Sometimes I see what others are reading and if the book looks good, I will give it a try. Not sure where I found “Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention – and How to Think Deeply Again” by Johann Hari, a European journalist who unplugged for three months. My book of the year. I wasn’t really looking for a way to unglue from my phone and social media, but Hari gives reasons why, and shows how Big Tech works to suck in unsuspecting users, like BF Skinner trained pigeons to play ping pong.
The introduction hooked me, and every new chapter is better than the last. I’ll probably read it a second time. The Googles / Twitters / Facebooks / Instagrams want to make money, so they want your eyes focused on your screen for as long as possible. Programs are developed profile as much information about you as possible, then displays what will keep you scrolling. Negative, inflamatory posts are the most successful. YouTube will show you one video, then suggest increasingly negative videos about the same subject.
The programmer who invented the "infinite scroll" saw what his creation was doing to his coworkers, and wished he'd never unleashed the beast. Before infinite scroll, a user would have to make a conscious decision to click to advance to the next screen. ust s
Already I am noticing every notification more – also known as interruptions / distractions. Unlike computers, the human brain can only truly focus on one thing at a time. I will work to disable as many notifications as possible – the exact opposite of what big tech wants. For every minute you are distracted, it takes another minute to reacclimate yourself to what you were doing. Instead of learning about a developing news story in bits and pieces on social media, it’s actually less time-consuming to wait and read an already-digested, comprehensive story the next day, like in an old-fashioned newspaper.
Busy Monday. Got a decent amount done. Try to be nice and help people out, and they try to take advantage of you to get you to do their work. People in other departments. Some are working from home, asking me to do extra work since I burned the gas to get to the office. So frustrating when I’ve already got my own stuff I can’t get done.
Needed to leave at five, but didn’t get out until almost 5:30. Stopped by Taco Bell. Should’ve picked McDonalds. Was late to my 6:30 meeting. C and M cooked spaghetti and meatballs, with tossed salad.
Didn’t sleep well, mostly because of Winnie. Still knocked out four miles this morning. Then in to the office again. Will attend a vendor event in Conyers on Friday.
Why you should learn to laugh at yourself.
The greatest collection of unique face masks on the world wide web.
JUAN MARICHAL [SABR Bio] took the loss in Crosley Field’s last MLB game, on 24-Jun-1970. He claimed to have mastered the curve by age ten and the screwball by fifteen. From 1996 to 2000, Marichal served in the cabinet of Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernández as his country’s Minister of Sports and Physical Education, and is still one of its most respected citizens. He had more career complete games that wins: 244 complete games and 243 wins. He took a no-hitter into the eighth inning in his major league debut, on 19-Jul-1960. The Phillies’ Clay Dalrymple pinch hit for catcher Cal Neeman in the 8th, and singled for their only hit of the game.
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