#5: How Big Tech Companies Steal Your Attention

Author

Kris Ograbek
October 31, 2022

Hi,

I'm happy you want to invest in your brain. That's a smart choice. As always, I've got 4 Brain Nutrients for you:

  • One Short Article: How Big Tech Companies Steal Your Attention

  • Two Quotes.

  • One Neuroscience Fact: The More Dopamine, The More Addictive The Behavior.

Enjoy!

One Short Article: How Big Tech Companies Steal Your Attention

"Attention is our most scarce and precious resource." Tiago Forte, Building a Second Brain

Modern technologies improved the quality of our lives. We can work efficiently, automate, or pull out information with ease. On the other hand, progress comes with a price.

Adding new skills, learning, working on personal projects, or other meaningful activities require three things.

  1. Time

  2. Energy

  3. Attention

All must be present. If any component is missing, progress is sluggish or even impossible.

Today I'll explain how you get robbed of time and attention.

Big tech companies don't care about you as a person. They don't care if you're a healthy, wealthy, and loving human. To them, your goals or happiness don't mean anything.

Sadly, they want the opposite. They create obstacles to prevent you from having these things.

What do they care about? Revenue. To get it, they need your time and attention. More screen time -> more money.

The companies have departments dedicated to one goal; more screen time. Social media, video games, and platforms like YouTube or Netflix are engineered to be addictive. The methods are sophisticated because they:

  • use psychological nuances

  • tap into our nature, instincts, and impulses

  • create a constant fear of missing out (FOMO)

  • generate dopamine spikes - unpredictable rewards

  • know you pretty well and use accurate recommendations

  • take advantage of social approval - likes and comments. Social status is one of our core desires.

Becoming a compulsive consumer has never been easier.

Consequences are severe but often downplayed:

  • we don't have control over our own time and attention

  • we can't focus on other things because we perceive them as monotonous

  • we don't have time to think - we don't create our thoughts or reflections

Most of us don't find the problems critical. Let me explain why it is serious.

First, we feel overpowered. We don't feel we control our time and attention. No one wakes up and thinks, "Today, I'm going to..."

  • "mindlessly scroll social media."

  • "binge-watch Netflix."

  • "endlessly watch videos on YouTube."

  • "play video games for hours."

But you end up doing it. So you feel powerless. You don't feel you're in control of your life.

Note: If you wake up and plan any of the above activities, it's time to reassess your values.

Second, your ability to focus also suffers. When you read or learn, you are unmotivated. You get frustrated because it's never been so hard to concentrate. So you think, "I get easily distracted. That's who I am." But that's not true. It's not about who you ARE; it's about what you DO.

You got used to "cheap dopamine." The one that you get without effort. Unfortunately, it overshadows the positive dopamine which comes from pursuing your goals.

Note: Understanding how dopamine influences your life is crucial. I'll dedicate several weeks to dopamine soon.

Lastly, we don't spend time alone to think. Without this "white space," we run away from ourselves. At all costs, we avoid pain and boredom.

But we need time alone:

  • to be creative

  • to come up with new ideas

  • to get to know ourselves

  • to think about and solve problems

  • to appreciate time with family and friends.

So if you don't spend time alone to think, you harm yourself.

Only you decide how to use the technologies. Make sure to benefit from them while avoiding the harmful side.

Two Quotes

  • "All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone." Blaise Pascal

  • "We fill our minds in busyness and distractions to numb ourselves emotionally." Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks

One Neuroscience Fact: The More Dopamine, The More Addictive The Behavior.

"Scientists rely on dopamine as a kind of universal currency for measuring the addictive potential of any experience. The more dopamine in the brain's reward pathway, the more addictive the experience." Anna Lembke, Dopamine Nation.

Thanks for reading. See you next week.

Keep your brain in mind.

Kris

This newsletter will always be FREE. However, you support me by buying books from the links you found here. Also, you can buy me orange juice.