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Comment by swozey | Hacker News Reader

I read a ludicrous amount of books as a kid. Stuff like The Wheel of Time, 1000+ page books.

Now I just buy books and don't read them. I'll also buy audiobooks and bounce between them not really remembering much of the plots until I fall asleep.

I think the instant gratification of refreshing reddit/digg(rip)/instagram and having completely new things to see/read has destroyed my long term attention span.

I don't really like watching TV or playing consoles without having my laptop on my lap so that I can multitask and if I get bored for a minute refresh and see new things. It's bad. I'm single right now so I haven't actually used my living room TV in months. I do everything on my computer.

I feel claustrophobic if I can't multitask.

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This is definitely a common thing these days. I'll mention that as someone diagnosed (within the last year) the same is true about me. But what's also distinguishing is that there's hyper-observant behavior. For example I might be out with friends and having a hard time maintaining a conversation because I'm queued into the conversations at the table to my left and to my right. Not because I want to, but because I can't turn it off. I've been like that since a kid too. Even back in 2005 I'd have the TV on, my laptop out, and be doing homework while clicking through Stumble Upon. So I definitely think there are aspects of our modern society that are creating an attention deficit disorder at a larger level but I think there are still things that distinguish ADHD from attention/novelty addiction. But don't be afraid to get tested if you think you have ADHD, it'll be covered by your insurance and can help you learn to better handle your issues.

But I definitely think we do need a discussion, especially as the people developing these addictive technologies, as to the consequences of what we build. Maybe you shouldn't take that job at TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, or Facebook, maybe you should. Just consider more than the money because if you can get one of those jobs you can probably get another high paying job. Or maybe question certain features and/or metrics and ask if they actually align with your real goals and if those goals are actually beneficial or harmful (it's frequently not obvious a priori). Move fast and break things is a useful strategy but not in every situation. Not everything can be repaired as easily as they can be broken.

> Now I just buy books and don't read them. I'll also buy audiobooks and bounce between them not really remembering much of the plots until I fall asleep.

I'm sorta addicted to Audio books. I apparently listened to slightly over 2000 one year on Audible.

Though for me, I can have half a dozen books and remember most of the plot(s). Smaller details will slip my mind, but the overall plot gist is just like a fun puzzle for my ADHD brain and it's back within minutes. Though for the life of me I can't recall if I took my medication today.

> I don't really like watching TV ...

Ugh, I've gotten that way in the past few years. It's kinda annoying, and I can only "focus" if it's a really good TV show.

fuck, are you me?

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