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Episode: #226 — The Price of Distraction
Pub date: 2020-11-30



Waking Up with Sam Harris

Podcast Notes Key Takeaways

• “We are constantly fragmenting our limited attentional focus with both external and internal distractions and multiple tasks, and there’s cost to this” Adam Gazzaley
  • We are usually not aware of the switching costs of diverting our attention away and then bringing it back
• The abundance of available information creates a strong fear of missing out, which causes us to continuously switch to new websites, articles, etc.
  • Easily available information also severely decreased our tolerance for boredom
    • When in line at the grocery, even for a minute, we feel the need to intake more information
• Ways to improve focus
  • Limit accessibility of distractions in your environment
  • Consciously practicing single-tasking and sustained attention
  • Take healthy “breaks” before going back to your task
  • As an attention-training practice, meditation is a great way to improve our ability to focus
• The brain has the capacity to modify itself at every level in response to experiences
  • “You’re making yourself based on what you’re doing with your attention” Sam Harris
• Technology is harming our attention, but it can also help us improve it
  • The idea of “Digital Medicine” – Technologies that help us improve the functions of our brains

Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.org

In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Adam Gazzaley about the way our technology is changing us. They discuss our limited ability to process information, our failures of multitasking, "top-down" vs "bottom-up" attention, self-interruptions and switching costs, anxiety, boredom, "digital medicine," neuroplasticity, video games for training the mind, the future of brain-machine interface, and other topics.

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