Neil Hopcroft

A digital misfit

Joined up thinking

It worried me last night. It seems I’m getting worse at holding together a stream of concious thought. I keep going off at tangents, getting distracted, forgetting what I was talking about.

In some ways this is good, it makes context switching easier when I’m trying to do lots of things at once. But it would be kinda nice to be able to stay with the programme, get all of my thoughts together and coherent before they disappear and get replaced by the next set of incoherencies.

Is this a symptom of being a member of the powerpoint generation? Consume consume, faster faster? Attention deficit? Soundbite culture? Too much caffeine? Too /little/ caffeine?

Anyone got any ideas for mental exercises, puzzles if you like, which would improve my concentration? Does anyone else have problems with concentration? Do you care? Should I care?


Categories: Memories.

/ 7 Comments

7 comments

  2. neilh

    I wouldn’t worry so if I thought it was always that way. Last night was particularly noticable, but things have been degenerating somewhat over the last few years.

    My quandry is whether I just accept thats the way it is and seek occupation that fits with this kind of mental state (my job in Tokyo was ideally suited, indeed, may have been part of the cause of the change), or whether I try to fight it, exercise my mind to get it back to how it was.

    I’m not even sure its a bad thing, its just a bit disconcerting, seeing a change like that in yourself.

    Reply
    • jarkman

      It happens to me sometimes. Things that seem to help:

      – Exercise
      – Less coffee
      – More protein, more meals, less snackfood
      – More (and more regular) sleep
      – Less telly, more reading
      – Exercise

      Does any of that seem promising ?

      Reply
      • neilh

        Exercise and coffee are the two most likely off that list – I’ve been a bit crap today but normally sleep and food is no problem. In fact I’ve been thinking about exercise, normally I do walking, reasonable amounts, but a few weeks back I hurt my leg (not sure how, just kinda difficult to walk on), then I thought it was better, so started walking more again, then a few days ago it started hurting again….so I guess thats likely.

        Reply
  3. surje

    my father does the guardian crossword every day, although it ends up being a context switchy activity as you only get a chance to do a few clues at a time. i’m definitely more of a “dabble”r and i think it’s because of the nature of the information that is on the internet, it always comes in small chunks. but then i was never any good at sticking to reading a book. i guess if you can read the same book solidly for an hour a day that’s the best thing to achieve!

    btw, how is your box clearing going? your spot for film club approaches!

    Reply
    • neilh

      Boxes still present, just moving around somewhat…I suppose I ought to check my VHS machine is still functional, its been a few years since it had any exercise…and its gonna have to be a huddle around the LCD screen, but apart from that, it should be OK.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.