#attention span

[howlfromthecore]

This is probably one of the most important things I've ever come across online. Sharing it for anyone that needs it.

Big takeaway: if the way you're spending time online is making you anxious or upset, you can change that.

Thank you so much for writing all this out.

Hello,Do you have any tips for recovering from internet brain rot? It's like my patience has dried up and if there's a huge amount of text (even about topics I'm very interested in) that I have to read, I get annoyed and just don't interact with the material at all.

I have multiple tips!

TL;DR (Because of course I generated a wall of text): Take a break from the internet, create a schedule for getting yourself used to reading longer texts, take breaks while reading, and perhaps reconsider how you interact with The Internet and the world in general.

Here are the basic "to reduce the brain rot just don't interact" tips:

Take a break. Give yourself time off from The Internet (for these purposes The Internet is the social media industrial complex; clickbait news, recommended videos, social media sites, etc. You don't have to totally check out of email or your local news site, just get away from the huge time sucks). I'd say to take at least one day a week where you're online for less than an hour a day, and to maybe work up to doing a week-long break from whatever the main agents of rot are.

Once you've identified the main agents of rot, give yourself a time limit or set up rules for yourself. I don't let myself look at social media in bed, for instance; no staying up late on my phone, no scrolling before I get up and start my day. I don't give myself a strict time limit anymore, but for a while there I was very firm about "you only get to go online 4 hours a day" with myself.

Don't comment (or at least only share the things you really want to share). If you feel the need to argue, or if you feel pressured into sharing something, don't. Step back, maybe even open the post in a new tab or send it to yourself, and come back later. If you've been thinking about it and have decided it IS something you care enough to talk about, share it. If you look at the tab and feel stressed out or still feel reactive, close the tab and walk away.

Go out and interact with the real world in a non-work capacity for a few hours a week; take walks or go shopping or go out and take pictures of insects. Touch grass so that The Internet is not the only thing you're doing with your downtime.

Here are the "work on reading longer texts specifically" tips:

Set a reading goal for yourself. Maybe you want to read one New Yorker article a week, maybe you want to read all the way through news articles, maybe you want to read novels like you used to in high school. Figure out what your actual goal is and articulate that goal to yourself.

Set up a practice schedule and gradually increase the amount of time you're reading. Don't go from short tumblr posts to a novella, go from short tumblr posts to slightly longer news articles, then to slightly longer essays, then to a novella. You can do this in literal paragraphs if you want to - maybe your goal for your first day is to read five paragraphs in a row, and the second day is seven, and the third day is ten, etc, until you are comfortably reading for longer amounts of time without counting paragraphs. (Try this with books from gutenberg.org; read a classic you haven't read a few paragraphs at a time and if you find yourself going over your paragraph count, let yourself run with it. If you finish a book, good for you, find another one and start again.)

Set up a maintenance schedule. If your goal is to read longer news pieces, try to read a longer piece every week and try to read to the end of every news article you open. If your goal is to read novels or longer nonfiction, try to read a book a month (maybe setting aside dedicated time each week to read, maybe Thursday evenings are book time now). If you find yourself falling back into old habits, take a break from The Internet and do some more rigorous practice for a while.

If you find yourself getting frustrated while you are reading you can also take a break! Read until you get frustrated and then *instead of switching to a different page or closing the article* close your eyes or look out the window or away from the screen for thirty seconds (count 'em! count out the time in your head) and then continue reading. You can also take a longer pause and sit and think about why you're getting frustrated. Is it the subject matter? Is it just looking at this text for longer than a couple minutes (if you are experiencing FOMO because you're reading for another few minutes instead of scrolling, the harder tips at the bottom are going to be important to you)? Are you comfortable? Are you reading this text to procrastinate from something and the procrastination is making you nervous? Are you trying to read to the bottom of your dash and reading a long post is taking up more time than you want while scrolling? Are you bored? Genuinely and very seriously: are your eyes straining and does your head hurt (if this is the case when is the last time you had your eyes checked or your glasses prescription updated)?

Here are the much harder "examine yourself and reassess your reactions to things" tips:

Work on re-training your attention span.

Identify something that you enjoy and find deeply engaging, and schedule some dedicated time for that thing. Set a literal timer (it can be a short amount of time at first) and sit down and do the thing without switching to a different website or opening up an app on your phone. This can be re-reading or watching a couple episodes of a show you like or listening to your favorite album while you sit down and draw. What's important is to spend a longer time focusing on doing something you DO like before attempting to spend a longer time focusing on something you DON'T like.

When you're starting on things you DON'T like, start with things you mildly don't like, or that feel tedious but aren't actually unpleasant. One way I do this is by transcribing poetry; I look up poems that I connect to and I transcribe them into a notebook that I have for that purpose. I enjoy having the finished product, but I don't enjoy the process, so it takes some effort to stick with it. Maybe there is a boring book you have been trying to get through, maybe you need to detail your car, maybe you've been trying to take up embroidery - these are good things to make yourself pay attention to (having music or a podcast on can help, but avoid watching videos or opening social apps)

When you're okay at that kind of thing (doing something not actively unpleasant) work on your attention span for things you ACTIVELY don't like. I don't think you should be a masochist about this, but you should work on being okay with doing unpleasant things for a sustained period of time. All of us have to do unpleasant stuff sometimes, and it's better to be able to pay attention to it for an hour at a time than it is to put it off forever.

This leads into the next Big Tip which is:

Work on being less reactive

Find something that you dislike; I'm going to use conservative talk radio as my example.

Expose yourself to the disliked thing for short periods of time (under ten minutes, maybe under five minutes).

Work on moderating your emotions during the time spent exposed to the disliked thing. If it makes you angry, work on intellectualizing the anger without becoming agitated by it. If it makes you sad, work on accepting that sadness without letting it drag down your mood. This isn't precisely about becoming numb to stimuli, but it is about being more in control of how your emotional reactions impact you.

Analyze the disliked thing. Why does it make you angry? Is that on purpose by the creator of the thing? Would it make someone else angry in the same way? How would you explain the anger to a neutral third party?

Consider responding instead of reacting. Let's say you're seeing a lot of very sad and upsetting things online and it's making you sad and upsetting you. You re-share these things because you don't feel like there's anything else you can do or you get angry when you see people sharing incorrect information, perhaps you argue with people about this. Now try looking at the upsetting things through the lens of point number four. This has upset you; how has it upset you? And once you've thought about how it upset you and have articulated that to yourself, find out what you can DO. I cannot make conservative talk radio go off the air, but I can support the groups harmed by conservative talk radio; thus there is no point in me getting upset and angry about conservative talk radio when I could be helping the people they target instead.

And that gets us to the last big tip which is:

Ask yourself if you are spending your time in a way that is enjoyable and edifying.

We all have limited time in our days and limited time in our lives. If you are finding yourself frequently frustrated online, it's a good time to consider whether you want to be spending so much time online.

If you feel like The Internet has become a rat race in which you can't read more than a few paragraphs without getting frustrated, there's a good chance that not only are you spending too much time on The Internet, but you're also spending it on doing things that you don't particularly like.

A realization like yours, Anon, that you are getting frustrated with any longer texts, can actually be really helpful because it provides a good opportunity to look at what you're engaging with and consider the questions:

Is this something I enjoy?

Do I feel good when I do this thing?

And that's a great way to figure out how to get rid of things that are leading to your background frustration. Maybe that looks like paring down the list of blogs you follow, maybe that looks like unsubscribing from some youtubers and podcasts, maybe that looks like uninstalling apps, maybe that looks like blocking a whole bunch of people and terms on your socials.

I don't think that everything we do has to help us grow as a person or expand our consciousness or anything like that, but I do think it's important to prioritize doing things that you like and doing things that you feel good about.

Like, I'm not doing something *wrong* if I spend an afternoon on Youtube watching drama channels every once in a while, but if I come out of a few afternoons of watching youtube drama channels feeling restless and anxious and like I wasted my time - even if I enjoyed myself while I was watching - it's probably a good idea for me to take a break from drama channels and see if there's something I can do instead that will make me feel better.

ALSO, A NOTE:

You are an animal that requires significant enrichment in your enclosure.

Think about tigers. Tigers in captivity are going to be excited to get high-value treats for any reason. They will eat and enjoy the treats. But if a tiger in captivity is only given the treats and never given any other form of activity to engage with, it is not going to be a happy tiger. If you start putting their treats in a pumpkin or a puzzle feeder or giving them toys to play with, that is going to be a much happier tiger.

Please give your brain things to play with that are more than just treats (though it does need some treats!). Make yourself a happy tiger. Your brain need a puzzle feeder, not a treat button.

[raeniskaies]

you need to fix your attention span ♡

- it is rumoured that human beings have an attention span shorter than a gold fish' . can you believe that such intelligent , amazing creatures as us can't even concentrate for more than 7 seconds ?

000 , just a short notice

- i apologise for taking so long to post ! life has been so busy and im sorry I left you guys ! also ty for 200 + followers ! i love you guys !

001 , don't have multiple tabs open

- stop having multiple tabs open ! this can cause frequent distractions and decreases your attention span !

002 , minimize multitasking

- just as previously stated , multitasking can help you lose focus on what you're trying to focus on !

003 , create no phone zones

- you don't need to take your phone everywhere with you ( at home ) , create no phone zones to reduce screen time and additionally regain more of an attention span ! no phone zones can be in your washrooms , kitchens & gardens , in those places you can focus on more important things other than your phone!

004 , say I'll do it after [x]

- if you had planned on doing something , do it. just because Jess or Ella asked you to call + play dress to impress + watch tik toks with them , doesn't mean you abandon your work. tell them you'll do it after [x] ( your work ) and just watch your attention span increase !

005 , automate school hours on school

- this chapter is just about using school for work and not for your phone !

006 , be okay with boredom and be curious

- if you're on a road trip or if you're waiting at a doctor's appointment , remember that your phone isn't your last resort ! for entertainment , try and look outside , imagine who has visited the area hundreds of years ago and how much it had changed or if you see any people , imagine their story ! be curious & imaginative !

007  , consume longer content

- watch long form videos til the end ; don't watch it on x2 speed ; don't read comments as you watch it ; don't skip past it ; watch it to its proper ending ! once you get used to focusing on long form content , your attention span will improve !

008 , consume to absorb , not skim

- when watching long - form content , don't skim past important details , watch it to absorb its content + not to get an uninformative gist !

[tumbler-polls]

[always--annie]

Some blinkies inspired by a post by @aropride here.

Since starting this next semester at university I've been finding joy in life and really cutting back on quick dopamine fixes (I've found the main culprit has been social media). Deleting social media off of my phone and using my laptop instead to interact online has been instrumental to my finding my love of learning again. Making a boundary between me and the internet has helped me realize again that every action is an adventure. Don't waste all of your time scrolling and don't let corporations rob you of your privacy and attention spans.

peace & love to all

[keepcrawlingforward]

Having a long list of stuff you want to watch but you'll never be able to because it's just so much and your executive dysfunction and complete lack of attention span just isn't helping :((((((((

[humairahhh]

Goodnight, Tumblr

[irepostedthistweet]

[miscreantmermaid]

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but there’s actually zero evidence that social media makes ADHD worse. Your attention span isn’t short because of anything you’ve done wrong, and trying really hard to concentrate doesn’t train you out of having ADHD. If it did, nobody would still have ADHD past like age 7. There’s a trend of new wave asceticism that seems to have become big on here, and it’s all just bullshit.

[goodmorningdove]

You're not going to "fix your attention span" by getting bored. Staring at a wall for 5 hours is not going to allow you stay focused for longer. It's just going to get you to scroll more furiously when you have the chance to.

Instead, you need to fill your life with other activities.

Start by analysing what you get out of the internet. Is it entertainment? Try getting back into reading, starting with short stories. Get a non-internet music player (mp3 player, cd player, record player) or go watch a play.

Is it the social aspect? Go join a bird watching club, or a book club at your local library (or any event available at your library) .

Is it the wonder of seeing cool things? Start painting, find your nearest nature trail and walk there, get into bird watching or plant identification.

"Fixing your attention span" is not about getting off your phone. It's about filling your life with non-social media endeavors. If you don't like apple pie, but still want to eat pie, you dont just take out the apples. You put something else in their place.

[aceingtonbeef]

I want longer games. (rant post)

(please keep in mind that i am an autistic individual who has loved to play video games for my entire life since i was able to walk, i prefer to be in a constant state of flow and not be interrupted by sudden overstimulating visuals or short runtimes ending abruptly.)

to accommodate for the low attention spans of the new generation, many new releases since 2021 have been short and formulaic with a repetitive gameplay loop. (often overly colorful and vibrant) it’s as if the developers are catering only to retention, rather than actual creativity and challenge.

the thing about these games is that they’re usually round-based, with short bursts of (maybe) minute-long gameplay. now, i’ve played similar games like this and the problem is that they’re piss easy, and there’s barely any sort of strategy or learning curve. the skill progression is like the inflation stats for Arizona Ice Tea, still and stagnant. some of these games have potential, but only aim to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

it might be the next big thing for companies to make every game an endless treadmill of rewards all for a quick buck, but at what cost to gaming culture? whatever happened to games that rewarded you for making big progress and learning something new along the way? where did all the hella cool mechanics go? to me, video games are an art perfected only by a select few, as a person who spends most of his free time playing video games and getting into things that i can see myself enjoying for years. if i’m being an ass for not accepting that people have the attention span of a goldfish, so be it! i’m not the audience for these games, and i just want new, long games to devote my time to.

if you want to play a game that has fast gameplay and/or colorful visuals, but also has lots of gameplay and content, definitely play Pizza Tower or Bloons TD6. they’re my personal favorites and you should try them too.

[eversnark]

Continuation on a previous reblog, but I think we all need to just admit that Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Youtube Shorts etc are straight up Bad. 

Like sure some people have found friends and community on there etc. but I look at how many more people are going “I feel like shit every day, I’m wasting my life on these apps and I hate it and can’t get out” and I watch execs perfect their attention-grabbing machines to squeeze every last bit of dopamine out of children for advertiser dollars with no considerations of the effects (spoiler: they’re not good.)

Idk maybe I’m biased as someone who spend their teenage-hood on these apps due to social isolation, but watching my younger (and older!) family members get sucked into the same soul-numbing shit I’ve been struggling with for YEARS makes it impossible for me to act like these apps have any justification for existing. I think I hate them. 

[charbroiledchicken]

hey chat what are some of the best methods you use to pay attention for a long time without getting distracted. especially for studying. i've tried the pomodoro technique and it doesn't do shit and people are like 'clear all distractions! organise your workspace! invest in a study planner!' but i will still struggle to pay attention and keep on track when their is nothing else in the room.

it's getting unmanageable at this point and i have exams coming up.

[fieriframes]

[He has the attention span of a hummingbird.]

[359midnightburgers]

Sometimes I miss a minute or so while listening to TMA and miss the switch from the meta story to a statement reading, and am like "WAIT JON IS A CANNIBAL? WHY IS HE JUST READILY ADMITTING THAT SO SUDDENLY?" before I remember the literal premise of the show

[humairahhh]

I'm so bored at this point.

[ahhvernin]

Realised that drawing reaction and essayist YouTuber is great gesture drawing practice, especially expressions. Because you get to practice and not be bored and you're interested in whatever they're talking about or watching. And so you dont have that disconnect of "just practicing with background noise" youre doing it simultaneously of watching a thing you like and drawing a directly related thing.

My sketches are not good, but if people wanna see them I'll post them up and you all can play the game of "whos that youtuber?!"