<story><title>Have attention spans been declining?</title><url>https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2023/07/24/your-mystery-have-attention-spans-been-declining/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>WaitWaitWha</author><text>Permit me to tie a couple of personal observation on this topic.&lt;p&gt;I do not think we &amp;quot;lost&amp;quot; our ability.  I think we changed our thinking.&lt;p&gt;I think the world has mostly accepted the &amp;quot;good enough&amp;quot; versus &amp;quot;perfect&amp;quot;.  As we all have heard, to become an expert, on average we need to pursue the subject for 10 thousand hours (? Malcolm Gladwell). But, we do not need to spend 20 years practicing. We can obtain &amp;quot;good enough&amp;quot; in a few weeks, or even few hours (obviously depending on the subject).&lt;p&gt;For example, to win the &lt;i&gt;Grand Prix de la baguette de Tradition Française de la Ville de Paris&lt;/i&gt; (i.e., French Baguette Competition of Paris), many spend a lifetime perfecting their craft.  I can teach you in a day how to make an edible baguette that the average consumer will enjoy.&lt;p&gt;I think our &amp;quot;attention span&amp;quot; has shifted to &amp;quot;good enough&amp;quot; in many instances.  I do not think this destroyed our attention span capability, it just made it slightly different.&lt;p&gt;Final anecdote to &amp;quot;prove&amp;quot; my point we did not lose our attention.  I have taken ADHD-diagnosed boys to camp and fish. Of the twelve (ages 12-16), only one could not sit patiently and watch the line and bobber for extended period.  He became bored, and started whittling for the same amount of time. Once they returned to &amp;quot;civilization&amp;quot;, they &amp;quot;became&amp;quot; ADHD again.&lt;p&gt;As someone already noted, in my experience humans cannot multitask. We can context switch, some very slowly, and some very fast. But, we do not multitask.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pwpw</author><text>&amp;gt; Final anecdote to &amp;quot;prove&amp;quot; my point we did not lose our attention. I have taken ADHD-diagnosed boys to camp and fish. Of the twelve (ages 12-16), only one could not sit patiently and watch the line and bobber for extended period.&lt;p&gt;You’re completely misrepresenting ADHD, so I don’t see how this anecdote proves your point.&lt;p&gt;ADHD isn’t the inability to focus. In fact, it often comes with the ability to hyperfocus better than neurotypical minds. ADHD is the inability to regulate focus on specific activities, particularly ones that are boring and not what the individual finds stimulating. Camping and fishing are not what I would typically consider a difficult task to focus on for someone with ADHD. Especially because it’s a physical activity, which are often better suited for an ADHD mind rather than mental tasks that involve being sedentary.&lt;p&gt;Perhaps what you’re unintentionally getting at is people with ADHD are much better suited for specific tasks than neurotypicals, and society is largely set up to favor neurotypicals at the expense of those with ADHD.</text></comment>
<story><title>Have attention spans been declining?</title><url>https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2023/07/24/your-mystery-have-attention-spans-been-declining/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>WaitWaitWha</author><text>Permit me to tie a couple of personal observation on this topic.&lt;p&gt;I do not think we &amp;quot;lost&amp;quot; our ability.  I think we changed our thinking.&lt;p&gt;I think the world has mostly accepted the &amp;quot;good enough&amp;quot; versus &amp;quot;perfect&amp;quot;.  As we all have heard, to become an expert, on average we need to pursue the subject for 10 thousand hours (? Malcolm Gladwell). But, we do not need to spend 20 years practicing. We can obtain &amp;quot;good enough&amp;quot; in a few weeks, or even few hours (obviously depending on the subject).&lt;p&gt;For example, to win the &lt;i&gt;Grand Prix de la baguette de Tradition Française de la Ville de Paris&lt;/i&gt; (i.e., French Baguette Competition of Paris), many spend a lifetime perfecting their craft.  I can teach you in a day how to make an edible baguette that the average consumer will enjoy.&lt;p&gt;I think our &amp;quot;attention span&amp;quot; has shifted to &amp;quot;good enough&amp;quot; in many instances.  I do not think this destroyed our attention span capability, it just made it slightly different.&lt;p&gt;Final anecdote to &amp;quot;prove&amp;quot; my point we did not lose our attention.  I have taken ADHD-diagnosed boys to camp and fish. Of the twelve (ages 12-16), only one could not sit patiently and watch the line and bobber for extended period.  He became bored, and started whittling for the same amount of time. Once they returned to &amp;quot;civilization&amp;quot;, they &amp;quot;became&amp;quot; ADHD again.&lt;p&gt;As someone already noted, in my experience humans cannot multitask. We can context switch, some very slowly, and some very fast. But, we do not multitask.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Terr_</author><text>&amp;gt; I think we changed our thinking. I think the world has mostly accepted the &amp;quot;good enough&amp;quot; versus &amp;quot;perfect&amp;quot;. [...] For example, to win [a famous baguette competition] many spend a lifetime perfecting their craft.&lt;p&gt;Hasn&amp;#x27;t it always been that way, though?&lt;p&gt;Decades or centuries ago we&amp;#x27;ve been doing things (e.g. breadmaking) with fewer resources and worse tools and tighter margins, so &amp;quot;good enough&amp;quot; was probably even more important, rather than less. Great works were often made despite those limits, rather than in concert with them. Surely the techniques and investments used in competition are not the same ones that baker would use to feed a large hungry crowd.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Perfect&amp;quot; probably only showed up either (A) where that&amp;#x27;s just the next frontier for a successful professional to stay engaged in their craft or promote their brand and (B) products commissioned by figurative if not literal royalty.</text></comment>