Why We Can't Focus.

If you want to support this channel, support me on Substack: https://jaredhenderson.substack.com/

Follow me on Twitter: https://x.com/jhendersonYT

The point about Netflix movies making movies that don't require your attention is found in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl-edCJVFfA

Amusing Ourselves to Death: https://bookshop.org/a/86121/9780143036531

The Medium is the Massage: https://bookshop.org/a/86121/9781584230700

The Shallows: https://bookshop.org/a/86121/9780393357820

These are affiliate links from Bookshop.org. By buying from Bookshop, you support local bookstores and help me earn a commission.

Transcript

0:00

we are amusing ourselves to death video

0:02

TV movies music podcast and on top of

0:06

that constant notifications they're all

0:08

flooding in we are always being

0:10

stimulated and as a result it is killing

0:13

our ability to focus and this isn't just

0:15

something that we've noticed about

0:16

ourselves research backs this up

0:19

attention spans are declining it's easy

0:21

to blame the internet for this problem

0:23

but it's actually much older than that

0:24

though the internet's made it worse and

0:26

if we want to do something about it we

0:28

need to be able to break down the

0:29

problem and really talk about where it

0:31

comes from so that's what we're going to

0:33

do

0:35

today so I'm breaking this problem down

0:37

into three parts and it all begins with

0:39

a shift from books to

0:41

television so in the 1980s Neil Postman

0:44

wrote the book amusing ourselves to

0:46

death and he was primarily interested in

0:48

the cultural effects of a shift from

0:50

using the written word as our primary

0:53

way to transfer information to a shift

0:55

towards mass media and in particular

0:57

television the invention of the printing

0:59

press changed the world suddenly mass

1:01

communication was possible on a scale

1:03

that had previously always been

1:04

impossible and this is how new and

1:06

radical ideas were able to so quickly

1:08

spread so the Protestant Reformation

1:10

probably wouldn't have happened without

1:11

the printing press or the enlightenment

1:13

or the American Revolution but media

1:15

theorist like Postman and here we should

1:17

also mention the work of Marshall mclen

1:19

also tell us that how we communicate

1:22

ideas the media that we use actually

1:24

changes the way that we think mcl's

1:27

favorite phrase here was the the medium

1:30

is the message so Postman uses early

1:33

American culture as an example of what

1:35

he calls the typographic mind this is a

1:37

mind that has been shaped primarily

1:39

through consuming books and that means

1:41

that it's a mind that's used to prolong

1:43

sessions of engaged serious rational

1:45

activity in other words it's a mind

1:47

that's used to focusing so that's the

1:49

first takeaway reading as an activity

1:51

actually helps build your focus and it

1:53

shifts the way that you think but we've

1:56

stopped reading in postman's time more

1:58

people were watching television than

2:00

reading and those numbers have only

2:02

gotten worse when you add screens and

2:04

the internet and phones and all of that

2:05

which we'll talk about later well that

2:07

just exacerbates the problem two famous

2:09

examples from American political history

2:11

actually illustrate this really well the

2:13

first one is the 1858 Lincoln Douglas

2:15

debates these are famous pieces of

2:17

American political rhetoric you should

2:19

read them if you're at all interested

2:21

some sources say that up to 18,000

2:23

people attended these debates and they

2:25

were later printed that's how you can

2:26

read them and it's actually how Lincoln

2:28

became famous in the first first place

2:30

so each debate was 3 hours long and it

2:32

would actually begin with a 60-minute

2:34

opening statement from one of the

2:36

candidates and then there was a highly

2:37

structured format with prolonged

2:40

responses this meant that the audience

2:41

had to be able to stay focused for 3

2:43

hours and also needed to be able to

2:45

follow a single complex thought for up

2:48

to an hour or sometimes 90 minutes at a

2:51

time and Postman says that they're able

2:52

to do this because this audience which

2:55

would have mostly been literate people

2:57

would be used to following long trains

2:59

of thought thought because they had been

3:00

reading books and when you read the

3:03

Lincoln Douglas debates you actually see

3:05

aors speaking in Long complex sentences

3:08

how they speak is actually being

3:09

influenced by the kinds of sentences

3:10

that they would have read but if you

3:12

skip forward to 1960 and the Kennedy

3:14

Nixon debates you see something really

3:16

different because these were the first

3:17

political debates that were on

3:19

television so instead of an hour for an

3:21

opening statement the entire debate was

3:23

only an hour and the open statement that

3:25

each candidate got was only 8 minutes

3:27

this meant that the audience watching at

3:29

home didn't have to worry about

3:31

following one thought for up to an hour

3:33

or 90 minutes instead they just got it

3:35

into small condensed chunks of

3:38

information that they could more easily

3:39

consume and that mirrors their General

3:41

Media consumption that they would get

3:43

from watching television all the time

3:44

the whole debate was only an hour it

3:46

literally was it was one slot of prime

3:48

time television and you know what the

3:49

big takeaway of that debate was was that

3:51

Nixon looked bad on TV that's why people

3:53

say that he lost Kennedy looked better

3:55

on TV Nixon's mom called him to ask him

3:57

if he was sick generally he just didn't

3:59

perform well in front of the camera and

4:02

he lost the election political history

4:04

or probably world history was made

4:06

because of Television so already the

4:08

media that we were consuming was

4:09

changing the way that we were going to

4:11

engage in politics that's a big

4:13

consequential change if you think about

4:15

how much power an American president has

4:17

television was making us used to

4:19

consuming smaller sort of bite-sized

4:21

pieces of information and it also made

4:23

us more concerned with things like the

4:25

appearance of a presidential candidate

4:27

rather than what he was saying and I

4:29

imagine that if they had tried to have a

4:31

three-hour debate on Prime Time

4:33

television ratings would have slowly

4:35

declined people weren't used to focusing

4:38

for 3 hours at a time anymore the media

4:40

that we were consuming was changing our

4:42

ability to think and it was causing our

4:44

ability to focus to atopy focus is a

4:46

skill that you have to develop and if

4:48

we're watching television all the time

4:50

well we aren't training ourselves to be

4:52

deep and reflective thinkers especially

4:54

not in the way that we would if we were

4:56

reading good books so then when it comes

4:58

time to focus on something like trying

5:00

to read a really good book well you

5:02

can't do it you never learned how people

5:04

will often tell me that uh reading books

5:06

nowadays is inefficient and that there

5:09

are just better ways to get information

5:11

and um I'm going to use some slang here

5:13

that I think I'm too old to use

5:14

sincerely but uh this is pure cope

5:16

getting your information from summaries

5:18

or even from YouTube videos like the

5:19

ones that I make is a completely

5:21

different experience than learning from

5:23

a book because in a book you actually

5:26

get to follow an author's Chain of

5:28

Thought So as you read an author

5:29

thoughts in a book you are actually

5:31

thinking with him you're actually

5:33

training yourself to think and as you

5:34

train yourself to think you're training

5:36

yourself to focus you get like a mental

5:38

workout when you read and you're not

5:40

getting that

5:42

elsewhere so you're probably screaming

5:44

at your screen right now because TV

5:45

certainly isn't the most important form

5:47

of media that we encounter nowadays a

5:50

cable news show gets fewer nighttime

5:51

viewers than a really good YouTube video

5:53

these days and maybe the fact that we

5:55

can't focus is due to the internet and

5:57

the constant amount of notifications and

5:59

this like swarm of content that we're

6:01

constantly in or in other words you

6:03

might think that it's this that's to

6:05

blame and I think that's right just like

6:06

we shifted from books to television

6:08

we've now moved from television to the

6:10

internet and that's a different way of

6:12

thinking about information post couldn't

6:14

write about the internet because he was

6:15

writing about in the 80s but another

6:16

writer has come along to try to pick up

6:19

some of these thoughts and that's

6:20

Nicholas C who wrote the book the

6:21

shallows so if you had to describe one

6:23

word to sort of sum up your experience

6:26

of the internet I have a feeling it

6:28

would be something like chaos the whole

6:31

point of a page on the web is actually

6:32

just to keep you looking at it so if you

6:35

look at like say your YouTube home

6:37

screen you're going to see rows and rows

6:38

of videos then you're going to see

6:40

possibly notifications if you have any

6:42

of those turned on you're going to see a

6:44

search bar that tells you that you could

6:45

go find anything that you wanted if you

6:48

search for a video well then very

6:50

quickly you're going to be given

6:51

recommendations click on one video and

6:53

you're immediately recommended like 12

6:55

more the whole point of that design is

6:57

that if you ever get bored for even a

7:00

second you can click on something else

7:01

so that you can stay engaged we're so

7:03

used to it that it feels normal but it

7:05

it is a chaotic experience and I think

7:07

YouTube is not even the worst offender

7:09

by far I mean look at Tik Tok I don't

7:12

really use Tik Tok but when I've opened

7:13

the app like twice I feel like I got a

7:17

headache almost immediately and I know I

7:19

sound I sound old in this video the idea

7:21

here is to always give you something to

7:23

click on next always so even if you are

7:26

watching a 10-minute video and you think

7:28

it's a really good 10-minute video and

7:29

and you want to finish it until the end

7:31

well if you're bored for even a second

7:32

you have something that could be

7:34

potentially more exciting you could

7:36

click on it and you could see because

7:38

these platforms actually don't really

7:40

care if you keep watching one particular

7:41

video or if you keep reading one

7:43

particular article they just want you to

7:45

stay on the platform Tik Tok wants you

7:47

on Tik Tok YouTube Wants You on YouTube

7:49

The New York Times wants you to stay on

7:51

the New York Times site that's how the

7:53

internet works this medium teaches you

7:55

that information is easy and disposable

7:57

if you're even a little bit bored you

7:58

can move on in fact you should move on

8:01

that's that's implicitly what these

8:02

platforms are telling you in Carr's book

8:04

he really likes to stress the plasticity

8:06

of our brains that's our ability to

8:08

change actually how our brains are

8:09

structured in response to our

8:11

environments our brains actually change

8:13

based on what we do what we need to do

8:15

and what kind of tools we use so look at

8:17

this chart for the average screen time

8:19

for Americans and now ask yourself what

8:22

do you think that is doing to our brains

8:25

well one of the things is it's ruining

8:26

our ability to focus the bad news is

8:29

that yourin bra is plastic so the fact

8:31

that you use your phone all the time or

8:33

that you watch too many YouTube videos

8:34

means that you are slowly ruining your

8:37

ability to focus the good news though is

8:39

that your brain is plastic so you could

8:42

fix this if you made an effort to read

8:44

more books watch less YouTube throw your

8:46

phone into like the fires of mountain

8:48

Doom so it could never bother you again

8:50

well that would actually give you a way

8:51

to save your ability to focus this

8:54

really is a solvable problem but you

8:56

have to remember that there is a war

8:58

going on for your attention

9:00

and it is not a fair fight there are

9:02

large corporations with phds in

9:05

Psychology and the best design Engineers

9:07

that they can find all working to keep

9:09

you engaged and that's why I like to say

9:12

that the internet is a hostile design

9:14

environment so here's a quote from the

9:16

first president of Facebook Sean Parker

9:19

the thought process that went into

9:20

building these applications Facebook

9:21

being the first of them was all about

9:23

how do we consume as much of your time

9:25

and conscious attention as possible and

9:27

that means we need to sort of give a

9:28

little dopamine hit every once in a

9:30

while because someone liked or commented

9:32

on a photo or a post or whatever and

9:35

that's just one very telling admission

9:37

from someone who would know if you

9:39

listen to other people talk about

9:40

designing digital experiences though it

9:43

really is basically the same it's all

9:44

about capturing and really holding on to

9:47

your attention by comparison something

9:49

like this a book it's not that good at

9:52

holding your attention unless you're

9:54

really used to giving your attention to

9:56

it I think that's a nice way of putting

9:58

it book you have to give your attention

10:00

to books but phones screens the internet

10:03

videos they steal your attention that's

10:06

why I say that it's a hostile design

10:07

environment it is a environment that has

10:10

been designed in order to steal your

10:13

attention and thus rob you of your

10:15

ability to focus as much as possible

10:18

because people make money from it I mean

10:20

look I have to even say this if I can

10:22

keep you watching until the end of this

10:24

video I make more money and the people

10:26

who design these platforms they're not

10:28

thinking about what what this does to

10:30

you long term Steve Jobs told the New

10:32

York Times that he wouldn't let his kids

10:34

use an iPad and Mark Zuckerberg and his

10:36

wife don't let their kids use Facebook I

10:39

don't even know if they let their kids

10:41

have phones basically these are people

10:42

who would really know the effects of

10:44

these Technologies they help to design

10:46

and build them and popularize them and

10:49

they know what it does to people and

10:50

they wanted to protect their kids from

10:52

that so I would ask why don't you want

10:54

to protect yourself from that now there

10:56

are things you can do to build your

10:58

focus but they're all easier said than

11:00

done first you you have to turn off your

11:02

phone you have to learn to take long

11:05

breaks from it if you can take dayong

11:07

breaks from it if you can go an entire

11:09

day without looking at your phone then

11:11

you're already well on your way but you

11:13

have to get used to it having something

11:14

in your pocket that can always grab your

11:16

attention with a single sound or a buzz

11:18

or even if you have on silent the

11:20

ability the sort of promise that if you

11:22

just turned it on maybe you would find

11:24

something fun that is going to rob you

11:27

of your ability to focus next you want

11:29

to start consuming media that actually

11:31

demands that you pay attention this

11:33

could even be movies it doesn't always

11:35

have to be books but if you're going to

11:37

watch movies they can't be those new

11:38

Netflix movies because those movies are

11:40

actually being written and produced with

11:43

the intention that you will watch them

11:44

while you're also scrolling on your

11:46

phone like they're made for people who

11:48

are distracted it's already changing the

11:50

way that we make art so watch actual

11:53

good movies go to a movie theater that

11:54

will kick you out if you turn your phone

11:56

on and the Third Way is probably the

11:59

most important get used to not being

12:01

digitally stimulated all the time go on

12:03

morning walks and don't take your phone

12:05

at all just go and be there with your

12:07

thoughts maybe even see how long you can

12:09

go on that walk while you sustain a

12:12

thought in your head you know thinking

12:14

through an idea debating with yourself

12:16

just try it out it can be more fun than

12:18

it sounds the point is to just get used

12:20

to not needing to be stimulated by a

12:23

phone or by a screen all the time and by

12:26

doing that we are going to be training

12:28

our brain

12:29

to actually rewire themselves we're

12:31

actually then encouraging our minds to

12:33

get used to focusing again and maybe we

12:37

can make a little bit of progress and

12:38

we'll actually be able to focus on

12:40

things that we care about

Concepts