
00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:23,240
Speaker 2: that is is it that we are more distractable? Is

459
00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:26,320
Speaker 2: it that our attention spans are declining and it is

460
00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,120
Speaker 2: our fault? Or is it just that the world around

461
00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:32,600
Speaker 2: us is more distracting and that big media and marketing

462
00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:36,560
Speaker 2: companies and apps are just like aggressively trying to fight

463
00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:39,800
Speaker 2: for our attention and therefore leveraging what they know about

464
00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:43,200
Speaker 2: our brain, which is that it likes novelty and newness

465
00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:46,640
Speaker 2: and that it doesn't like uncertainty or boredom, and it

466
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:51,800
Speaker 2: is taking that information. These companies, these designers are taking

467
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:53,800
Speaker 2: what they know about our brains and using it to

468
00:28:54,520 --> 00:29:00,760
Speaker 2: essentially hijack our motivational and attentional systems for profit. Basically, like,

469
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:03,000
Speaker 2: is it our fault? Is it our fault that this

470
00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 2: is what is happening to so many of us? Or

471
00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:08,760
Speaker 2: is it just that our brains are being flooded deliberately

472
00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:12,000
Speaker 2: with dopamine from our phones. Is it that we are

473
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:17,040
Speaker 2: increasingly working long hours at disengaging jobs in boring offices

474
00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:20,800
Speaker 2: without sunlight. Is it that we are just constantly being

475
00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:27,080
Speaker 2: fed very fast and quick and efficient entertainment and few alternatives.

476
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:30,440
Speaker 2: So I want to focus on that explanation for a second.

477
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:33,320
Speaker 2: Let's kind of put our phones and let's put social

478
00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:35,840
Speaker 2: media aside for a moment. I think it's gotten enough

479
00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:38,280
Speaker 2: hate in this episode. I've given it enough hate. Let's

480
00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:41,000
Speaker 2: look at some other elements or other explanations as to

481
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:44,600
Speaker 2: why our attention spans are failing us. Is the reason

482
00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:47,480
Speaker 2: that we can't focus anymore because we are perhaps too

483
00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:52,479
Speaker 2: stressed and too overwhelmed. That is another explanation. So in

484
00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:56,680
Speaker 2: his book Stolen Focus author Joanne Hari, who you might

485
00:29:56,720 --> 00:30:00,800
Speaker 2: also know from his book Lost Connections, it talks about

486
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:05,479
Speaker 2: how information overload has been creeping into our lives and

487
00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:09,600
Speaker 2: impairing our ability to pay attention. For some time. Back

488
00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:13,560
Speaker 2: in the day, we spent so much more time being present.

489
00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:16,560
Speaker 2: We had less to navigate and to do. Our jobs

490
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:20,240
Speaker 2: were a lot more based on problem solving or serving.

491
00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:24,400
Speaker 2: They were kind of forward facing. They were, you know,

492
00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:28,760
Speaker 2: very much like solution focused, like there was something very tangible,

493
00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:31,560
Speaker 2: a problem that was very tangible that needed to be

494
00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:36,000
Speaker 2: fixed or needed to be fulfilled and we would do that.

495
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:39,280
Speaker 2: They were also a lot more social and a lot

496
00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:42,640
Speaker 2: more collaborative, which is another thing that we need to

497
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:48,920
Speaker 2: make note of. Nowadays it is so much simpler, but

498
00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:52,080
Speaker 2: that also means it is so much more boring. It

499
00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:56,200
Speaker 2: is more boring to move something around and excel spreadsheet,

500
00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:00,760
Speaker 2: to enter emails all day without connecting. I think that

501
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:04,080
Speaker 2: back then it was simpler times, and now we are

502
00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:07,440
Speaker 2: being asked to do so much more in a much

503
00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:12,800
Speaker 2: more restrictive environment without really knowing our purpose, and our

504
00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:16,880
Speaker 2: work has become very fairstly, screen based, but also repetitive,

505
00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:21,640
Speaker 2: almost draining, and in an increasingly I think competitive and

506
00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:26,160
Speaker 2: overwork generation. Burnout is also pretty rampant because we are

507
00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,960
Speaker 2: pushing ourselves to do more, to be more in an

508
00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:34,760
Speaker 2: environment and in a situation that isn't necessarily fulfilling. So

509
00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:37,200
Speaker 2: I think it's no wonder that we have little bandwidth

510
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:39,640
Speaker 2: for everything going on in our lives. It is no

511
00:31:39,720 --> 00:31:42,560
Speaker 2: wonder that we are constantly bouncing between things that grab

512
00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:45,880
Speaker 2: our attention. We no longer have the mental resources to

513
00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:50,840
Speaker 2: properly control our impulses or our concentration because of how

514
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:54,719
Speaker 2: worn down we are by burnout and then of course

515
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:59,360
Speaker 2: also by overstimulation. So this is another component of this

516
00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:04,200
Speaker 2: book that we were talking about, stolen focus. He speaks

517
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:08,280
Speaker 2: about how our brains are just being pushed so much

518
00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:12,440
Speaker 2: more environmental stimuli than ever before, and so it can't

519
00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:16,280
Speaker 2: actually navigate all of these things. It can't actually create

520
00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:19,000
Speaker 2: a hierarchy or a list of what it needs to

521
00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:21,720
Speaker 2: focus on first. You know, I think about this when

522
00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:23,480
Speaker 2: I thought about this when I was in the city

523
00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:26,280
Speaker 2: the other day in Sydney and there are flashing billboards,

524
00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:30,000
Speaker 2: there are crowded spaces, bright lights, heavy traffic, there is

525
00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:34,560
Speaker 2: like loud music playing from every single store in supermarkets,

526
00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:37,440
Speaker 2: on the bus, and then my foreign is buzzing. There

527
00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,320
Speaker 2: is so much more information to process at a rate

528
00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:43,120
Speaker 2: that is faster than our brain has been able to

529
00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:47,560
Speaker 2: adapt or evolve to. The demands have outstripped our brain's

530
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:51,560
Speaker 2: capacity for evolution. It's important to remember that we have

531
00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:54,960
Speaker 2: a brain that was designed for thousands of years to

532
00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:59,280
Speaker 2: exist in nature, to exist in small groups, to feel

533
00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:03,040
Speaker 2: the ground with our feet, to forage for berries, to

534
00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:07,400
Speaker 2: problem solve, to think about survival, not just to be

535
00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:10,520
Speaker 2: focused on a screen that is thirty centimeters from our face.

536
00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:14,959
Speaker 2: At all hours of the day. So that shift from

537
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:18,440
Speaker 2: really seeing the world more broadly, engaging with the environment,

538
00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:24,120
Speaker 2: to engaging with something digital and very closed off and

539
00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:26,680
Speaker 2: very like, I don't know, right in front of our

540
00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:28,280
Speaker 2: face is like the best way I can kind of

541
00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:31,240
Speaker 2: think about putting it. That shift has only really taken

542
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:34,880
Speaker 2: place in the last I would say generously, like fifty

543
00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:39,200
Speaker 2: years and fifty years that is only a generation of adaptation,

544
00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:43,960
Speaker 2: whereas there were thousands of generations and thousands of opportunities

545
00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:49,320
Speaker 2: for evolution and development and adaptation in you know, in

546
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:52,120
Speaker 2: our ancestors, in the times that have come before that

547
00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:54,160
Speaker 2: have created the brain that we have now for these

548
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 2: new circumstances. So, you know, thousands of years of doing

549
00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:00,000
Speaker 2: things one way and then in the last fifty years

550
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:03,160
Speaker 2: suddenly everything has changed. When you zoom out and think

551
00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:06,360
Speaker 2: about it in that way, our brains just genuinely cannot

552
00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:10,160
Speaker 2: process what is happening in our environment based on what

553
00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:13,040
Speaker 2: it was, you know, what it has evolved and developed

554
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:16,799
Speaker 2: to do. Those things are too dissimilar, and so our

555
00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:22,160
Speaker 2: attention span is essentially failing to keep up. We can't concentrate,

556
00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:26,480
Speaker 2: we can't focus. It's not an isolated problem. It is

557
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:29,200
Speaker 2: not just a U problem or a ME problem. It

558
00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:33,360
Speaker 2: is a collective societal problem. So is that it do

559
00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:35,120
Speaker 2: we kind of just leave it there and watch our

560
00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:39,360
Speaker 2: attention spans continue to decline until we are like goldfish?

561
00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:42,840
Speaker 2: Obviously not, I have saved the best for last, because

562
00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:48,560
Speaker 2: as irreversible as the headlines and the articles make it sound,

563
00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:53,239
Speaker 2: we can still fix our attention span and reverse some

564
00:34:53,280 --> 00:34:55,960
Speaker 2: of the damage that is done by all of the

565
00:34:56,040 --> 00:35:00,160
Speaker 2: above culprits, not just our phones, but our environment. So

566
00:35:00,239 --> 00:35:02,440
Speaker 2: I have five practical tips for you today, and know

567
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:04,919
Speaker 2: they are not going to be things like get enough

568
00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:07,640
Speaker 2: sleep or exercise, because I think we probably are all

569
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:12,360
Speaker 2: aware of those. Instead, I have some actual scientific practices

570
00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:16,120
Speaker 2: for you to implement, probably even starting today if you

571
00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:19,200
Speaker 2: would like. We're going to begin with the first one,

572
00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:25,160
Speaker 2: find your peak focus times. Something that you will notice

573
00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:27,399
Speaker 2: is that there are different points in the day where

574
00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:30,600
Speaker 2: you are just more focused than others. Each of us

575
00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:35,279
Speaker 2: actually has a specific period when we are more attuned

576
00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:39,760
Speaker 2: and focused, and it's easier to concentrate because sustained attention

577
00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:44,000
Speaker 2: occurs in a rhythmic pattern. So there was a paper

578
00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:48,239
Speaker 2: published in twenty nineteen in the Yale Journal of Biology

579
00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:52,040
Speaker 2: and Medicine, and it found that our cognitive performance either

580
00:35:52,120 --> 00:35:56,160
Speaker 2: peaks between ten am and two pm or four pm

581
00:35:56,360 --> 00:36:00,120
Speaker 2: to ten pm. That doesn't mean that you can't still

582
00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:03,400
Speaker 2: get things done outside of those times or in a

583
00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:06,799
Speaker 2: time that doesn't necessarily align with your peak focus time,

584
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:10,560
Speaker 2: just that it might be harder. And this focus period

585
00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:14,680
Speaker 2: is determined by our chronotypes, which is basically our body's

586
00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:20,239
Speaker 2: natural inclination to be awake and asleep and alert or

587
00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:23,520
Speaker 2: passive at different times during the day, and it is

588
00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:28,040
Speaker 2: based on our circadian rhythm. Put simply, our body works

589
00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:32,160
Speaker 2: on a rhythmic kind of scale. It works on a

590
00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:37,799
Speaker 2: cycle of alertness and kind of sleepiness, I guess is

591
00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:41,440
Speaker 2: the opposite of that. Some of us are early birds,

592
00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:44,719
Speaker 2: and some of us work really well during the night

593
00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:47,680
Speaker 2: when the sun is down, and that all depends on

594
00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:51,120
Speaker 2: how your circadian rhythm is set up. So I'm definitely

595
00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:54,800
Speaker 2: the latter. I can concentrate for much longer at nighttime,

596
00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:58,000
Speaker 2: and I've found that that makes me a lot more

597
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:01,560
Speaker 2: productive instead of trying to force myself to do like

598
00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:08,319
Speaker 2: incredibly like cognitively overwhelming and like mentally strenuous tasks like

599
00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:11,640
Speaker 2: first thing in the morning, I save them for after

600
00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:16,200
Speaker 2: like five PM, or like at least after two PM,

601
00:37:16,239 --> 00:37:18,399
Speaker 2: because I know that between the hours of like nine

602
00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:20,560
Speaker 2: and twelve, that is the time when I need to

603
00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:23,279
Speaker 2: do things that are a little bit more passive and

604
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:27,560
Speaker 2: that require a little bit less effort because they're just easier,

605
00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:31,520
Speaker 2: and you know, I'm not as alert during those times

606
00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:33,880
Speaker 2: for some people, though, I have a friend who works

607
00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:36,319
Speaker 2: really well between like five am and ten am. It's

608
00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:38,560
Speaker 2: about finding what works for you, and if you want

609
00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:42,640
Speaker 2: to support your ability to concentrate, try and recognize and

610
00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:45,600
Speaker 2: notice when it feels like you are most in a

611
00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:49,400
Speaker 2: flow state without trying. So a flow state is a

612
00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:52,239
Speaker 2: mental state in which we are completely focused in on

613
00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:56,400
Speaker 2: a single task or activity and fully immersed. We feel

614
00:37:56,440 --> 00:38:00,799
Speaker 2: both energized, but we're also enjoying the process. So that

615
00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:03,600
Speaker 2: is like one of those examples of when you're just

616
00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:06,359
Speaker 2: you look up the clock, you realize that you've been

617
00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:09,959
Speaker 2: working on your paper for like half an hour, or

618
00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:13,360
Speaker 2: you've been fixing up an Excel deck or a PowerPoint

619
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:16,200
Speaker 2: deck for you know, an hour, and you haven't even

620
00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:20,240
Speaker 2: realized You've been editing something, You've been talking to somebody

621
00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:23,399
Speaker 2: for that period of time, and time is just going

622
00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:27,480
Speaker 2: by super quickly because you are so focused. And the

623
00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:31,160
Speaker 2: reason behind your focus is both probably that you're engaged,

624
00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:35,319
Speaker 2: but most likely you're also conducting this activity at a

625
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:39,799
Speaker 2: time when you are better able to concentrate. So try

626
00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:43,480
Speaker 2: and find those times and perform those heavy duty tasks

627
00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:46,600
Speaker 2: during that period. This really brings me to my next tip.

628
00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:50,399
Speaker 2: Choose your high focus tasks. Focus on them, but when

629
00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:53,680
Speaker 2: you're done with them, stop. Don't try and keep forcing

630
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:57,680
Speaker 2: yourself to do things out of a productive window when

631
00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:01,960
Speaker 2: you're really fear yourself, like wanting to take a break,

632
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:05,240
Speaker 2: wanting to go on your phone. It might sound counterintuitive,

633
00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:10,600
Speaker 2: but help yourself by giving space to those activities that

634
00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:15,320
Speaker 2: you see as bad, giving space to distraction, giving space

635
00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:19,399
Speaker 2: to some doom scrolling, whatever it may be. I think

636
00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:21,440
Speaker 2: we often get into a little bit of a panic

637
00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:24,240
Speaker 2: that we can't focus, and we go to an extreme

638
00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:30,160
Speaker 2: and we try and completely shut off those temptations, shut

639
00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:34,160
Speaker 2: off that part of us that wants that distraction, when

640
00:39:34,239 --> 00:39:37,640
Speaker 2: actually it is part of the process. Your brain will

641
00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:40,960
Speaker 2: eventually need a break from what you're doing. You cannot

642
00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:45,839
Speaker 2: sustain selective attention or even focused attention for that long.

643
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:49,080
Speaker 2: There is a certain point where you will max out,

644
00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:51,200
Speaker 2: and you do need to provide your brain with some

645
00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:55,759
Speaker 2: release and some relief. So actually can let yourself have

646
00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:59,800
Speaker 2: opportunities to do those things instead of kind of putting

647
00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:03,960
Speaker 2: them on a pedestal or making them taboo or villainizing

648
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:07,200
Speaker 2: them more than they need to and therefore giving them

649
00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:09,839
Speaker 2: a lot of the power to control you. You are

650
00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:12,400
Speaker 2: actually in control of your behavior, so you're going to

651
00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:17,759
Speaker 2: give yourself permission to allow for points of distraction. It's

652
00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:22,400
Speaker 2: also valuable to cue attention by remembering that our attention

653
00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:25,839
Speaker 2: is goal orientated, and it's goal directed. We are better

654
00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:29,160
Speaker 2: at staying on task if we are regularly reminded of

655
00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:31,520
Speaker 2: what it is that we're trying to achieve. If this

656
00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:34,240
Speaker 2: task is just something that's pointless, if we don't see

657
00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:37,439
Speaker 2: the outcome, if we aren't reminded of why the why

658
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:40,279
Speaker 2: behind what we're doing, of course we're not going to

659
00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:42,760
Speaker 2: care about it. Of Course it's going to be harder

660
00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:45,160
Speaker 2: to concentrate. Of course we're going to want to do

661
00:40:45,239 --> 00:40:48,080
Speaker 2: the thing that is more exciting and more fun and

662
00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:52,239
Speaker 2: gives us more dopamine. So to counteract that, what you

663
00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:55,800
Speaker 2: can do is write out your goal on a post

664
00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:57,719
Speaker 2: a note and place it where you can see it

665
00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:01,160
Speaker 2: to kind of help you stay focused before you set

666
00:41:01,160 --> 00:41:04,640
Speaker 2: out to do something big like start on a huge essay,

667
00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:07,480
Speaker 2: start on a huge assignment, a huge work project, a

668
00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:11,239
Speaker 2: huge house claim. Provide yourself for three reasons why you

669
00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:13,200
Speaker 2: want to do this thing and how it's going to

670
00:41:13,200 --> 00:41:16,399
Speaker 2: feel when you're done, and two things that you're going

671
00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:20,400
Speaker 2: to give yourself when you're finished. So instead of thinking

672
00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:22,440
Speaker 2: just about, oh my god, this is so rough, this

673
00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:25,040
Speaker 2: is so hard, I'm so exhausted, There's so much I

674
00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:28,040
Speaker 2: would rather be doing, really activate that part of yourself

675
00:41:28,080 --> 00:41:31,640
Speaker 2: that feels goal directed and that knows it's going to

676
00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:36,480
Speaker 2: be satisfied when this task is complete. Okay, So I

677
00:41:36,520 --> 00:41:39,280
Speaker 2: have four final tips for you that are specifically around

678
00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:43,960
Speaker 2: controlling social media usage, because, as we've spoken about, as

679
00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:46,120
Speaker 2: a lot of you wrote in, that seems to be

680
00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:49,319
Speaker 2: our main problem. Of course, they are designed to get

681
00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:52,560
Speaker 2: you hooked. It is in the layout, it is in

682
00:41:52,719 --> 00:41:57,480
Speaker 2: the architecture of social media apps, of digital technology. But

683
00:41:57,560 --> 00:42:02,239
Speaker 2: we can actually counteract the strategies that they're leveraging to

684
00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:07,719
Speaker 2: keep us hooked. To reverse how addictive social media is.

685
00:42:08,200 --> 00:42:11,879
Speaker 2: We can look at how they are getting us engaged

686
00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:17,319
Speaker 2: and prevent or push back against those strategies. Here are

687
00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:19,320
Speaker 2: some of the ways that we can do that. Firstly,

688
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:23,719
Speaker 2: only use social media on your laptop or on your

689
00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:28,520
Speaker 2: desktop computer. This helps limit kind of the constant temptation

690
00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:34,080
Speaker 2: to bring out your phone at any stage. And like

691
00:42:34,440 --> 00:42:37,200
Speaker 2: hook into the apps, there is a place and a

692
00:42:37,239 --> 00:42:41,000
Speaker 2: time and a location where you can access the information

693
00:42:41,080 --> 00:42:43,560
Speaker 2: and the entertainment of social media. It's not that you're

694
00:42:44,120 --> 00:42:47,799
Speaker 2: completely cutting yourself off, but you are making it less

695
00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:52,799
Speaker 2: accessible throughout the day. Secondly, set usage limits, and when

696
00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:56,200
Speaker 2: you hit your usage limit and find yourself wanting to

697
00:42:56,239 --> 00:43:02,200
Speaker 2: just brush past the alert, stop and ask why what

698
00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:05,759
Speaker 2: are you getting from going back on that app? Or

699
00:43:05,880 --> 00:43:08,719
Speaker 2: is it just a lot of short term gratification and

700
00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:12,560
Speaker 2: a dopamine spike? Is it just because you're bored? And

701
00:43:12,640 --> 00:43:16,560
Speaker 2: could you do something else instead? I would say, go

702
00:43:17,120 --> 00:43:20,839
Speaker 2: and download an app that feels more productive on your

703
00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:24,399
Speaker 2: phone that you can go to as an alternative. I'm

704
00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:28,760
Speaker 2: talking like a crossword app. I'm talking a newspaper app

705
00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:32,480
Speaker 2: like the New York Times or The Atlantic or the Guardian,

706
00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:35,439
Speaker 2: so that when you are feeling compelled to get that nice,

707
00:43:35,480 --> 00:43:39,120
Speaker 2: gewey feeling from your phone, you're actually getting something useful

708
00:43:39,520 --> 00:43:43,640
Speaker 2: out of that urge. Also turn off notifications. I've done this.

709
00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:47,960
Speaker 2: It's incredible. My friends will tell you that I'm always

710
00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:51,040
Speaker 2: on do not Disturb, which I'm sure pisss a few

711
00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:53,360
Speaker 2: of them off, because sometimes, yeah, it does take me

712
00:43:53,360 --> 00:43:56,960
Speaker 2: a little while to reply, but I actually think that

713
00:43:56,960 --> 00:43:59,440
Speaker 2: that is worth it because I get more done because

714
00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:05,279
Speaker 2: I'm not getting pulled into like the consumption vortex when

715
00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:08,440
Speaker 2: I just wanted to reply to like a short message. Finally,

716
00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:12,520
Speaker 2: use gray great, use a gray scale over your apps,

717
00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:14,799
Speaker 2: so there is a setting in your phone if you

718
00:44:14,840 --> 00:44:17,160
Speaker 2: have an iPhone, that is going to make all of

719
00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:21,799
Speaker 2: the content gray, black and white, so that the reward

720
00:44:22,080 --> 00:44:25,239
Speaker 2: of seeing these bright colors and flashes of light and

721
00:44:25,719 --> 00:44:29,040
Speaker 2: all of these things is less appealing. And you're still

722
00:44:29,080 --> 00:44:31,879
Speaker 2: seeing the same content. You're still seeing the messages, you're

723
00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:35,239
Speaker 2: still seeing the reels, you're still seeing like the like,

724
00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:37,640
Speaker 2: the comments and all those things that you would go

725
00:44:37,719 --> 00:44:42,160
Speaker 2: to social media for. But it's taken away the kind

726
00:44:42,239 --> 00:44:46,440
Speaker 2: of color allure, and it's taken away like the gratification

727
00:44:46,640 --> 00:44:50,480
Speaker 2: of seeing something bright that doesn't really exist in the

728
00:44:50,520 --> 00:44:52,960
Speaker 2: real like in the outside world. That's going to keep

729
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:56,600
Speaker 2: you coming back for more. I think that that's everything

730
00:44:56,600 --> 00:44:58,800
Speaker 2: that I that I have for you today. I'm realizing

731
00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:02,840
Speaker 2: that this ended up being is significantly long episode, so

732
00:45:03,120 --> 00:45:05,560
Speaker 2: on theme, if you had the attention span to make

733
00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:09,440
Speaker 2: it all the way through, congratulations. I really hope that

734
00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:13,480
Speaker 2: you enjoyed this episode. I will say I'm also quite sick,

735
00:45:13,520 --> 00:45:15,840
Speaker 2: and I probably should have addressed it at the beginning,

736
00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:20,080
Speaker 2: but I have tonslidis, which is, you know, maybe something

737
00:45:20,080 --> 00:45:22,600
Speaker 2: that you can hear in this recording, So thank you

738
00:45:22,640 --> 00:45:24,400
Speaker 2: for bearing with me as I am a little bit

739
00:45:24,440 --> 00:45:29,440
Speaker 2: more nasally. I'm literally recording this in bed. So if

740
00:45:29,440 --> 00:45:32,439
Speaker 2: you have made it this far, thank you. Make sure

741
00:45:32,480 --> 00:45:36,560
Speaker 2: that you are following us on Spotify, Apple podcasts wherever

742
00:45:36,640 --> 00:45:38,440
Speaker 2: you are listening right now, and if you can leave

743
00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:42,719
Speaker 2: a five star review, it would be greatly appreciated. It

744
00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:46,760
Speaker 2: really helps the show to grow and reach new people.

745
00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:49,360
Speaker 2: If you have anything else to say on this topic,

746
00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:52,799
Speaker 2: as well, as you probably heard, a lot of the

747
00:45:52,840 --> 00:45:56,600
Speaker 2: insights did come from you, the listeners, so please feel

748
00:45:56,640 --> 00:46:00,560
Speaker 2: free to dm me on Instagram at that Psychology podcast.

749
00:46:00,560 --> 00:46:02,239
Speaker 2: I would love to hear from you. I would love

750
00:46:02,280 --> 00:46:07,280
Speaker 2: to hear your thoughts, your opinions, your feelings, and as always,

751
00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:10,920
Speaker 2: we will see you next week. Until then, stay safe,

752
00:46:11,120 --> 00:46:14,000
Speaker 2: be kind, be gentle with yourself, and we will talk

753
00:46:14,040 --> 00:46:14,800
Speaker 2: again soon