Getting My Stick-to-it-ness to Be More Sticky — Has the Internet Ruined My Ability to Focus?

James Wallace Harris, 12/29/23

Over the past few years, I’ve lost the ability to watch movies and television by myself. I read 55 books last year but only 33 this year. I rarely finish reading news and magazine articles anymore. I’ve given up on my hobbies and learning projects. And I’m blogging way less.

I can’t decide if this is aging related, or have I’ve ruined my ability to focus because my growing YouTube and Facebook video watching addiction. Does constantly watching short videos ruin attention span and the ability to focus?

I think this started years ago when I got addicted to Flipboard, RSS, and other forms of news feeds on the internet. I got hooked on constantly grazing on entertaining bits of information. Then for the past year or two, I’ve switched to short videos. They’re way more addictive than even clicking on clickbait.

I used to not watch TV until evening, but now I turn it on after my morning physical therapy exercises to watch YouTube videos for about an hour. I watch more after lunch and supper, and before bed. Lately, I’ve also been watching videos on Facebook, they have particularly good cat videos, bear attack videos, and people doing amazing feats videos.

I know I shouldn’t watch these videos and do something constructive instead, but I can’t help myself. It’s so pleasant and relaxing to just kick back in my La-Z-Boy and watch. I have over a hundred YouTube channels I follow. It feels like I’m involved with countless people and learning about endless subjects.

And that’s one of the problems with this addiction. I used to finish most of the videos I watched. Now I seldom finish them. If they cover something I already know I switch to another one, or scan ahead looking for real news. I’ve watched so many stereo product reviews that I could become a Hi-Fi salesman. Ditto for computer reviews, telescope reviews, and many other tech toys. I watch so much political news on YouTube during the day that I know everything that’s on the NBC Nightly News in the evening. And this is only touching on a few of the dozens of subjects and people I follow. Who knew I’d want to keep up with a transgender guitar pedal engineer? Or an expat couple living in Ecudor. Or an opinionated old English guy who makes hour long videos about his science fiction collection.

YouTube and Facebook videos give the illusion that I’m seeing what’s going on around the world. I watch videos from countless countries. From people living 40 degrees below zero in Siberia, to following a woman nature photographer in Sweden, to a Chinese girl who can build almost anything out in the woods by herself with just a few hand tools.

And that might be one of the reasons why YouTube videos are so addictive. As I’ve gotten older, and developed more physical limitations, I seldom leave the house. Watching the videos on my 4k 65″ television feels like I’m traveling around the world. It’s more visceral than reading a book or programming on my computer.

But I need to think hard about this addiction. Writing about it now reveals why it’s more appealing than watching old movies and TV shows. It also reveals why I can watch old movies and TV shows if I’m watching with someone else. If I have company, I’m doing something with them. But by myself, clicking around the world is more stimulating, offering far more information, and in a way, far more connection to other people. Fiction, in books, movies, and television shows, gives the illusion of connecting with people, but watching someone talk directly to you on a YouTube channel gives an even greater illusion of relating to someone else.

I get lots of human contact with my wife and friends, and regular socializing, and so I’m happy. However, my virtual acquaintances on YouTube offer a greater variety of intellectual stimulation. And thinking about it, I see where that competes with reading too.

Still, I have my problem of diminishing focus. Doing something constructive requires spending hours alone, concentrating on details, and applying a kind of disciplined focus. Watching YouTube videos seems to be destroying that ability.

However, what I want — or think I want, is to work on projects that take focus and discipline. I have too many projects I dream about accomplishing, and the indecision of picking one might also be why I watch YouTube videos instead. To accomplish anything worthwhile requires focusing on that project for hours a day for many days, weeks, or months.

That means sitting at a desk working by myself. That was easy when I worked at a job. I could focus for four hours, go to lunch, and then come back and focus for another four hours. Retiring has also ruined that ability. Aging might be a part of it, but I’ve also got addicted to relaxing and always having fun.

If I want to strengthen my flabby focusing ability, I need to give up having so much fun. My focusing stamina is limited to about one or two hours, for writing short blog posts like this one. For anything else I crash and burn.

I constantly dream of working on projects that would take much longer to finish. For example, I just read The Simulacra by Philip K. Dick, one of five novels he wrote in 1963. Last year I read Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb, another he wrote in 1963. These are very strange books, and they all deal with mental illness and marital problems. Because I’ve read several biographies on Philip K. Dick, and know what his life was like in 1963, I would like to read all five and write about how they are similar and reflect his own mental and marital problems he was having at that time. Such a project would take about two weeks of concentrated work, reading of the reading of the novels and researching the biographical material, and reading about the novels.

I don’t know if I can do that even though I think it would be a big fun project. It’s a barrier involving focus that I’m not sure I can break through. But I have a theory. I wonder if I exercised my focus, extending my ability to stick to one task for longer and longer, could I finish such a project?

I’ve even wondered if I should start by giving up YouTube videos and practice by watching movies by myself. Right now, I watch movies by myself, by watching them five minutes at a time. I know that sounds weird, but I’ll keep returning to the movie until I finish it. Maybe three times a day, or once a day. The way my focus works is I’ll start with five-minute segments. If I get into the movie, and I really like it, those five-minute viewings stretch to ten minutes. Usually, if I can get through most of the movie, I’ll stick with the last thirty minutes in one stretch. Even this piecemeal watching technique only succeeds with maybe one in twenty movies I try.

This isn’t a New Years resolution, but I’m going to try and stick with movies until I can watch them in one sitting by myself. I wonder if that will beef up my stick-to-it-ness muscles? It’s something to try.

UPDATE: 12/31/23

After I wrote this I read “It Sure Looks Like Phones Are Making Students Dumber” at The Atlantic. Unfortunately, it’s behind a paywall. It said things like, “First, PISA finds that students who spend less than one hour of “leisure” time on digital devices a day at school scored about 50 points higher in math than students whose eyes are glued to their screenmore than give hours a day.” It also said, “For comparison, a 50-point decline in math scores is about four times larger than America’s pandemic-era learning loss in that subject.” The article went on to detail the many ways phones might be the cause of anxiety, distraction, and learning loss.

JWH

21 thoughts on “Getting My Stick-to-it-ness to Be More Sticky — Has the Internet Ruined My Ability to Focus?”

  1. Pingback: Getting My Stick-to-it-ness to Be More Sticky — Has the Internet Ruined My Ability to Focus? | THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON...

  2. If I go to the market and I’m looking for something ON MY LIST! – let’s say I’m looking for ketchup, I’ll forget what I’m looking for when I get half-way down the aisle. So I’ll go around the aisles and pick up a bag of brown sugar (which was NOT on my list) and checking the list, go back to the aisle mentally repeating “ketchup, ketchup, ketchup.” Whew! (Not the same as attention span or focusing but related.)

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    2. I don’t think this is your problem Becky, since you read so many books and get so much done. I think your ketchup example is only normal age-related forgetfulness. I bet you don’t play much with YouTube or Facebook.

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  3. I am retired also. It is nice to not HAVE to do something and that may be, at least for me, where the difference lies. Things I have to do still get done, but options, well they are optional. I do think watching videos, and only hearing or reading short bits of news or information, make our brains lazy. I have also been writing a post along the same lines, but more from the perspective of are computer programs and other apps effecting our thinking power. I haven’t released it. Possible it will be ready tomorrow to post.

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        1. I think you’ve given me an insight about my problem. I’ve actually conditioned my brain so it’s easier to watch YouTube videos than do other things. Like how you train your fingers to play the piano. What I need to do is use whatever brain plasticity I have left to condition the habits I want.

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  4. I get what you are saying. I can no longer read books and I see some that sound really good. I still enjoy a good movie all the way through at once. But it has to grab me very early on or I skip it.
    I spend the morning on blogs and newsletters sitting in the sun with a cup of coffee. I have hobbies, but only one at a time. Then I seem to finish with that and move on, but I can do them for hours at a time once I get started. I like creative hobbies.
    I watch TV mostly at night and mostly British stuff (PBS, BritBox) and some news.
    I can see if I was going to do Utubes, I’d prefer short ones no more than 15 minutes..I don’t know why I feel different about movies or TV series. But they have to be good.
    I actually prefer TV and movies alone rather than with someone. But maybe that’s because I am alone (widowed). I feel I can get into them better alone..
    It’s good to just sit in your recliner and do whatever. We don’t always have to be busy. There is an art to doing nothing..

    I did watch a movie on Utube last night you might like even in increments. A 2018 film called UFO with Gillian Anderson of X files. Quite clever and based on a true story. Check it out.

    Sometimes I feel I have to cram as much into my mind before I die as I can and there’s only this one chance. Maybe that’s what you are feeling…

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    1. Mary, you might want to read I.V. Greco’s blog post. See link above.

      I don’t even try to multitask. Maybe you’ve conditioned yourself to blogging and lost the conditioning to read. Greco’s piece about practicing the piano is making me think about how I train myself to do things.

      Susan and I prefer the Masterpiece type shows from Britain too. But we’re running out of them. I even subscribe to the Masterpiece channel on Prime. We get Britbox and Acorn now and then but use up the easy to find shows. I’ll check out UFO. I like Gillian Anderson.

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  6. If you really truly want a project that requires focus, maybe don’t put too much thought into making it similar to things you used to do. You could start by thinking up a project that takes 5 minutes of sustained focus. At completion, think of an hour of videos as a well-earned reward. 🙂

    Remember Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” song? It’s from his album “Simple Pleasures”.

    You’ve got the simple pleasures going on; you’re doing something that gives you many happy moments every day. But instead of recognizing how great that is, it feels like a waste of time. And I get that, because for most of our working lives that would have been true so we’re in the habit of thinking that way. But now that we’re lucky enough to be comfortably retired, that thinking is outdated.

    Now we need to recognize the benefits of passing time in a pleasing way, because otherwise yes it is a waste. But it isn’t what you DO that’s the waste, it’s the fact that you’re feeding your brain with ‘food’ that keeps it active and ticking but then following it up with a big juicy spoonful of unwarranted guilt.

    Give yourself credit for how active your brain is when you’re seeking strange and interesting knowledge and entertainment. A lot of the videos you mentioned are really impressive — so much variety! What an eclectic collection of things to learn about! I’m not even kidding, when you were listing all the kinds of things you watch I truly wanted that list to go on longer, it was that interesting. Too bad for me, when it comes to videos I’m like you are with movies – unless I’m interacting with someone else while viewing them, they don’t hold my attention.

    Virtual connections are still connections. We call them virtual but they’re still real life. You’re not only connecting, you’re learning new things as you go. Even when you don’t directly interact with all those people around the world, enjoying and learning from what they’ve shared is kind of an awesome and very human connection.

    Kind of like me sitting over here sharing my many unsolicited thoughts, safe in my far away closet-office where I can’t see you rolling your eyes hahaha But seriously, any time you find yourself thinking you “should” do a little writing on this blog, I for one would love to read a paragraph or two about whatever crazy video you came across and enjoyed that day. Thank you again for your efforts, I don’t always respond but I always enjoy!

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    1. That might be one of my problems. I’m quite happy doing what I’m doing. I’ve always been one to arrange things so I’m happy. What I’m wanting to do is pursue goals that require more work that involves discomfort. I now worry that I’ve made my life too comfortable and happy and have gotten conditioned to it. And I do recognize that’s very lucky of me. I don’t want people to think I’m complaining.

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      1. No I definitely don’t get the idea of complaining, but rather frustrated with yourself. I’ve admired how vigorously you go after learning, taking in new ideas and keeping yourself accountable. So yeah, since those are things that are easy to pursue because they naturally make you happy then I had the wrong end of the stick— you don’t need to relax, you might actually even feel stagnant with too much relaxing.

        I guess you could try removing the source of the distractions. Ha! Easy to say, but if the source is any and every device we have? Next blog topic: please advise how one manages THAT. I could use that advice myself. 😑

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  7. I can relate to much of this. Years ago I saw an article (on the net, where else?), titled “I Want My Pre-Internet Brain Back.”

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  8. James, I an impressed by your friends and their good advice. One more tip that’s made all the difference to me : do the quick free course on tiny habits at tinyhabits.com. Cheers!

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