Can the 'Attention Liberation Movement' Foment a Rebellion Against Screens? (apnews.com) 29
The Associated Press looks at the small-but-growing "rebellion" against attention-hogging devices, citing "a growing body of literature calling for people to move away from screens and pay attention to life."
D. Graham Burnett is a historian of science at Princeton University and one of the authors of " Attensity! A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement," making him a pillar of the growing backlash against the corporate harvesting of human attention. Along with MS NOW host Chris Hayes' bestselling " The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource," his work is part of a growing body of literature calling for people to move away from screens and pay attention to life. Burnett says the "attention liberation movement" is about throwing off the yoke of time-sucking apps. People "need to rewild their attention. Their attention is the fullness of their relationship to the world"....
There are several dozen "attention activism" groups across the United States and Canada, and the movement has also cropped up in Spain, Italy, Croatia, France and England. Burnett said he expects it to spread further.
Some examples cited in the article:
There are several dozen "attention activism" groups across the United States and Canada, and the movement has also cropped up in Spain, Italy, Croatia, France and England. Burnett said he expects it to spread further.
Some examples cited in the article:
- "More than a dozen millennials gathered in a brownstone apartment in Brooklyn and placed their phones in a metal colander before two hours of reading, drawing and conversation."
- A few miles away "Nearly 20 people in their 30s stared at their cellphones for a few minutes. Then they set them down and looked at their bared palms for a while. Then those of their neighbors."
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader destinyland for sharing the article.
Willpower and Discipline. (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm not the type to read the tripe the media in general produces or promotes.. but on my own, I recognized the cybershackle had been usurping my "me" time.
So now, I pretend the smartphone is just a phone, like in the old days: It stays at a fixed point in my house. If I'm in the cine watching anime brianrot, the phone's in the other room. If i'm at my desk, the phone's in the dining room.
I don't need to check email every 2 minutes. Or look something up every few minutes. With the phone in the other room, I just focus on what's in front of me.
If I'm on call, they'll call, and only phone calls ring through to my watch, where I can pick it up from. That's the only 'forward' from phone-to-watch. Texts, email, etc etc -- none of that shit matters anymore, so none of it rings through to the watch. Only phone calls do.
Can someone explain why this was modded down? (Score:2)
Because out of the few replies to this topic, this one felt the most realistic at offering a way to combat the brain rot, it didn't attack anyone else as the author limited his/her comments to their own personal situation, and (agree with it or not) generally felt coherent enough.
ELI5
Re: (Score:2)
tldr (Score:4, Funny)
Is there an app for that? (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
First.... (Score:2)
Boobtube (Score:4, Informative)
I found that kids will just sit there and mindlessly watch inane video shorts on youtube for hours. Youtube is blackholed on my home network. Thank you pihole.
Re: (Score:3)
iOS Safari in private browsing works around local network blackholing. At least on my network it does.
nostalgia (Score:2)
A few miles away "Nearly 20 people in their 30s stared at their cellphones for a few minutes. Then they set them down and looked at their bared palms for a while. Then those of their neighbors."
That almost made me nostalgic for the days of my youth and lsd.
Re: (Score:2)
A few miles away "Nearly 20 people in their 30s stared at their cellphones for a few minutes. Then they set them down and looked at their bared palms for a while. Then those of their neighbors."
Given the legal hysteria that is now involved with every attempt on social contact, it is only a matter of time until those "looking at their neighbors palms" will be prosecuted as creepy stalkers.
"Screens" are not the problem (Score:4, Insightful)
What you do when in front of a screen may be though.
Re:"Screens" are not the problem (Score:5, Interesting)
Alcohol has been a part of human society for thousands of years and it's still a problem for us. Some people can use it responsibly and others can't. I would imagine that's due to evolution slowly filtering out the genes that couldn't handle it in moderation. This is an entirely new drug that humans have far less experience with though. Television may share some similarities, but what smartphones have on offer is an entirely different beast.
The scary part is that it will probably get worse before it gets better.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Alcohol is a flawed comparison. The only positive use alcohol has is as entertainment and even that is problematic. With a "screen", you may be reading a book, learning some things or doom-scrolling.
The main problem is IMO that some content is designed to be addictive. Most social media is trying to be. LLMs are dramatically so. But other stuff is not.
I agree - most of what I watch on youtube is junk (Score:2)
A step at time (Score:2)
If you can convince people to use computers instead of phones is already a pretty good step, as you can do a lot more on computers than on phones.
It’s about time (Score:3)
It will happen organically (Score:5, Interesting)
Arsoke point more and more people's brains will stop getting the dopamine hit because watching lolcats has a ceiling. Same for YouTube shorts and such.
Wait until VR hits mainstream. You'd finally be able to advertise inside everyone's virtual homes and colour their rain in pepsi. VI assistants will recommend Nike or Reebok. Noncompete brands will tag team; if you do X then get brand A and the other if you do Y.
Look to the past. Every fashion and craze came and eventually went. You think parents didn't try to get their kids to stop listening to Rock n' Roll? (Which as the meme goes leads to sex and blasphemy)
Stop trying to herd cats. Try to get the positives and avoid the negatives and the rest will take care of itself.
"But what about..." it'll take care of itself not because of the great creator or but because people want things and they get bored. Attention will shift. Someone will make a new gizmo...and maybe that will be a better screen but heck without this screen I'm using to see what I type this sort of interaction wouldn't work.
Take a Visual Display Unit break every 45 minutes if it makes you feel more attentive.
What's this 'life' you speak of? (Score:2)
Is there a YouTube video about it?
Tax it (Score:1)
Re: Tax it (Score:1)
Self-defeating (Score:1)
No (Score:2)
Fads and trends come and go
I suspect that things will even out over time, but it's millions of individuals making independent judgements based on personal circumstances
OMG (Score:2)
OMG this is sad. Some sad EMO needs attention so cheer for him for getting offline for a few minutes. Wow that is a HERO in the book of id10T's. This generation is so weak and depoendent they need approval of help making simple decisions.
Long ago, stupid people were killed by bears or drowned in flash floods. Then we humans got so good at keeping stupid alive that it survived and met another stupid to breed. Now we have stupid squared stumbling around looking to breed again...
I got the millennials beat (Score:2)
I have TWO colanders, in my loft. One is always filled with water, for dousing cigarettes, while the second one is a cell phone charging station, shaped like a harmless colander. You can grab either one in case a fire breaks out.
Response to headline: (Score:2)
Can the 'Attention Liberation Movement' Foment a Rebellion Against Screens?
Yes, but only if they relentlessly flood all available communication channels accessed via screens with messaging about how important it is to stop using screens.