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Speaker 1: Just a reminder before we get into this topic. You

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Speaker 1: can now watch full video episodes of the podcast, including

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Speaker 1: this episode, right here on Netflix. Link will be in

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Speaker 1: the description.

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Speaker 2: Hello everybody, I'm Jemma Spake and welcome back to the

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Speaker 2: Psychology of Your Twenties, the podcast where we talk through

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Speaker 2: the biggest changes, moments, and transitions of our twenties and

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Speaker 2: what they mean for our psychology.

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Speaker 1: Hello everybody, Welcome back to the show. Welcome back to

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Speaker 1: the podcast. It is so great to have you here

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Speaker 1: back for another episode as we of course break down

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Speaker 1: the psychology of your twenties, of our twenties, my twenties,

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Speaker 1: all of our twenties. This is maybe the most important

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Speaker 1: episode I'm going to make this whole year, because unlike

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Speaker 1: some of my episodes, which you might not apply to everyone,

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Speaker 1: I think this one definitely does in a way that

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Speaker 1: is honestly a little bit scary to acknowledge. We're talking

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Speaker 1: about the loss of our attention spans and our attention

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Speaker 1: just in general, possibly the most precious resource we have

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Speaker 1: as humans. Where is it disappearing to and how are

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Speaker 1: we going to get it back? I would say the

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Speaker 1: majority of us feel that our attention spans are noticeably

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Speaker 1: nothing like they used to be. Not to speak for everyone, obviously,

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Speaker 1: but I don't know. I can recall a time when

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Speaker 1: I could read books for hours with ease in a

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Speaker 1: way that feels almost unfathomable. Today, I could sit and

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Speaker 1: focus on a singular task like studying, and stay on

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Speaker 1: that task for more than five minutes, that's for sure,

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Speaker 1: more than forty five minutes, more than an hour at times,

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Speaker 1: with like very relative ease. Nowadays it can feel like

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Speaker 1: it feels like our brains are these tiny frogs, jumping

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Speaker 1: from lily pad to lily pad, unable to stay on

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Speaker 1: one for longer than a few minutes, always needing two

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Speaker 1: or three or four activities going on at once to

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Speaker 1: feel entertained and to feel satisfied. I used to think

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Speaker 1: it was because I just wasn't disciplined enough, or I

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Speaker 1: was lacking the structure of being in high school or university.

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Speaker 1: But now I don't think so. Something else has also

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Speaker 1: almost fundamentally changed about our society that we need to

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Speaker 1: look into. Now. This is not just anecdotal, This isn't

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Speaker 1: just me, this isn't just you. There's real data and

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Speaker 1: research to back up this. Experience. One of the best

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Speaker 1: indicators of this is a long research project undertaken at

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Speaker 1: the University of California. It was started twenty years ago.

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Speaker 1: This research involved this woman, Professor Gloria Marx, and her

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Speaker 1: team following a group of people around four days at

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Speaker 1: a time, carrying stop watchers to time how long people

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Speaker 1: spent on tasks before switching before doing something else. When

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Speaker 1: they started this research in two thousand and four, this

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Speaker 1: is the year they found the average attention span was

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Speaker 1: around two and a half minutes. That was their baseline.

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Speaker 1: They did the study again eight years later in twenty twelve.

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Speaker 1: They started using more precise computer logging techniques. They found

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Speaker 1: that the average attention span is sitting in a little

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Speaker 1: bit more than around a minute, around seventy five seconds.

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Speaker 1: The most recent data from marks team actually only came

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Speaker 1: a few years ago, and they found the average attention

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Speaker 1: span going from has gone from two and a half

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Speaker 1: minutes to forty seven seconds in the past twenty years.

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Speaker 1: That is the rate at which we are increasingly finding

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Speaker 1: ourselves distracted switching from task to task. Our attentional capacity

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Speaker 1: has rapidly decreased. So what we need to ask is

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Speaker 1: basically what's going on, what's going on culturally, what's going

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Speaker 1: on psychologically, what's going on neurologically that has allowed this

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Speaker 1: to happen? And what are the actual practical things that

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Speaker 1: we can do to fix it? Because I don't know

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Speaker 1: about you, I'm kind of bored of the same basic

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Speaker 1: stop scrolling, go outside advice. There has to be more

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Speaker 1: to it. So I went and found it, and I'm

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Speaker 1: going to give you guys, the real tangible scientific tips

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Speaker 1: to re gain your attention span, all in this one big,

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Speaker 1: comprehensive episode without further ado, Let's get into it. So

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Speaker 1: let's start with this. Why have our attention spans become

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Speaker 1: so afraid and so difficult to control? Firstly, we need

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Speaker 1: to take a look at our brains, specifically the role

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Speaker 1: of dopamine to kind of understand what programming has been

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Speaker 1: at play. So if you listen to our history and

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Speaker 1: psychology of dopamine episode a couple of weeks ago, you'll

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Speaker 1: know this well. You'll know this very well. But dopamine

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Speaker 1: isn't the pleasure chemical many of us think that it is.

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Speaker 1: It's the anticipation chemical. When we look at neuroimaging studies

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Speaker 1: that map the release and flow of dopamine and the

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Speaker 1: activity of dopamine producing centers in the brain. What we

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Speaker 1: find is that our dopamine levels rise as we anticipate

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Speaker 1: a reward, anticipate a payout I should say, anticipate something happening.

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Speaker 1: They spike whilst we wait for that thing and whilst

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Speaker 1: we wait to obtain it, and they kind of decrease

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Speaker 1: once we get it. Dopamine is deeply tied to something

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Speaker 1: psychologists call reward prediction. Essentially, our brain is constantly scanning

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Speaker 1: the environment asking what's going to be interesting yet, what's

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Speaker 1: going to be pleasurable, what's going to be useful or

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Speaker 1: emotionally stimulating, and how can we move further towards those things?

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Speaker 1: How can I get closer to those things? It is

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Speaker 1: what drives that motivation and that movement by getting us

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Speaker 1: excited for what comes next. It's not just pleasure, it's anticipation. Evolutionarily,

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Speaker 1: you know, dopamine was incredibly powerful. As many of us

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Speaker 1: needed to migrate in search of food and migrate in

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Speaker 1: search of shelter. We needed to be patient. We needed

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Speaker 1: to stick to hard things to get stuff done. We

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Speaker 1: needed to wait for the harvest, wait until danger had

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Speaker 1: passed whatever dopamine is what allowed us to do that

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Speaker 1: by imagining the pleasure or microdosing us with the pleasure

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Speaker 1: of finally getting a meal, finally getting a safe place

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Speaker 1: to lay down, finally getting whatever it was that we

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Speaker 1: had to work for. The problem is, in this day

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Speaker 1: and age, we don't really have to wait that long

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Speaker 1: for anything anymore. We don't have to wait for food.

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Speaker 1: We have viberatees, we have grocery stores, we have ready

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Speaker 1: made meals. We don't have to take time or you know,

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Speaker 1: put an effort to entertain ourselves. We don't have to

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Speaker 1: wait that long for information. You know, we can google it,

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Speaker 1: we can use AI if you want to go that

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Speaker 1: extra level. We don't have to wait that long for

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Speaker 1: social feedback or social information either, or the pleasure of

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Speaker 1: being around people. It's served up to us in this

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Speaker 1: nice bite sized device or dose on social media. There's

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Speaker 1: no longer a need for patience and for sustained anticipation.

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Speaker 1: Where does that leave our dop immine systems that have

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Speaker 1: adapted for a completely different scenario. What this does for

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Speaker 1: us psychologically is it begins to train the brain to

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Speaker 1: expect constant novelty and rapid emotional, psychological, and physical payoff.

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Speaker 1: The brain is highly adaptive. It learns from repetition, so

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Speaker 1: when we repeatedly move towards quick rewards, our attentional system

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Speaker 1: starts calibrating itself around speed, immediacy, and stimulation rather than

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Speaker 1: patience and slowness. When we're constantly anticipating and immediately getting

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Speaker 1: anticipating and immediately receiving, our brains are naturally being flooded

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Speaker 1: with more and more dopamine because those hits are coming faster.

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Speaker 1: This reduces our brain sensitivity, so that when we do

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Speaker 1: have to do tasks that require fixed, sustained attention, the

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Speaker 1: normal release of dopamine that is at an appropriate level

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Speaker 1: that previously would have sustained you just doesn't cut it anymore.

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Speaker 1: We are used to getting hit, hit after hit. Tasks

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Speaker 1: that unfold slowly reading a difficult book, sitting down and

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Speaker 1: actually planning and writing an essay, sitting with your thoughts, studying,

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Speaker 1: even watching a full movie without checking your phone. They

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Speaker 1: begin to feel disproportionately effortful because they cannot compete with

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Speaker 1: the pace of this modern day dopamine delivery system. What

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Speaker 1: we really have here is a dopamine sensitivity issue, not

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Speaker 1: a dopamine level issue. That's another common myth. There's also

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Speaker 1: another important concept here, which is called delay discounting. This

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Speaker 1: was first mentioned in a book by the economist Irving

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Speaker 1: Fisher back in the I don't even know, back way

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Speaker 1: back when. It's since found a very important place in psychology,

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Speaker 1: and it's the idea that humans naturally value immediate rewards

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Speaker 1: more highly than delayed once. Basically, you probably rather I

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Speaker 1: give you thirty dollars now than the promise of maybe

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Speaker 1: getting fifty dollars in six months. This obviously used to

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Speaker 1: be important for survival. Don't expend energy on a promise,

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Speaker 1: you know, take what you can now. If you need

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Speaker 1: to live, A bird in the hand is better than

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Speaker 1: two in the bush, like all those kind of things.

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Speaker 1: But modern life has amplified this tendency enormously to the

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Speaker 1: point where it's no longer useful. It's actually disruptive. You

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Speaker 1: know why I spend two hours learning a skill when

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Speaker 1: you can get a tiny hit of achievement instantly from

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Speaker 1: clearing emails or buying something online, or refreshing your messages

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Speaker 1: or ticking off a small easy task. Our brains start

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Speaker 1: prioritizing rewards that are fast and frictionless over rewards than

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Speaker 1: are meaningful and slow. Here's something to know. A twenty

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Speaker 1: twelve study published in the journal Psychology and Euroscience found

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Speaker 1: that people who have high rates of delay discounting, basically

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Speaker 1: people who are more willing to forego smaller immediate rewards

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Speaker 1: and wait or work for something larger not only have

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Speaker 1: stronger attentional control, which is basically what we're talking about today,

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Speaker 1: but are more likely to be successful, may be wealthier,

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Speaker 1: may have and be in better health. But this is

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Speaker 1: becoming harder and harder because again of the technological and

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Speaker 1: physical environments that we find ourselves in. In particular, we

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Speaker 1: really just can't have this conversation without talking about social

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Speaker 1: media and the fact that social media has literally been

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Speaker 1: designed with knowledge of how our attentional systems work and

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Speaker 1: therefore the ability to hijacket using anticipation reward cycles. Not

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Speaker 1: to sound too conspiratorial, but to generate ad revenue, social

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Speaker 1: media companies need to make sure that we are scrolling

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Speaker 1: for as long as possible every element of the user interface.

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Speaker 1: Please make no mistake, every single social media platform you use,

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Speaker 1: the certain features are chosen because they work to attract

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Speaker 1: and capture people's attention things that you may not even

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Speaker 1: be aware of a doing this. For example, the infinite scroll,

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Speaker 1: the fact that you never get to the bottom of

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Speaker 1: whatever you're scrolling, the frictionless nature of scrolling. Have you

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Speaker 1: ever noticed with Instagram TikTok everything there is like there's

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Speaker 1: literally no clicking or movement of the finger required. The

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Speaker 1: physical movement of watching is very smooth. You just move

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Speaker 1: your finger ever so slightly right in the middle of

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Speaker 1: the screen, so there's very little reason for you to

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Speaker 1: step away. There's even the fact that the algorithm, your

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Speaker 1: algorithm is designed specifically for you. That is, all those

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Speaker 1: are all design features that were chosen to get you addicted.

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Speaker 1: There is a really great paper on this called digital

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Speaker 1: slot Machines Social media platforms as attentional Scaffolds from twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty four, where they also talk about how the recent

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Speaker 1: push of really emotionally salient and at times emotionally triggering

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Speaker 1: content also plays a role in pushing emotional reinforcement. Videos

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Speaker 1: of people crying, celebrity drama content, that kind of stuff.

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Speaker 1: It pushes that emotional reinforcement and therefore lessons attentional control.

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Speaker 1: If we boil it down really to its baseline, you

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Speaker 1: could say social media platforms may seem free to use,

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Speaker 1: but they're not. You are the product. Your attention is

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Speaker 1: the product. Because of that, it is something that people

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Speaker 1: want possession over. In the words of Barbara Jomeris, I

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Speaker 1: think her name is, she's a famous professor. If you

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Speaker 1: use social media, there is no way that you can

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Speaker 1: have a normal brain today. And yet we are being

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Speaker 1: told to blame ourselves for our dwindling attention spans as

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Speaker 1: if it is a motivational or disciplinary issue, which is

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Speaker 1: ironic because discipline is an individual issue. But it appears,

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Speaker 1: if we take this perspective, to be declining on a

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Speaker 1: mass scale. So there's obviously a bigger factor going on here.

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Speaker 1: This is not just a you problem. This is not

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Speaker 1: that every single person has lost discipline. Something else is

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Speaker 1: going on. One more point on this, because I found

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Speaker 1: this really interesting as well. The very way not just

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Speaker 1: social media has been designed, but the Internet in general

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Speaker 1: has been designed is also incredibly neurologically significant for our attention.

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Speaker 1: Professor Gloria Mark, she is the one who did that

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Speaker 1: research originally. She has been a key figure in research

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Speaker 1: on attention and the impact of technology upon it for

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Speaker 1: almost twenty years. Like she is like the goat of this.

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Speaker 1: She argues that the very design of not just social media,

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Speaker 1: but the Internet maps very well onto somatic memory theory,

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Speaker 1: the idea that memory is organized in terms of making

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Speaker 1: associations between concepts. Our brains love this. The Internet with

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Speaker 1: its kind of node and link structure, so like, you know,

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Speaker 1: enter here, then it diverts you to somewhere else. It's

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Speaker 1: conducive to distraction because information is organized in terms of associations.

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Speaker 1: A Wikipedia page is the perfect example. You read a topic,

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Speaker 1: you see a link, you click on that link, you

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Speaker 1: find another link. Suddenly you've read like a million articles.

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Speaker 1: If you read an article online, you recommended three others

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Speaker 1: that are similar. If you get shown a certain video

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Speaker 1: and you like it, suddenly for more, just like it

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Speaker 1: will show up on your feed. That is literally how

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Speaker 1: memory works. You know you have a memory, Suddenly you're

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Speaker 1: thinking about something else, and then you're thinking about something else.

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Speaker 1: It's all very deliberate. Let's do a quick, rapid run

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Speaker 1: through some other factors that have disturbed our attention spans

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Speaker 1: that don't have to do with social media there's just

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Speaker 1: some things that we're also seeing decline. People are getting

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Speaker 1: less sleep. You know, I think as you get older,

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Speaker 1: you care more about your eight hours at least, that's

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Speaker 1: how I've found I'm maturing. But when you don't get

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Speaker 1: enough sleep, you accumulate sleep debt. Greater the sleep debt,

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Speaker 1: greater your attentional and cognitive decline, and people are sleeping

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Speaker 1: a lot less. Actually, a study from twenty seventeen showed

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Speaker 1: how much, not like, how significant not getting enough sleep

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Speaker 1: is for our attention. What they found was that they

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Speaker 1: basically subjected these guys, these men to sleep deprivation and

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Speaker 1: then ask them to do a bunch of tasks. Performance

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Speaker 1: on all the tasks showed substantial deterioration when they were

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Speaker 1: sleep deprived, but particularly tasks how to do with attention

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Speaker 1: and mental functioning. It might sound extreme, like they've they

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Speaker 1: did deprive them of sleep for a long time, but

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Speaker 1: even like Another study from twenty nineteen that had people

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Speaker 1: sleep for just six hours a night for ten consecutive

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Speaker 1: days also found a similar decrease in attention as if

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Speaker 1: you were not to sleep for forty eight hours. Sleep

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Speaker 1: deprivation also intensifies and destabilizes our emotional responses in our migdala.

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Speaker 1: That's what drives our response to stress, So we feel

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Speaker 1: more reactive, we feel more anxious, we feel more on edge.

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Speaker 1: Our attention also reduces because of that, like stress, lack

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Speaker 1: of sleep, or social media, all combining to put pressure

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Speaker 1: on our attention, but also combining and included in that

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Speaker 1: is like stress about the world, stress about your job,

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Speaker 1: stress about friends. It's also meaning that the appeal of

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Speaker 1: social media and things like that, and the appeal of

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Speaker 1: fast mean is greater because it's so instantaneous. We're so

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Speaker 1: stressed by everything else in our lives. We don't want

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Speaker 1: to work to be entertained, we don't want to work

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Speaker 1: to find our information, we don't want to work for anything.

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Speaker 1: And finally, we are experiencing greater levels of physical disruption

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Speaker 1: and distraction than ever before. More people are moving to cities,

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Speaker 1: more people are living in urban areas. By twenty fifty,

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Speaker 1: the UN thinks seventy percent of the world's population is

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Speaker 1: going to live in a city, developed or urban space.

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Speaker 1: What that means is more exposure to noise, light, pollution, distraction,

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Speaker 1: other people, busy, public transport, crowded spaces. Do not overestimate

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Speaker 1: what that does to you on a daily basis. The

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Speaker 1: sensory and social overload of that means we always need

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Speaker 1: to be on. If we don't feel on, our brain

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Speaker 1: at least needs to be on, even if we want

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Speaker 1: to clock out for a bit, and we do have limits,

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Speaker 1: we do have limits someone else When we hit them,

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Speaker 1: When our brain hits them, our minds and our attention suffers.

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Speaker 1: In twenty eleven, scientists found that two regions in our

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Speaker 1: brain involved in the regulation of emotion and anxiety and attention,

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Speaker 1: become overactive in city dwellers. You don't always think it

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Speaker 1: has an impact until you leave. I just went to

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Speaker 1: a cabin the other day, and this isolated cabin outside

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Speaker 1: of London, and within twenty four hours it felt like

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Speaker 1: someone had put a sedative in the air, like I

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Speaker 1: played scrabble for three hours straight. I felt my attentional

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Speaker 1: systems regenerate being out of a city, being out of

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Speaker 1: a high stress, high stimulation environment. So that's basically what's contributing.

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Speaker 1: There's a couple other things. I think those are the

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Speaker 1: biggest ones. We are going to take a short break

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Speaker 1: here and when we return, we're going to talk about

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Speaker 1: the signs that you may need an attentional reset and

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Speaker 1: seven science backed ways to do it, So stay with us.

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Speaker 1: So if you're still doubting whether your attention is really

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Speaker 1: that affected by social media, by your environment, by your sleep,

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Speaker 1: by whatever it is, here are five smaller signs that

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Speaker 1: you can check yourself against really quickly to tell you

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Speaker 1: do I have a problem or not? Number one? Do

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Speaker 1: you frequently use more than one screen at a time,

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Speaker 1: So you're on your phone and you're watching TV, you're

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Speaker 1: on your laptop maybe at the same time. Number two

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Speaker 1: do you struggle with boredom and silence? How often do

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Speaker 1: you need to have music on in the background or

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Speaker 1: a YouTube video playing? How often do you feel like

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Speaker 1: you need to watch something up until the moment that

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Speaker 1: you put your head on the pillow, or you need

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Speaker 1: to open social media first thing in the morning. Number three?

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Speaker 1: Do you pick up hobbies, activities, projects regularly and abandon

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Speaker 1: them just as fast when they require more effort and

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Speaker 1: time than you think? Number four? After you finish a meal,

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Speaker 1: how long do you sit at the table thinking, just

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Speaker 1: enjoying yourself or do you feel like you need to

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Speaker 1: rush off? Do you feel like you need to leave

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Speaker 1: the restaurant as soon as you're done eating, you need

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Speaker 1: to go somewhere else. You always need to be in

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Speaker 1: transit to somewhere else, even if you're not busy. Number five.

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Speaker 1: What speed do you watch things on? What speed do

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Speaker 1: you listen to things on? Do you watch everything at

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Speaker 1: one and a half speed? When you watch reels? When

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Speaker 1: you listen to podcasts? Do you watch videos or tiktoks

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Speaker 1: you see all the way through or do you just

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Speaker 1: keep scrolling and only wait for the first five seconds?

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Speaker 1: Bonus Number six. Do you struggle to pay attention to

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Speaker 1: long stories from people or do you struggle to have

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Speaker 1: sustained conversations often finding yourself kind of zoning in, wanting

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Speaker 1: the person to move on, speed up, go on to

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Speaker 1: the next thing now. If you have ADHD, maybe you

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Speaker 1: relate to these because you have ADHD, and some of

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Speaker 1: the things we mention as tips might not help you

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Speaker 1: in the same way, because you know your attention is

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Speaker 1: being impacted by different neurological and biological reasons. It's not

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Speaker 1: just environmental. We've done a full episode recently on the

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Speaker 1: psychology of ADHD with an expert, Chris Wang. End of

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Speaker 1: last year. That goes into that a lot further. But

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Speaker 1: I do still think some of these tips we're going

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Speaker 1: to talk about are useful. With that being said, I

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Speaker 1: think if you have ADHD, it's a different canterfish. Some

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Speaker 1: of this advice isn't going to work for you. I

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Speaker 1: still think it's important to listen anyways. But if you

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Speaker 1: don't have ADHD, if you're just noticing kind of a

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Speaker 1: normal fluctuation in your attention, I think to start, you

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Speaker 1: are on this mission to win back your own attention

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Speaker 1: and to be able to find that delayed gratification high. Firstly,

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Speaker 1: you've got to know what's motivating you to want this.

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Speaker 1: Without a clear vision for why you want to get

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Speaker 1: your attention back, why you want to achieve this mental feat,

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Speaker 1: it's going to be hard to follow through. So after

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Speaker 1: you've finished listening to this podcast, I want you to

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Speaker 1: grab a pen and a piece of paper and kind

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Speaker 1: of write a mask still list by hand if possible,

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Speaker 1: that you keep somewhere important that details why do I

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Speaker 1: want to fix my intentions? Ben? What is my motivation

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Speaker 1: behind wanting to spend less time on social media? Wanting

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Speaker 1: to be more present? Here's some inspiration for things that

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Speaker 1: can be on that list. Perhaps you want to spend

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Speaker 1: more time actually noticing the world around you. Maybe you

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Speaker 1: want to make active decisions about how you spend your

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Speaker 1: time without feeling like that decision is always being hijacked

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Speaker 1: or you're always being controlled by whatever gives you the

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Speaker 1: quickest spike of dopamine. Maybe there are lots of other

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Speaker 1: fun things that you want to do with your life.

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Speaker 1: You claim not to have time, but you want to

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Speaker 1: see if that's actually true. Perhaps you want to get

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Speaker 1: your attention span back because you want to experience, you know,

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Speaker 1: the high of consistency and slowly achieving things. Maybe you

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Speaker 1: want more alone time. Maybe you want to be able

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Speaker 1: to really focus on certain goals. Maybe you want to

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Speaker 1: get more things on your to do list done. Maybe

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Speaker 1: you just realize, like I want to just be present

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Speaker 1: with people. When I'm with people, I want to be

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Speaker 1: able to listen to their long, sometimes boring stories because

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Speaker 1: I love them. I want to feel less anxious about

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Speaker 1: what's going on elsewhere. I want to be capable of

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Speaker 1: doing difficult things because I think, for the first time

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Speaker 1: in history, maybe life is easier than it's ever been,

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Speaker 1: and I don't want that to just constantly be my reality.

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Speaker 1: I think that is a great place to start. Why

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Speaker 1: do you want to achieve this goal? There's so much research,

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Speaker 1: including a recent study from the Dominican University of California

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Speaker 1: that shows writing down a goal, writing down your intentions

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Speaker 1: increases your chances of success by forty two percent. So

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Speaker 1: that's the first thing. Now for the more practical stuff,

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Speaker 1: I also want you to start by knowing your attentional baseline.

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Speaker 1: This was a strategy put forth by Daniel Pink. He's

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Speaker 1: the author of the book Whole New Mind, The Surprising

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Speaker 1: Truth About Motivation, The Power of Regret. He speaks about

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Speaker 1: how when he noticed his attention span was getting worse,

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Speaker 1: he decided, essentially, if I want to improve, I need

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Speaker 1: to know what I'm starting with. I need to know.

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Speaker 1: I need to have some kind of measurement that I

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Speaker 1: can track my improvement from. His way of measuring his

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Speaker 1: attentional baseline was that he sat down with the book

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Speaker 1: and he timed how long he could actually sit and

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Speaker 1: read and concentrate on reading before he found like he

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Speaker 1: had to get up, before he felt uncomfortable, before he

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Speaker 1: felt like he just needed to get a glass of water,

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Speaker 1: needed to skip forward a few pages. He then started

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Speaker 1: trying different exercises for intentional control, and he would come

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Speaker 1: back to this book and come back to this exercise

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Speaker 1: again a few months, a few years, and just see

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Speaker 1: if he was improving, see what was helping. You need this,

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Speaker 1: You need a version of this. Any researcher will tell you.

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Speaker 1: If you want to see if an intervention is working,

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Speaker 1: such as an intervention to get your attention back, you've

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Speaker 1: got to know what's the the situation was like to

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Speaker 1: begin with, to see if it's made a change. So

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Speaker 1: right this week, sit down with a book or an

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Speaker 1: article or any activity that requires sustained attention. How long

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Speaker 1: can you stay in that space that is your baseline?

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Speaker 1: A couple months later, test it again. Okay, these next

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Speaker 1: points are the intervention that we're speaking about. Number one,

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Speaker 1: don't you don't have to stop using your phone. You

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Speaker 1: don't have to stop using screens right away, but if

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Speaker 1: you want to get your attention back, single screen always.

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Speaker 1: Here's the thing. We like to believe that we are

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Speaker 1: really good multitaskers, and we're really not. There was a

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Speaker 1: University of Utah paper now very famous one actually by

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Speaker 1: David Subomatsu. I think his name was. He found that

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Speaker 1: only two percent of the population can actually multitask, and

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Speaker 1: that's being very generous. Here's another surprising thing he found

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Speaker 1: in that research. The people who are most capable of multitasking,

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Speaker 1: that rare two percent are probably not the people you're

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Speaker 1: going to find actually doing it. Most of us should

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Speaker 1: not be doing this Oftentimes, when we're doing work with

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Speaker 1: a TV show on in the background, even listening to

432
00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:16,199
Speaker 1: a podcast, even scrolling while watching a lecture, we're not

433
00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:20,440
Speaker 1: actually multitasking in a way that's actually productive. We're sensation seeking.

434
00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:25,639
Speaker 1: That sensation seeking causes us to attention switch much quicker

435
00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:29,480
Speaker 1: than usual, and that depletes our attentional capacity and exhausts

436
00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:34,439
Speaker 1: us much faster. One statistic even says that task or

437
00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:36,879
Speaker 1: attentional shiftings are going from your phone to the lecture

438
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:39,399
Speaker 1: to the computer costs us as much as a forty

439
00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:43,719
Speaker 1: percent of our daily productive time without us realizing it. Basically,

440
00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:47,000
Speaker 1: when you switch when you are or when you're trying

441
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,000
Speaker 1: to do multiple things at once and thinking you can

442
00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:52,160
Speaker 1: pay attention to shopping for something on your phone whilst

443
00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:55,080
Speaker 1: trying to put together a plan on your laptop for

444
00:26:55,119 --> 00:26:57,840
Speaker 1: a class, whilst emailing you think that you can do

445
00:26:57,840 --> 00:26:59,640
Speaker 1: those all at once and you're not going to notice

446
00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:02,240
Speaker 1: a different and your brain still needs to catch up.

447
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:06,199
Speaker 1: So one screen at a time. Even better if you

448
00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:09,239
Speaker 1: schedule your switches. So basically you know that you have

449
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:11,600
Speaker 1: to do forty minutes of deep work on your laptop,

450
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:15,760
Speaker 1: and then you'll get ten minutes just of pure phone time,

451
00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:19,359
Speaker 1: maybe even fifteen. You know you have to sit at

452
00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:22,880
Speaker 1: your laptop for those designated forty minutes, even if you're

453
00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:27,399
Speaker 1: not getting anything done, you're still strengthening your attentional band.

454
00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:31,159
Speaker 1: Then you get the reward. You still get time for

455
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:35,760
Speaker 1: these things, but they're segmented. I think after a short

456
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:39,680
Speaker 1: period of procrastination, you'll definitely be surprised by how quickly

457
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:43,879
Speaker 1: you are able to get into a deep flow state.

458
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:47,840
Speaker 1: Knowing that your time is reserved just for this one

459
00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:51,240
Speaker 1: activity or this one screen and getting into a state

460
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,840
Speaker 1: of deep flow is going to become, I think, increasingly

461
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,639
Speaker 1: valuable in this attention economy. There's this guy's name is

462
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:02,680
Speaker 1: cal Newport. He's the author of Deep Work, and he

463
00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:06,479
Speaker 1: wrote about this recently that he basically said, as like

464
00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:11,159
Speaker 1: AI takes over as social media becomes more prominent, the

465
00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:12,760
Speaker 1: people who are going to rise to the top of

466
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:15,280
Speaker 1: the people who are going to be successful are those

467
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:18,400
Speaker 1: who could sit down and can still sit down and

468
00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:22,800
Speaker 1: commit to a task that requires sustained attention. You can

469
00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:25,960
Speaker 1: have a master's degree, you can have a bachelor's degree,

470
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:30,520
Speaker 1: you can have heaps of experience, whatever skill you have, Excel, Google.

471
00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:32,320
Speaker 1: I don't know what skills people put on their resumes

472
00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 1: these days, but like whatever skill it is, the one

473
00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:39,160
Speaker 1: people are going to want the most is the person

474
00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:43,400
Speaker 1: who can sit down and just focus and just work.

475
00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:46,719
Speaker 1: That is what you are building by not always splitting

476
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:50,800
Speaker 1: your attention between multiple tasks and multiple screens other ways

477
00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:53,200
Speaker 1: I think to form a healthier relationship with your phone,

478
00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:58,560
Speaker 1: don't just put up social media blocks or timers, because

479
00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:00,280
Speaker 1: they're not going to work and it's going to feel

480
00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,360
Speaker 1: like you're doing something when you're not. They're so easy

481
00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:06,840
Speaker 1: to skip. Instead, treat your phone like a landline. When

482
00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:09,920
Speaker 1: you get home, immediately plug it in and it stays

483
00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:12,440
Speaker 1: in that one location at all times. You can use

484
00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:14,560
Speaker 1: it for whatever you want. You can use it as

485
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:17,080
Speaker 1: much as you like, you can scroll for as many

486
00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:19,520
Speaker 1: hours as you desire. You have to be where the

487
00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:22,520
Speaker 1: phone is it helps if that location is obviously not

488
00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:24,240
Speaker 1: next to your bed or next to your couch, but

489
00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:27,640
Speaker 1: some are a little bit inconvenient where you need to stand,

490
00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:30,240
Speaker 1: for example, maybe in your kitchen, but it helps you

491
00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:32,720
Speaker 1: have a better relationship with being able to turn away

492
00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,720
Speaker 1: from it. You can also turn your phone screen to grayscale,

493
00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:39,760
Speaker 1: only use social media on your laptop, delete your most

494
00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:43,760
Speaker 1: stimulating like apps over the weekend. There's so many creative

495
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:48,080
Speaker 1: ways that don't require complete abstinence, but they create I

496
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:51,719
Speaker 1: don't know. Can I say intuitive usage almost like intuitive eating.

497
00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:55,400
Speaker 1: That's the way I see it. It's intuitive usage. Second

498
00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:58,520
Speaker 1: piece of advice, every single day, if you want to

499
00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:02,120
Speaker 1: get your attention span back, give yourself an attention broadening

500
00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:06,080
Speaker 1: exercise where you just focus on one thing for thirty minutes.

501
00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:10,400
Speaker 1: This doesn't have to be screen free, but it does

502
00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:16,320
Speaker 1: have to be scrolling or task switching free. Deep concentration

503
00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:19,680
Speaker 1: on one thing is a great great way to train

504
00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:23,800
Speaker 1: your brain to pay attention and rebuild the ability for

505
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:27,360
Speaker 1: your attention to sit within itself for longer. Some examples,

506
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:30,120
Speaker 1: you can commit to reading an in depth op ed

507
00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:33,479
Speaker 1: for half an hour. That was my task today. I

508
00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:37,200
Speaker 1: just read a new York Times article about who gets

509
00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:40,800
Speaker 1: custody over IVF embryos. That's what I did. I just

510
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:42,840
Speaker 1: sat there for thirty minutes and I read every word

511
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:45,560
Speaker 1: start to end, even when I wanted to skip certain

512
00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:48,240
Speaker 1: bits or jump ahead, like I had to read it

513
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:51,520
Speaker 1: word for word. I know that sounds like a brag

514
00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:54,480
Speaker 1: that I read an article. I don't know. I don't

515
00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:56,440
Speaker 1: mean it to be. It was actually kind of hard,

516
00:30:56,480 --> 00:31:00,520
Speaker 1: But that's what I've been getting myself to do. The

517
00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:02,680
Speaker 1: sense of satisfaction afterwards as well. I just told you

518
00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:04,640
Speaker 1: guys about it. Obviously, I feel good that I did it,

519
00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:07,040
Speaker 1: and I feel good every day that I do it.

520
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:11,000
Speaker 1: Other examples for your daily thirty minutes sustained attention practice.

521
00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:13,280
Speaker 1: Cook a meal without listening to a podcast at the

522
00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:18,040
Speaker 1: same time, or music or anything. Do a crossword or

523
00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:21,800
Speaker 1: do Sudoku for thirty minutes just you and the Sodoka

524
00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:25,880
Speaker 1: book without picking up your phone, without again listening to things.

525
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:29,880
Speaker 1: Walk to the shops without having your AirPods in thirty minutes,

526
00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:34,040
Speaker 1: thirty minute walk just you and nature, Sit and just

527
00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:37,120
Speaker 1: listen to a podcast and take notes without doing anything else.

528
00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:41,720
Speaker 1: The singularity is important, Adam Brown. He is the co

529
00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:46,120
Speaker 1: director of the Center for Attention, Learning and Memory at

530
00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:49,840
Speaker 1: I Think New York University. He says that gently nudging

531
00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:54,640
Speaker 1: ourselves in the direction of long term focus on things

532
00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:58,880
Speaker 1: works as a form of mental muscle memory. This is

533
00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:01,640
Speaker 1: your attention Jim going to every day the same way

534
00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:03,800
Speaker 1: you do thirty minutes forty five minutes an hour of

535
00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:07,520
Speaker 1: exercise a couple times a week or probably every day.

536
00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:09,640
Speaker 1: Like you're doing this for your brain. You are building

537
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:13,640
Speaker 1: cognitive endurance, which is your ability to sustain mental activity

538
00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:17,080
Speaker 1: over a continuous stretch of time. There was a study

539
00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:21,719
Speaker 1: published just last year, actually in an economics journal, no Less,

540
00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:26,000
Speaker 1: and it randomly assigned sixteen hundred school children to twenty

541
00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:29,960
Speaker 1: minute increments of sustained attentional focus a day. Some of

542
00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:32,200
Speaker 1: them got it, some of them didn't. The children who

543
00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:36,640
Speaker 1: participated in this exercise once a day saw that cognitive

544
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:40,760
Speaker 1: endurance and performance increase by twenty two percent compared to

545
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:44,560
Speaker 1: those who didn't do that. I'm basically asking you to

546
00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:47,680
Speaker 1: do this experiment on yourself twenty to thirty minutes a

547
00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:53,920
Speaker 1: day the same way you exercise, shower, eat, have your

548
00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:58,120
Speaker 1: attentional exercises as well. I'll also slip in this other

549
00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:00,240
Speaker 1: tip in here as well, because I I think it

550
00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:03,400
Speaker 1: kind of relates to the strategy somewhat. But if you

551
00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:08,240
Speaker 1: want an easy boost to attention, stop walking or running

552
00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 1: with your headphones in See how long you can endure silence.

553
00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:16,280
Speaker 1: I know this. It feels like listening to music as

554
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:19,480
Speaker 1: we move through the world isn't harming us at all.

555
00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:22,720
Speaker 1: It's not really doing anything. It seems harmless, right, But

556
00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:27,760
Speaker 1: there's actually a growing body of research suggesting that constantly

557
00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:33,840
Speaker 1: pairing movement with audio stimulation, so music, podcast videos, voice notes,

558
00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:38,840
Speaker 1: may increase what psychologists call cognitive load, meaning the total

559
00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:42,480
Speaker 1: amount of mental effort your brain is using at one time.

560
00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:47,520
Speaker 1: Even if it is harmless, your brain is still processing language,

561
00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:54,240
Speaker 1: predicting sound patterns, filtering information, and dividing your attentional resources

562
00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:58,920
Speaker 1: between your environment and the audio stream. One relevant concept

563
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:03,640
Speaker 1: here is something called attentional residue, which was coined by

564
00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:06,840
Speaker 1: doctor Sophie Leroy in a two thousand and nine study

565
00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:10,920
Speaker 1: she did on once again on multitasking. And this is

566
00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:13,880
Speaker 1: the idea that when part of our attention is allocated

567
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:17,520
Speaker 1: to one stream of information, some of it will always

568
00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:20,960
Speaker 1: stick there, even as we try to focus elsewhere. So

569
00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:24,000
Speaker 1: if you're walking or studying or working whilst listening to

570
00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:27,399
Speaker 1: a podcast, listening to music, trying to do anything, if

571
00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:31,160
Speaker 1: you have this in the background, mentally, your brain is

572
00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:34,879
Speaker 1: always partially occupied by it. No matter how much you've

573
00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:38,279
Speaker 1: listened to that song, Even if there's no words, your

574
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:42,880
Speaker 1: brain never fully enters a state of open awareness or

575
00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:45,920
Speaker 1: even of rest, just like when you have two screens.

576
00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:50,440
Speaker 1: This is obviously kind of a bummer because music also

577
00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:53,600
Speaker 1: is shown to reduce stress, also shown to increase like

578
00:34:53,680 --> 00:34:57,360
Speaker 1: life satisfaction and the emotional salience of memories and moments,

579
00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:01,080
Speaker 1: and it's just joyful, Like don't need scientific reason to

580
00:35:01,239 --> 00:35:05,040
Speaker 1: justify that music is beautiful. But again, I'm not saying

581
00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:08,200
Speaker 1: you know from now on it's silence for you and

582
00:35:08,239 --> 00:35:10,800
Speaker 1: you only like music is not something you can enjoy

583
00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:13,840
Speaker 1: until you fix that, like pesky attention span of yours.

584
00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:16,960
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, be more aware of what taxes your

585
00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:20,880
Speaker 1: attention span in the background that you may imagine is

586
00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:24,600
Speaker 1: harmless but is actually just normalized. Okay, we're gonna take

587
00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:27,719
Speaker 1: our final break for this episode before we finish off.

588
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:29,760
Speaker 1: Good job if you have made it this far without

589
00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:33,239
Speaker 1: taking any other breaks without skipping forward. Your attention span

590
00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:35,640
Speaker 1: is doing well today. Stay with us. We're going to

591
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:45,640
Speaker 1: return for those final tips and some finishing thoughts. If

592
00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:49,040
Speaker 1: it wasn't clear already, I'm going to say it, analog

593
00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:52,280
Speaker 1: is back in a huge way. When I say analog,

594
00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:55,000
Speaker 1: what I mean is any activity that is by hand,

595
00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:58,840
Speaker 1: requires a little bit of friction or concentration, and mainly

596
00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:03,320
Speaker 1: requires your human input. We've kind of subtly spoken about

597
00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:07,360
Speaker 1: this all day, but when we do analog things, parts

598
00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:10,480
Speaker 1: of the activity are not offloaded to a machine or technology.

599
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:14,040
Speaker 1: It's writing letters by hand, it's reading a physical book,

600
00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:18,120
Speaker 1: it's baking from scratch, it's listening to vinyl records, like

601
00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:22,440
Speaker 1: all of those analog activities. A big one though, that

602
00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:25,120
Speaker 1: you should be doing more of if you want to

603
00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:31,040
Speaker 1: repair your attention span is playing card games. I know strange,

604
00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:33,759
Speaker 1: but the evidence for the impact of card games on

605
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:37,040
Speaker 1: your cognitive ability is not spoken about enough, and that's

606
00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:40,080
Speaker 1: exactly why I wanted to include it. My favorite study

607
00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:42,840
Speaker 1: on this was done by two Universities of Edinburgh researchers

608
00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:47,240
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen who examined the relationship and association between

609
00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:50,160
Speaker 1: playing card games or any analog game for that matter,

610
00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:54,360
Speaker 1: so chess, checkers and changes in cognitive function from eleven

611
00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:57,719
Speaker 1: to seventy. Now, this was a longitudinal study and the

612
00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:01,640
Speaker 1: participants were all born in Scotland in the nineteen thirties

613
00:37:01,719 --> 00:37:05,319
Speaker 1: and essentially assessed across their lifespan for hey, are you

614
00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:09,520
Speaker 1: playing card games, how's your memory going, how's your attention going?

615
00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:14,040
Speaker 1: And then they also controlled for factors like education, social class, activity,

616
00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:17,960
Speaker 1: even early intelligence, and they showed that those of them

617
00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:22,400
Speaker 1: who were engaging in corgames, especially with friends, but even alone,

618
00:37:22,640 --> 00:37:26,200
Speaker 1: had greater cognitive speed and greater attention. The same can

619
00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:29,120
Speaker 1: be said for activities and hobbies that require a lot

620
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:34,120
Speaker 1: of hand eye coordination or motor skills like pottery, woodworking,

621
00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:38,160
Speaker 1: rock climbing, dancing, and once more sustained attention, there is

622
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:42,880
Speaker 1: cross brain stimulation. Your brain is required as well to

623
00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:45,759
Speaker 1: stick to the task for it to be good. That

624
00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:49,440
Speaker 1: is expanding your cognitive endurance. If we think back to

625
00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:52,839
Speaker 1: how our dopamine systems are being frayed and depleted by

626
00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:58,000
Speaker 1: our current environment, analogic activities provide a much needed antidote

627
00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:01,799
Speaker 1: because they are essentially doing the opposite. They require sustained

628
00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:06,120
Speaker 1: problem solving and attention. You don't get an immediate convenience

629
00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:09,279
Speaker 1: reward from doing hard things. Your brain has to wait,

630
00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:12,880
Speaker 1: Your brain has to be patient, and the payout feels

631
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:17,040
Speaker 1: more significant showing your brain neurologically psychologically to do that again,

632
00:38:17,719 --> 00:38:19,960
Speaker 1: and it feels better you've worked on it for longer.

633
00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:24,239
Speaker 1: The reward spurs more of that behavior taking from this

634
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:29,200
Speaker 1: as well. It's not just analog activities, but having analogue afternoons,

635
00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:34,399
Speaker 1: analog days, analog weekends where you challenge yourself to do

636
00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:38,839
Speaker 1: things without technology or digital input, may prove to be

637
00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:42,879
Speaker 1: an unconventional approach to retraining our attention spans, but once

638
00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:46,040
Speaker 1: more a highly effective one, the kind of gorilla approach

639
00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:48,879
Speaker 1: you might need right now. There's also just something so

640
00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:53,160
Speaker 1: intimate about doing things in a way that isn't necessarily

641
00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:57,160
Speaker 1: convenient anymore, but feels really special and feels really sacred.

642
00:38:57,800 --> 00:38:59,840
Speaker 1: You know, like your friend who films the birthday party

643
00:38:59,880 --> 00:39:02,600
Speaker 1: on her camcorder that is more special than a movie

644
00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:05,400
Speaker 1: shot on an iPhone. Your friend who hand paints you

645
00:39:05,440 --> 00:39:08,520
Speaker 1: a portrait rather than buying a gift off Amazon. That's

646
00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:11,759
Speaker 1: better than the Amazon gift. You know, that portrait better

647
00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:15,280
Speaker 1: than an AI trend. Taking two hours to really perfect

648
00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:18,840
Speaker 1: a chocolate cake rather than uberating a chocolate bar toy

649
00:39:18,880 --> 00:39:23,879
Speaker 1: your house, These things all feel more special. Something I've

650
00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:27,240
Speaker 1: learned from doing this podcast is that so many modern

651
00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:31,520
Speaker 1: psychological problems are really just solved by ancient primal solutions.

652
00:39:31,560 --> 00:39:34,799
Speaker 1: Not all of them, but some of them. Obviously, the

653
00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:37,400
Speaker 1: people of the past didn't do everything right, and advances

654
00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:40,040
Speaker 1: in technology are like incredible. I'm not scoffing at them.

655
00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:42,600
Speaker 1: I'm not saying I'm not trying to push like a

656
00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:47,359
Speaker 1: tried wife ideology, but just think about what environment your

657
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:49,880
Speaker 1: brain was made for. It wasn't the one that you

658
00:39:49,920 --> 00:39:53,239
Speaker 1: are in now. Our brains are an ancient machine that

659
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:56,799
Speaker 1: adapted for thousands of years to go slow, to have

660
00:39:56,840 --> 00:40:00,200
Speaker 1: to put an effort to get output, to chase long

661
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:04,759
Speaker 1: term gratification. They were literally trained on slow sustained. Don't

662
00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:10,160
Speaker 1: mean that has changed incredibly rapidly. Artificially. Turning that state

663
00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:14,319
Speaker 1: back on for yourself by going analog at times when

664
00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:19,320
Speaker 1: the world around you doesn't require you to is really

665
00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:24,440
Speaker 1: helpful and really does change how you focus, change how

666
00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:29,000
Speaker 1: you feel. Change Yeah, once again, your attention span. Okay,

667
00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:31,719
Speaker 1: Tip number four or five, I don't know which one

668
00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:36,160
Speaker 1: we're up to, let's say five. Separate your environments so

669
00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:39,040
Speaker 1: that you can cue your brain to know when it's

670
00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:42,680
Speaker 1: time to pay attention and when it's time to switch off.

671
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:47,640
Speaker 1: One of the reasons our attention spans yours, mine, everybody's

672
00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:52,560
Speaker 1: feels so fragmented is because our brains no longer associate

673
00:40:52,640 --> 00:40:59,279
Speaker 1: specific spaces with specific mental states. During the pandemic, especially,

674
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:04,480
Speaker 1: our bedrooms became officers, our couches became classrooms, our phones

675
00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:08,719
Speaker 1: with the cinema, everything was everything was everything like it

676
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:12,600
Speaker 1: was you know, your your space. There was no clear delineation.

677
00:41:13,600 --> 00:41:17,040
Speaker 1: And what this has stopped is what psychologists call context

678
00:41:17,120 --> 00:41:21,120
Speaker 1: dependent memory and behavior, where our brain learns to associate

679
00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:24,360
Speaker 1: certain environments like your home or your bedroom, with certain

680
00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:27,719
Speaker 1: habits and emotions, and other places, like your workplace or

681
00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:31,560
Speaker 1: your desk, with other habits and emotional states like alertness.

682
00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:36,000
Speaker 1: So if you do everything everywhere, your brain never receives

683
00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:40,040
Speaker 1: a clear signal about what specific mode it's meant to

684
00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:42,880
Speaker 1: be in. This is why people who work from home

685
00:41:43,440 --> 00:41:47,680
Speaker 1: often report feeling like they are never fully off myself included,

686
00:41:48,239 --> 00:41:51,600
Speaker 1: and it's why they also have a more strained attentional system.

687
00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:56,880
Speaker 1: There is no psychological boundary separating their states of being

688
00:41:57,040 --> 00:42:00,920
Speaker 1: and the requirements that those different states have, and without recovery,

689
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:05,560
Speaker 1: our focus deteriorates even more. Attention really actually requires contrast.

690
00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:09,000
Speaker 1: Your brain needs spaces that say here we can concentrate,

691
00:42:09,040 --> 00:42:11,520
Speaker 1: and other spaces that say here we can rest, here,

692
00:42:11,520 --> 00:42:14,240
Speaker 1: we can have fun, here, we can be entertained. Otherwise

693
00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:17,080
Speaker 1: you kind of exist in the middle where you can't

694
00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:20,240
Speaker 1: really do either, Like you can't do one.

695
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:20,399
Speaker 2: Or the other.

696
00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:22,399
Speaker 1: You do this secret third option, which is like both

697
00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:26,160
Speaker 1: at the same time. So separate your spaces. Bed for

698
00:42:26,239 --> 00:42:30,840
Speaker 1: sleeping only, couch for phone only, office for work only,

699
00:42:31,040 --> 00:42:35,759
Speaker 1: library for study only. Spaces have to have specific functions

700
00:42:35,760 --> 00:42:38,720
Speaker 1: if you want to improve your attention span. What actually

701
00:42:38,760 --> 00:42:41,600
Speaker 1: makes a good focus environment. Let's talk about that for

702
00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:43,879
Speaker 1: a second. There's been a lot of research on this.

703
00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:47,239
Speaker 1: An environment that's good for attention is firstly one that

704
00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:50,960
Speaker 1: is low in visual clutter. So studies consistently show that

705
00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:54,160
Speaker 1: clutter competes for our attention because every object in our

706
00:42:54,239 --> 00:42:57,680
Speaker 1: visual field is processed by the brain to some extent.

707
00:42:57,800 --> 00:43:00,400
Speaker 1: So even if you think you're ignoring the past of

708
00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:04,280
Speaker 1: clothes or random tabs or notifications. Your brain is still

709
00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:08,120
Speaker 1: allocating tiny bits of energy towards filtering them in or out,

710
00:43:08,239 --> 00:43:10,920
Speaker 1: or putting them on your to do list. So having

711
00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:14,640
Speaker 1: an environment where you pay attention and you focus, making

712
00:43:14,640 --> 00:43:18,080
Speaker 1: sure that's one that is clear of clutter is super important.

713
00:43:18,600 --> 00:43:23,200
Speaker 1: This is something someone called doctor Emily Bouchissist. She's a

714
00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:26,360
Speaker 1: social psychologist at n where you. She talked about in

715
00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:30,279
Speaker 1: a recent Big Think article. As much as attention is

716
00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:34,680
Speaker 1: controlled cognitively and mentally, it's also controlled visually. You have

717
00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:37,320
Speaker 1: to think of your eyes as like flashlights, so whatever

718
00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:40,040
Speaker 1: it's pointed at it, it tends to when you have

719
00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:43,760
Speaker 1: multiple things in your environment, on your desk, on your wall,

720
00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:47,319
Speaker 1: the flashlight is jumping between them. When you have just

721
00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:50,320
Speaker 1: one thing, so your laptop, your textbook, your computer, your notes,

722
00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:55,440
Speaker 1: your flashlight finds it easier to settle on that singular object.

723
00:43:56,040 --> 00:43:59,040
Speaker 1: This is actually called your visual focus muscle, by the way,

724
00:43:59,680 --> 00:44:04,600
Speaker 1: And the more you can reduce the spotlight's diameter, the

725
00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:07,440
Speaker 1: less preoccupied you are, which is better. So that's the

726
00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:12,680
Speaker 1: first thing an environment often needs. Secondly, physical cues for concentration.

727
00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:17,200
Speaker 1: This sounds simple, but having objects that only appear during

728
00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:21,960
Speaker 1: focused work can become powerful mental triggers. Maybe it's a

729
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:25,560
Speaker 1: particular lamp you switch on, your noise canceling headphones that

730
00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:29,640
Speaker 1: you only use when you're working, specific playlist candle, a

731
00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:33,319
Speaker 1: certain chair, even a particular drink. For me, you guys know,

732
00:44:33,320 --> 00:44:35,480
Speaker 1: it's always a diet coke that is my get stuff

733
00:44:35,560 --> 00:44:38,280
Speaker 1: done que because it is the only caffeine I really

734
00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:43,440
Speaker 1: have ever. And these things, the diet coke, the playlists,

735
00:44:43,480 --> 00:44:48,920
Speaker 1: the headphones become what psychologists call conditioned stimuli, basically signals

736
00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:52,160
Speaker 1: that prime the brain for certain states. Athletes do this

737
00:44:52,200 --> 00:44:55,880
Speaker 1: all the time before a competition, so to famous musicians.

738
00:44:56,200 --> 00:44:58,800
Speaker 1: Lots of people do. It's part of the ritual of work.

739
00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:02,200
Speaker 1: And finally, an environment that helps you pay attention and

740
00:45:02,239 --> 00:45:05,239
Speaker 1: focus is one that has natural elements. So exposure to

741
00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:09,440
Speaker 1: natural light, greenery, outdoor views, all have been shown to

742
00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:12,760
Speaker 1: all have been repeatedly linked, i should say, to improved

743
00:45:12,800 --> 00:45:18,120
Speaker 1: attention restoration and reduced mental fatigue. Attention restoration theory in

744
00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:23,360
Speaker 1: particular suggests that nature gives out directed attentional systems a

745
00:45:23,440 --> 00:45:28,480
Speaker 1: chance to recover because natural environments engage the brain softly

746
00:45:29,239 --> 00:45:34,360
Speaker 1: rather than harshly. Even a plan on your desk or

747
00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:37,960
Speaker 1: working near a window can help. And now for my

748
00:45:38,080 --> 00:45:41,719
Speaker 1: final tip. My final tip for getting your attention span

749
00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:46,120
Speaker 1: back is to not overestimate the power of actually taking breaks.

750
00:45:46,480 --> 00:45:49,120
Speaker 1: I think when we are on this quest to rebuild

751
00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:53,759
Speaker 1: our attentional capacity, specifically the attentional capacity we once had,

752
00:45:54,040 --> 00:45:57,000
Speaker 1: there's a real all or nothing thinking that can take over,

753
00:45:57,520 --> 00:46:01,240
Speaker 1: especially when it's something we care about, we're really worried about.

754
00:46:01,880 --> 00:46:05,160
Speaker 1: You know, it's only natural to notice something's changed, like

755
00:46:05,239 --> 00:46:07,760
Speaker 1: our attention, and to be fearful of what that means

756
00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:12,040
Speaker 1: long term, and to try very drastically to force yourself

757
00:46:12,080 --> 00:46:16,560
Speaker 1: into a state of focused, disciplined effort. You're not doing

758
00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:19,840
Speaker 1: yourself any favors by demanding hours and hours of sustained

759
00:46:19,840 --> 00:46:22,840
Speaker 1: attention for yourself thinking that that's helping, especially when it

760
00:46:22,840 --> 00:46:25,720
Speaker 1: comes from a place of self punishment or fear. In fact,

761
00:46:26,160 --> 00:46:29,360
Speaker 1: psychology tells us that this approach often backfires. It's like

762
00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:31,600
Speaker 1: somebody who wants to get fit and runs a marathon

763
00:46:31,840 --> 00:46:35,960
Speaker 1: suddenly overnight, thinking that's helping with their muscle retention. It's not.

764
00:46:36,160 --> 00:46:40,200
Speaker 1: We need to build up to it over time so

765
00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:43,360
Speaker 1: that we can test our cognitive limits and then rest

766
00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:47,799
Speaker 1: them and recover from that fatigue. When we force concentration

767
00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:52,240
Speaker 1: beyond our cognitive limits our brains, they don't become stronger,

768
00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:56,960
Speaker 1: they've just become fatigued, and it can create learnt negative

769
00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:01,879
Speaker 1: associations between our workspace, for example, the work we feel

770
00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:04,879
Speaker 1: we need to do when exhaustion, bored and frustration meaning

771
00:47:04,880 --> 00:47:07,120
Speaker 1: that we're not going to do it. There's also something

772
00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:12,400
Speaker 1: called vigilance decreement. It's a phenomena where our ability to

773
00:47:12,480 --> 00:47:17,360
Speaker 1: sustain attention naturally declines over time when we are continuously

774
00:47:17,800 --> 00:47:20,600
Speaker 1: focused on one task for longer than necessary or than

775
00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:23,839
Speaker 1: we want to be. This is why productivity researches and

776
00:47:23,880 --> 00:47:27,280
Speaker 1: you're a scientists are like, really want people to take breaks.

777
00:47:27,960 --> 00:47:33,120
Speaker 1: They are incredible for restoring your executive function, especially when

778
00:47:33,200 --> 00:47:37,799
Speaker 1: a break involves movement, nature, silence, anything that allows your

779
00:47:37,840 --> 00:47:41,880
Speaker 1: brain to momentarily disengage. And they're incredible for directing your

780
00:47:41,920 --> 00:47:45,719
Speaker 1: attention because we know it's always so much easier to

781
00:47:45,760 --> 00:47:47,799
Speaker 1: come back to a task when we're not dreading it

782
00:47:48,200 --> 00:47:50,600
Speaker 1: and when it feels novel. But if you sit down

783
00:47:50,680 --> 00:47:52,759
Speaker 1: and are like, all right, let's go, we have to

784
00:47:52,760 --> 00:47:56,279
Speaker 1: focus for ten hours. Otherwise I have a problem. All

785
00:47:56,280 --> 00:47:59,120
Speaker 1: you're going to do is mean that the next time

786
00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:02,719
Speaker 1: you have to concentrate or pay attention at all, you're

787
00:48:02,719 --> 00:48:05,719
Speaker 1: going to feel the impending doom or the impending fear that, like,

788
00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:08,760
Speaker 1: maybe I'm in for another ten hour feet I can't

789
00:48:08,800 --> 00:48:11,640
Speaker 1: do this, I can't do this in the middle lane.

790
00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:14,799
Speaker 1: I can either not pay attention, not be focused, or

791
00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:17,799
Speaker 1: be focused so much that I'm just as I'm just

792
00:48:18,200 --> 00:48:24,120
Speaker 1: mentally and physically drained. And importantly, breaks are not laziness.

793
00:48:24,160 --> 00:48:26,560
Speaker 1: They are part of this training that we're talking about.

794
00:48:26,800 --> 00:48:30,400
Speaker 1: If you're trying to go from consuming fifteen second videos

795
00:48:30,400 --> 00:48:35,360
Speaker 1: all day to suddenly reading for uninterrupted hours, your brain

796
00:48:35,440 --> 00:48:40,239
Speaker 1: is going to rebel right instead, rebuild your attention span progressively.

797
00:48:40,719 --> 00:48:46,480
Speaker 1: Twenty focused minutes matters, thirty matters, an hour matters. The

798
00:48:46,520 --> 00:48:50,640
Speaker 1: goal is not perfection, it's consistency. Five minutes matter. You're

799
00:48:50,680 --> 00:48:53,840
Speaker 1: trying to teach your brain that focus and attention is rewarding,

800
00:48:54,360 --> 00:49:00,239
Speaker 1: is enjoyable, is safe. So big episode to summarize, loss

801
00:49:00,239 --> 00:49:03,000
Speaker 1: of attentional control is not you. It is the digital

802
00:49:03,080 --> 00:49:07,000
Speaker 1: and physical environment you've been forced into. You are definitely

803
00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:10,279
Speaker 1: not the only one experiencing that decline. But it is

804
00:49:10,400 --> 00:49:13,520
Speaker 1: something that you can reverse due to the beauty and

805
00:49:13,600 --> 00:49:17,640
Speaker 1: I guess the gift of neuralplasticity. So if you want

806
00:49:17,640 --> 00:49:21,279
Speaker 1: to rebuild your attention span, Number one, get clear on

807
00:49:21,360 --> 00:49:25,040
Speaker 1: what is motivating you to change and the benefits of

808
00:49:25,080 --> 00:49:30,600
Speaker 1: this change. Two. Set a baseline to measure your progress against. Three.

809
00:49:31,040 --> 00:49:33,960
Speaker 1: You don't have to stop using your phone, but stop

810
00:49:34,040 --> 00:49:40,000
Speaker 1: using multiple screens specifically at once. Four Create friction so

811
00:49:40,040 --> 00:49:43,200
Speaker 1: that using your phone or social media isn't as easy.

812
00:49:43,239 --> 00:49:48,280
Speaker 1: Five give yourself a daily attention broadening exercise thirty minutes

813
00:49:48,280 --> 00:49:50,719
Speaker 1: every day where you just focus on doing one thing

814
00:49:50,840 --> 00:49:55,439
Speaker 1: at once. Six Stop listening to music or always having

815
00:49:55,520 --> 00:49:59,120
Speaker 1: background noise on when you complete simple tasks. Just give

816
00:49:59,160 --> 00:50:03,319
Speaker 1: your brain some silence to replenish itself, especially when you're

817
00:50:03,320 --> 00:50:08,200
Speaker 1: doing things that require attention. Seven return to analog activities,

818
00:50:08,480 --> 00:50:12,000
Speaker 1: particularly those that require friction and concentration. They are going

819
00:50:12,040 --> 00:50:15,680
Speaker 1: to save your attention more than anything else. Eight. Design

820
00:50:15,760 --> 00:50:19,240
Speaker 1: your environment to be more conducive to your attentional goals.

821
00:50:19,640 --> 00:50:24,480
Speaker 1: Limited clutter, one thing in a time, nature in your environment.

822
00:50:24,880 --> 00:50:27,000
Speaker 1: Those are the three things. I don't know what number

823
00:50:27,040 --> 00:50:30,760
Speaker 1: are up to, but take breaks and measure back against

824
00:50:30,800 --> 00:50:34,920
Speaker 1: your baseline as you progress. The thing is you absolutely

825
00:50:34,920 --> 00:50:37,839
Speaker 1: have the power to do this, like you absolutely do,

826
00:50:38,400 --> 00:50:41,239
Speaker 1: and if you're thinking about it, you also should absolutely

827
00:50:41,239 --> 00:50:43,920
Speaker 1: do it now. I fully believe, as I've said in

828
00:50:43,960 --> 00:50:47,040
Speaker 1: this episode, as AI becomes more dominant as well, it

829
00:50:47,080 --> 00:50:50,600
Speaker 1: makes things even easier and easier and more convenient. The

830
00:50:50,680 --> 00:50:52,640
Speaker 1: people who are going to continue to thrive and be

831
00:50:52,719 --> 00:50:56,240
Speaker 1: successful are those who still know the power of effort

832
00:50:57,000 --> 00:51:00,800
Speaker 1: and can execute effort through sustained at ten time and focus.

833
00:51:01,480 --> 00:51:05,520
Speaker 1: What's more, I think there's just genuine human beauty in

834
00:51:05,640 --> 00:51:09,080
Speaker 1: doing things the hard way, even if they're not perfect,

835
00:51:09,160 --> 00:51:12,240
Speaker 1: even if they're not the best, even if it requires

836
00:51:12,280 --> 00:51:15,160
Speaker 1: more from you cognitively mentally, there's beauty in that. So

837
00:51:15,239 --> 00:51:20,160
Speaker 1: I hope this episode gets you closer back to that

838
00:51:20,239 --> 00:51:23,000
Speaker 1: state of being that you can remember being in as

839
00:51:23,040 --> 00:51:26,040
Speaker 1: a kid or as a teenager. I think a lot

840
00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:31,000
Speaker 1: of us are really realizing the cost of the online

841
00:51:31,040 --> 00:51:34,000
Speaker 1: life and the over stimulated life on our brains, so

842
00:51:34,040 --> 00:51:37,120
Speaker 1: you're not the only one. I think these tips will

843
00:51:37,680 --> 00:51:40,359
Speaker 1: hopefully get you to the start line, past the start line,

844
00:51:40,640 --> 00:51:44,399
Speaker 1: hopefully get you rebuilding your attentional muscle, because it is

845
00:51:44,840 --> 00:51:47,880
Speaker 1: possible if you can think of anything else that's helped

846
00:51:48,040 --> 00:51:50,360
Speaker 1: you and you want to share it with the audience

847
00:51:50,520 --> 00:51:53,239
Speaker 1: and you're listening on Spotify, you can leave comment below.

848
00:51:53,239 --> 00:51:55,120
Speaker 1: I would honestly love to hear from you. I feel

849
00:51:55,120 --> 00:51:57,000
Speaker 1: like this is a massive talking point at the moment.

850
00:51:57,400 --> 00:52:01,840
Speaker 1: Any delusional tips or things or strategies that have worked

851
00:52:01,960 --> 00:52:05,480
Speaker 1: for you, feel free to share them below some other reminders.

852
00:52:05,480 --> 00:52:08,160
Speaker 1: You can also watch this episode on Netflix if you

853
00:52:08,440 --> 00:52:10,840
Speaker 1: want to see what the studio looks like. If you

854
00:52:10,880 --> 00:52:14,400
Speaker 1: want a more I don't know, personal way of enjoying

855
00:52:14,400 --> 00:52:16,560
Speaker 1: the podcast, you can follow us on Instagram. You can

856
00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:19,719
Speaker 1: read our substack, where we send a version of the

857
00:52:19,760 --> 00:52:23,799
Speaker 1: podcast in written form to you once a week. And

858
00:52:23,840 --> 00:52:26,120
Speaker 1: you know what, if you made it this far and

859
00:52:26,200 --> 00:52:30,279
Speaker 1: you didn't speed up the episode and you didn't get

860
00:52:30,280 --> 00:52:32,719
Speaker 1: bored halfway through, maybe you did, I don't know, maybe

861
00:52:32,719 --> 00:52:34,640
Speaker 1: it was just a boring episode. But if you paid

862
00:52:34,640 --> 00:52:37,480
Speaker 1: attention all the way to the end of this episode, congratulations,

863
00:52:37,560 --> 00:52:41,439
Speaker 1: you did two of your sustained attention exercises for the day.

864
00:52:41,760 --> 00:52:44,680
Speaker 1: You're incredible. Wishing you all very good luck on your

865
00:52:44,760 --> 00:52:49,440
Speaker 1: attentional capacity journeys. It's a weird sentence, but until next time,

866
00:52:49,640 --> 00:52:51,879
Speaker 1: be safe, be kind, be gentle to yourself. We will

867
00:52:51,920 --> 00:52:53,080
Speaker 1: talk very very soon.