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Comment by infinitezest | Hacker News Reader

Is it really so bad for human brains to just "be" without needing constant distraction? Is it possible that a constant need for distraction is actually contributing to things like ADHD? It seems generally accepted that less distraction is a good thing. And is a novel anywhere close to as addictive and distracting as a magic rectangle that can show you basically anything you want to see at the tap of a screen?

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It kind of is. Lectures are mostly boring, engaging lecturers are rare. I was better off practicing problem sets than listening to the teacher, essentially generating my own busy work (but kids are diverse, what worked for one might not for the other).

My seven year old get lots of choice time these days in his school. Maybe things are getting better. On the other hand, he finds math too easy, and the only homework he has is what his Saturday Chinese school assigns (daily!).

Doing problem sets seems... more useful to a human brain's development than the mere distraction of social media, no? Schooling can definitely be improved (I personally hated school) but that seems like an orthogonal concern to the harma of constant distraction.

Just on a hunch I'd have to guess that being-on-phone isn't cleaving the hemispheres of kids' brains apart.

I'm not sure who you're arguing with since I didnt make any claims like the one you're refuting. Unless this is a pithy way of asserting (on a hunch) that there is no harm caused by constant distraction (in which case, you should have just said that).

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