WEBVTT - The Agony of Notifications 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.160 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:13.960 Forward Thinking. Hey there, and welcome to Forward Thinking, the 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:16.560 podcast that looks at the future and says, put your 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:19.760 head back in the clouds and shut your mouth. I'm 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:23.960 Jonathan Strickland, I'm Lauren vocle Bond. I'm Joe McCormick. Hi, Joe. 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:27.600 You know, I had something happened to me last week. 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:31.360 That's not the first time it's happened, and it's always 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:34.440 a brand new frustration every time. But I had a 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:37.840 couple of those work days. Sorry, you got an email 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:40.960 their job. Hold on, let me answer it for you now. No, 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:44.880 no, no no, no, hold on, there you go. You know, 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:47.840 I had, like I had several days last week where 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:51.600 I had a to do list of things I needed 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:54.800 to research and write, and you know, you all know 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:58.279 the kind of work we do around here, and I 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:01.800 was busy all day. But at the end of the day, 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:04.600 I realized I had crossed almost nothing off of my 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:08.000 to do list, and in fact, had added things to 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:10.680 my to do list. So to do list got longer, 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:13.920 a few, very few things were clicked off, and yet 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:16.360 you felt like your entire day was pretty much taken 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:19.920 up with work. Yeah, so how did that work? What happened? Well? 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:24.319 I realized looking back through my email that, oh, I 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:29.119 just spent most of the these days answering emails, reading emails, 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:35.000 answering emails, and responding to messages and notifications on our 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:37.880 social media accounts. So, in other words, every time you 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:40.800 would start to get to tackle one of the tests 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:42.840 on your to do list, something else would pop up 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:46.280 interrupt you, and you would take time away from that 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:50.080 task to attend to whatever that might be. Bingo. I'm 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:53.000 sure y'all have days like this too. Yeah, most days 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:57.320 honestly called week days. Yeah, it's great. You know, one 0:01:57.360 --> 0:01:59.760 of the things that you can do once you're finally 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:02.480 done with work for the day is get your work done. Yes. 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:05.880 I frequently go home and get that research done that 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:09.560 I was meaning to do all day, but instead hatings 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:12.560 and answered some Twitter comments. If you've ever watched those 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:15.600 foward Thinking videos that are set in an office, and 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:18.360 you wonder, gosh, I wonder when he wrote those, the 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:21.359 answer is five am, the same day they were shot, 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:26.360 and they're shot at nine am. So that's it's true 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:30.520 for me too. Yeah. So, as it turns out, there's 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:32.799 some great things I love about the Internet, y'all. One 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:38.400 of the things, yeah, Well, for one thing, it employs me. So, uh, 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:40.520 don't look a gift towards in the mouth, that kind 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:43.760 of thing, right as a man, That's right. I'm a 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:49.480 made man on the internet, digital hit man. When I became, 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:54.959 you know, a gigabit capo, it was a special day. 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.680 All all my life, I wanted to be a wise guy. No, no, no, 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:01.080 there are great things about the Internet, and I will 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:04.720 tell you one of them. I have. I have so 0:03:04.840 --> 0:03:06.840 I don't live in the same town where I went 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:10.480 to college. I went to college under grad school in 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:13.280 different towns, and I don't live in those towns. And 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:16.359 social media and the internet helps me keep up with 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:19.480 friends of mine that I very likely otherwise would not 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:22.680 have been able to keep up with. That's great. Uh. 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:25.959 I'm not entirely familiar with the concept of making friends 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:30.640 while in college, but I appreciate what you're saying. No, 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:32.600 that that is one of the things we love about 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:36.200 the Internet is that it allows us this connectivity to 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:40.880 friends and family, whether they are nearby or they move 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:44.400 far away. I mean, I've got friends who are working 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:47.040 in Korea right now, and I can keep up with 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:49.640 their lives on a regular basis. It's it's not as 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:52.240 infrequent as a letter every few months or a few 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:56.160 years for example. Yeah, in the old days, even if 0:03:56.200 --> 0:03:58.000 you had wanted to keep up with them on a 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:00.440 day to day basis, it would have been physically possible 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:03.080 due to the speed of mail carriers. And you know, 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:05.880 existing you could all you could be living a day 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:10.200 to day basis, but you'd each be like a month behind. Right, 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:12.200 You're like, well, this is what happened on Tuesday of 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:15.160 last month to my friend. Uh. And we can also 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:18.640 use social graphs in social networks to discover connections that 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:22.200 we didn't know existed before. I even at even as 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:24.640 old as I am and as much as I've been 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.839 on social networking, it still amazes me when I noticed 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:30.160 that one of my friends from one circle and a 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:33.840 friend from a totally different circle know each other, because 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:36.960 to me, they don't exist in that same universe. Right, 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:40.680 you've got you've got this one. It's just all of 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:42.400 a sudden, You're like, what you guys had a map? 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:46.400 How is Superman hanging with thor when did that happen? Yeah? Yeah, 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:48.800 I keep promising myself that someday I'm going to stop 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:52.200 being surprised when I make a new friend on Facebook 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:54.640 and they're already friends with like eighty seven of my friends, 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:59.240 right right. Also, I've I've used that metric to kind 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:02.880 of decide whether not except friend requests. There was so 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:04.880 and so since you a friend request, you have one 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:08.120 friend in common, I ain't gonna happen. I mean, how 0:05:08.200 --> 0:05:09.880 good is that friend? Am I? Right? Well? Yeah, I 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:12.359 mean that has to be a remarkably good friend for 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:15.440 me to accept that friend request. But no that we 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:18.920 can also just keep informed of important events and inform 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.360 other people of important events in our lives invite them 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:24.560 to stuff. Using this approach, you, you and we have 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:27.600 a support system that's very easy to tap into when 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:30.120 we need it. Uh. You can argue about whether or 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:32.640 not the support is as valuable as what you would 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:35.240 get if you were to have face to face encounters, 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:38.360 but it does matter that. You know, if you're feeling 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:43.320 like overwhelmed or upset, and you go onto a social 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:46.440 networking site and you make an honest statement, say, guys, 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:48.520 I I'm kind of in the in the weeds here, 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:50.920 can you help having a rough day? I either need 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:54.560 some suggestions or some kitten videos. Ya kitten videos. It's 0:05:54.600 --> 0:06:00.320 like that's like number one prescribed solution to every problem. 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:03.080 I suggest that I have I keep my kitting videos 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:06.960 away from internet. Hit Man, You're on the list, Joe, 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:11.159 So uh At any rate, Um, those are some good 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.039 things about the Internet. We have this this immediacy, this 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:18.320 connection with so many people, and including people that we 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:21.880 don't have a real world connection to. I mean, I've 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:25.479 made friends through various forums and groups and even things 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:29.160 like just social networks like Facebook or Twitter. I've I've 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:34.440 or through chat rooms associated with other shows. I mean, 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:37.200 I made real friends that way, and that would not 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:42.640 have been possible without the Internet. But there's some other 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:46.640 things about the Internet that are more problematic, one of 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:52.400 those being that perhaps these interactions we have online aren't 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:56.360 as deep or meaningful in some way, or complex in 0:06:56.480 --> 0:07:02.120 some way as were real world interactions. Although that really 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:04.040 kind of comes down to a lot of you know, 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:08.160 like it feels this way, so it must be this way. Yeah, 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:11.640 Getting a precise answer to that particular question is is difficult, 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:15.360 just because defining the quality of a given relationship is 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:18.520 really difficult. You've got all these factors to to contend 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:21.320 with you the type of relationship, if it's a romantic 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:24.960 or friendship or acquaintance, whether it's a static relationship, or 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:28.560 whether it's actively changing the demographics of the people in question, 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:31.640 their their age, their education, their sex, their gender, their 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:35.720 marital status, their income, the quality of their other relationships, 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:38.800 and and so on. So there have been a bunch 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:42.800 of scholarly surveys done, but the only sweeping conclusion that 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:45.239 they come to is that you get out of online 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:49.880 relationships what you put in to online relationships well, and 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:52.440 that people who are more comfortable with technology will have 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:58.000 higher quality online relationships, so it'll be more of more 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:00.080 of an analog to what the real world relation and 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.040 ship would be for those people. Whereas for people who 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:06.360 might lack that that level of savvy, they may feel 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:09.840 like the uh, the interactions they have are trivial or 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:13.680 not meaningful. Um is really interesting to me because if 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:16.400 you do the search on this and you're not looking 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:18.560 at the scholarly stuff, you see a lot of just 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:23.720 kind of armchair psychology. Yeah, like social media is destroying 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:27.640 our ability to have real world relationships. Think of the children, 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:30.800 how will the children possibly communication now? I will admit 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:34.120 that I like to use the internet to um to 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:40.480 skip certain mundane interactions, things like using Amazon to buy 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:42.600 stuff instead of going to a store. But that's really 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:45.480 more because I'm lazy and less that I want to 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:50.319 avoid real world interactions. UM. So there's that to be said. 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:54.679 And also the another downside to online communication is that, 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:57.640 like we said in our Tone Analyzer episode, sometimes it's 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:03.079 difficult to communicate nearly because we're limited in the level 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:06.360 of communication we can have with someone else. Yeah, even 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:10.320 if you're using as many smiley faces and uh little 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:14.480 icons of of martini glasses as you have to. Yeah. So, 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:17.520 of course, in the real world, we can have body language. 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:19.680 You can have your your the tone of your voice, 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:22.760 the pacing of what you're saying, so people know what 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:26.080 you're stressing versus not stressing. You know whether or not 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:29.200 you're you're making very rude gestures while you're saying something, 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:32.480 if you're making eye contact or not making All of 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.920 these things play into the communication we have with someone 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:38.840 else in the real world. Uh. In an online setting, 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:41.760 you lose a lot of that, So it can be 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:47.079 easy to send a message that can easily be misinterpreted. Um. 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:50.280 And someone might end up taking it the wrong way 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:53.000 and getting their feelings hurt or being confused by the message. 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:56.120 Um So dealing with that gets a little exhausting. But 0:09:56.720 --> 0:10:01.240 the really big problem with all this online communication is 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:03.480 the one that Joe was talking about at the top 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:06.720 of the show, the fact that we now have all 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:09.959 these different channels through which communication can come to us, 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:13.600 that there are lots of potential ways that we can 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:17.559 be interrupted throughout the day, and we're inventing new ones 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:21.840 every single day. Not just not just new platforms like 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:25.120 new versions of Twitter or Facebook, but new ways that 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:28.360 those can annoy us, Like a device you wear on 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:32.000 your wrist or even your face that will and you know, 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:35.920 let you know, whatever physically move when you've got a message, 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:38.960 it will vibrate and thus get your attention and pull 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:40.680 it away from whatever it was you were doing in 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:44.400 the first place, to say, hey, Joe, Bob, just like 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:47.880 this barbecue joint, you should know about that. You know, 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:50.400 I want to take this a step further and and 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:54.240 just speak about an anecdotal experience. I don't have research 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:56.679 to back this up. And maybe you'll will say if 0:10:56.720 --> 0:11:00.439 you agree, all right, I think that just having the 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:05.360 the devices through which notifications can be delivered present, even 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:10.040 if you are not currently getting notifications, can be a distraction. 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:14.000 So if I'm reading a book, I will get a 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:16.760 much better experience of reading that book if I put 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:19.480 my phone in my computer at the other end of 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:26.320 the house in a different room. What's a book. I 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:28.720 was just noticing this the other day. I was having 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:32.280 a wonderful experience reading a great book, and I realized, 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:34.440 you know, I'm so glad I don't have my laptop 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:38.920 sitting next to me. So, I mean, I fully agree. 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:42.640 I have a whole podcast I do with two other people. 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:45.520 It's not a how stuff works podcast, but it's a 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:47.720 podcast I do where one of the things we try 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:51.320 and do is watch movies with no distractions present because 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:54.280 we both well, we both we all three, I just 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:58.320 don't count Eric Sandy. Now, we all three agree that 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:03.600 we have seen our attention spans diminish over time, and 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:07.240 we often have distractions present when we're watching something at home, 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.480 like a laptops open, or our smartphone or tablet is nearby. 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:14.640 Sometimes all three, sometimes all three, and we know that 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:18.160 we're not paying full attention to the actual story. That's 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:21.280 unfolding on the screen. And therefore you can even have 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:24.160 a conversation about a movie you quote unquote saw and 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:26.480 have no memory of stuff that happened in that movie 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:28.839 because you weren't really paying attention. You don't you didn't 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:32.080 commit it to memory because you weren't really focusing on it. 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:35.800 Oh yeah, and that's not just anecdotal. Research shows that 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:39.600 we are genuinely bad at multitasking. Yes. Oh. One study 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:43.800 out of the University of Utah published indicated that, in fact, 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:47.719 the more confident participants were in their multitasking abilities, the 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:52.200 worst they were at multitasking. Here's the thing is that 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:55.880 I know I'm terrible at multitasking. Guess what, I'm terrible 0:12:55.920 --> 0:13:01.640 at multi tasking. That's anecdotal. Another from Stanford in two 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:05.079 thousand nine showed that we perform worse on every task 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:08.840 we're doing when we multitask. And for a statistical example 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:11.480 of that, I turned to yet another study, this one 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:14.480 out of Carnegie Melon, also in two thousand nine, which 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:17.640 used m ri I to measure participants brain activity in 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:20.880 the parietal lobe, which is the one associated with spatial processing, 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.600 while they were steering a vehicle along a virtual road. 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:29.960 And so while the while the participants were concurrently listening 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:33.320 to sentences being read out loud, their spatial brain activity 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:38.680 decreased by thirty seven percent. That's not terrifying at all. So, 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:41.000 so that's at least one example in which we are 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:44.480 more than a third handicapped by trying to do more 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:47.559 than one thing at once. Yeah, and so this plays 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:51.439 into the the purpose why we even are doing the show, 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:54.400 Like we we wanted to talk about how all these 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:58.960 notifications and interruptions and demands and our attention can decrease 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:01.599 the quality of whatever task we're performing or attempting to 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:03.880 perform at that time. But we also wanted to talk 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:07.280 about how at least one group of researchers is trying 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:11.440 to decrease that effect on us, and they're doing it 0:14:11.480 --> 0:14:16.240 through technology. Amazing technology. Yeah, so the answer to the 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:19.120 problem of technology having too many ways to get in 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:25.320 touch with us is more technology. Yes. Uh so again 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:28.520 they the study ends up or not the study, but 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:33.160 rather the proposal the approach that they're talking. Let me guess, Yeah, 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:36.360 every time you're about to try to multitask with different 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:40.200 technology devices, a robot on a like tank tread with 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:43.120 chainsaw bursts out of the wall, runs at you, says, 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:48.120 don't do that an excellent guests not. I think that 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:51.760 would be very very calming and non distracting. I think 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.200 that that would really help me get tied right back 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:55.880 into what I was doing in the first point. It's 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:58.160 actually a special pair of glasses you wear, and every 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:01.400 time you attempt to multitask, spikes embed into your temples 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:04.680 and then scramble right behind your eyeballs. No, that doesn't 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:09.400 happen either. In neither case does that happen for for 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:13.240 some reason that that the researchers it toughs University decided 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:18.240 to do eyeball impalement or chain sourbucks. Right, So we're 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:20.720 just throwing some extra ideas out there. If this other 0:15:20.840 --> 0:15:24.200 version doesn't pan out, well tell me about propose. Okay. 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:28.440 So they started with that premise that the interruptions that 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:31.080 we experience in life, as Joe was mentioning at the 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:33.920 top of the episode, can really hurt productivity and they 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:38.160 increase our anxiety levels because we we have this increased 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:41.280 feel a feeling that we're never going to complete the 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:44.360 stuff we need to complete. And like Joe was saying, 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:47.160 sometimes we're not even able to identify why that's the 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:49.880 case in the moment. It's only after we reflect that 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:52.480 we realize, oh, I was doing I was wondering why 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:54.440 I was feeling so busy, but yet I wasn't getting 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:57.920 anything done. So this is you know that that contributes 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:01.120 to our anxiety, and they so, how can we decrease 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:05.360 that and increase our productivity and limited interruptions so that 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:09.480 we get notifications. But we only get the notifications when 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:13.120 our brain is ready to receive notifications, in other words, 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:15.720 when we're not trying to focus on some other task. 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:19.760 Which is kind of tricky, right, Like, how do you 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:23.520 tell your smartphone, hey, when I'm actually reading this research 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:27.840 about notifications, don't buzz in my pocket. Well, just plug 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:31.880 your smartphone straight into your brain through your and then 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:35.240 just have your smartphone say no, wait, he's busy. Folks 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:37.480 at home. I don't know if you've heard. Jonathan's gotten 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.600 like several notifications since we've been in here. Yeah, well 0:16:40.640 --> 0:16:43.080 I'm a popular guy. What can I say? I have 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:46.200 not looked at them. I just keep my phone in 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:50.200 my pocket. But I was checking Facebook like four seconds ago. 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:55.320 I do see that I have a notification. I wouldn't 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:59.480 lie I have a notification on Facebook. I haven't looked 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:02.200 at yet, but that little number one and the notification 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:07.719 is bothering me. Um, so the paper show is judging us. 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:10.840 So no, no, I mean no, I'm looking at Twitter 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:14.399 right now. So we're all guilty of it. Guys, if 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:16.880 you're listening to this podcast and you're also have Facebook 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:20.240 or Twitter, open, shut that down, come on, show some respect, 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:26.000 laundry like a normal personast do something that doesn't require 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:30.320 any sort of concentration, so so melodious voices can wash 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:33.399 over you. The paper that the team published actually cited 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:36.760 a study by Bailey and Constant in which people had 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:41.320 to perform multiple tasks simultaneously, and the results are just 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:45.000 in line with the same studies that Lauren was mentioning earlier. 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:49.040 The participants reported higher levels of anxiety, they committed twice 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:52.040 as many errors, plus took twenty five percent longer to 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:54.360 complete a primary task than they would if they were 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:57.080 allowed uninterrupted time to work on a single task, if 0:17:57.080 --> 0:17:59.720 they had down time to do this instead of being 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:04.720 bombarded by other tasks. So how does this technology work 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:09.440 that makes us, you know, sane by limiting the notifications 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:12.320 to times when we can handle them. Well, the first 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:14.639 thing they had to do was figure out how were 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:17.840 they going to measure brain activity to figure out when 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:21.879 we're focusing on something versus when we're done with a task, 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:25.000 because they had determined that the in between time for 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.639 tasks would be the ideal moment to send notifications because 0:18:29.000 --> 0:18:30.879 you save them up and send them in yeah, and 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:32.720 then you're like, oh, I can handle this now, and 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:34.280 then when you're done you can move on to the 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:36.679 next task. Well, it seems like one option they have 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:39.240 would be E E G. Yeah, but those do have 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:44.520 a downside in that movement can create false data like 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:48.479 errors in the data, so positives. Yeah, so it may 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:50.639 be that if you're typing, you know, not even like 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:54.160 moving moving, not like necessarily doing you know, jumping jacks 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:57.200 or something. If you're typing, just the typing alone could 0:18:57.240 --> 0:19:01.480 create enough movement to create false positive and then it 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.520 would it would not be able to set the threshold 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:07.080 for when you are actually focusing on a task versus 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:10.160 when you are kind of in a down mode. Okay, 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:13.879 so electron cephalography is out yep. So instead they decided 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:20.520 to look at functional near infrared spectroscopy the nurse. So 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:23.640 this is where you're going to think we're saying snarf 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:28.880 because it just sounds similar. So the nurse from now on, 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:31.720 we're we're all temporarily pinky from pinky in the brain. 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:35.000 That's right, Yeah, it's it's it's very similar to narf. Yeah. 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:38.639 So the technology uses infrared light to scan for brain activity, 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:42.840 and infrared infrared light can penetrate bone and other tissue, 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:46.080 including neural tissue, to a depth of three centimeters in 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:49.439 case you were wondering, because that's how this works. But 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:53.959 it's absorbed and scattered by hemoglobin, and hemoglobin's optical properties 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:58.080 depend upon whether or not it's oxygenated or deoxygenated. So 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:01.639 using two different wavelengths of for red light and measuring 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:04.840 with a detector which ones are coming back to that 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:08.639 sensor can tell you about the blood flow in the brain, 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:11.879 which in turn tells you about brain activity because I 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:16.080 would imagine that more blood flow equals more brain activity. Yes, specifically, 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:19.399 more oxygenated blood flow will tell you, hey, this person 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:23.000 is really concentrating because the blood flow indicates that they 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:25.840 need to think about something. Now, the paper points out 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:30.960 that this finnurse technology isn't ideal for all applications because 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:33.320 it takes several seconds for changes in blood flow to 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:36.800 actually reach the brain. So you when you start to 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:39.679 concentrate on a task, it takes a couple of seconds 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:43.680 for the blood flow to uh to accommodate that, and 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:46.960 you wouldn't be able to use the same technology as 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:51.280 a means of controlling like a robot necessarily, at least 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:54.639 not not without lag, because there it would take a 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:57.440 couple of seconds before it detected that increase of blood 0:20:57.440 --> 0:20:58.960 flow for it to be able to send a command, 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:02.119 and that would get rustrating. We've all experienced lag in 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:06.080 some way. That's never fun. It's the worst usually, especially 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:08.040 if you're online and you're trying to play a game 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:12.040 of Halo and you know you're you're already handicapped by 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:15.399 being in our cases Jonathan or Laura, Yeah, where we 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:17.680 have we have the handicap of being us. And then 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:20.000 you know, you get a sniper gun and you line 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:22.440 up on somebody and you're sure they're right in front 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:24.800 of you, but in truth, they've already moved four feet 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:28.200 to the left because you're lagging. Not fun, I mean, 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:32.000 lagging is having a delay is worse than having nothing. Yeah, 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:35.560 like it. It's more frustrating if your computer continues to 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:38.280 work but it's very slow, then if it just crashes 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:42.240 and stuff. Absolutely true, So finners would not be good 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:46.280 for that. But finnurs is fine for monitoring brain states, 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:49.359 general brain states because it doesn't need to have that 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:52.720 immediacy for it to detect when you are focusing versus 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:56.680 when you have completed something. Um. Also, it's not sensitive 0:21:56.720 --> 0:21:59.439 to movement, as e G. Technology can be. So studies 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:01.280 have shown that the sensors can be used on people 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:03.560 who are engaged in activities that require a lot of movement, 0:22:03.640 --> 0:22:08.160 including things like jogging, with quote only slightly higher error 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:12.680 rates than a traditional clinical device end quote. So uh, 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:17.200 it's it's ideal for that kind of of application. And 0:22:17.280 --> 0:22:20.879 you could create such a device and attach it to 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:24.720 something else, like a wearable like specifically like Google glass, 0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:26.360 because obviously you have to wear it on your head 0:22:27.200 --> 0:22:30.600 for it to detect neural activity because that's where it happens. 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:34.399 So you would need to put some sort of wearable 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:36.240 device on your head to be able to detect this 0:22:36.280 --> 0:22:38.639 blood flow. So I'm sorry, Jonathan, you're like blowing my 0:22:38.680 --> 0:22:42.360 elbow mind. I'm sorry, sorry, I can tell you where 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:44.240 I keep my brain, at least according to my wife, 0:22:44.240 --> 0:22:47.880 but it's the family podcast. So um, at any rate, 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:51.560 you would probably attach to this to something like Google Glass, 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:53.720 which would give you those notifications and and that's a 0:22:53.760 --> 0:22:56.439 great example anyway, because it's got a screen that's right there, like, 0:22:56.520 --> 0:23:00.880 it's just incredibly accessible to get those interruptions that would 0:23:00.920 --> 0:23:04.760