Minutes of a Monday #4

Brain Food > The chronically distracted

“So we have scales that allow us to divide up people into people who multitask all the time and people who rarely do, and the differences are remarkable. People who multitask all the time can’t filter out irrelevancy. They can’t manage a working memory. They’re chronically distracted.

They initiate much larger parts of their brain that are irrelevant to the task at hand. And even - they're even terrible at multitasking. When we ask them to multitask, they're actually worse at it. So they're pretty much mental wrecks.

We - the people we talk with continually said, look, when I really have to concentrate, I turn off everything and I am laser-focused. And unfortunately, they've developed habits of mind that make it impossible for them to be laser-focused. They're suckers for irrelevancy. They just can't keep on task.”

The late Clifford Nass, an author and professor at Stanford University, speaks to NPR in 2010 about his findings from his study around how a technology-addicted lifestyle and nonstop multitasking may be affecting people’s ability to concentrate, manage emotions and even think creatively.

Soul Food

"Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over"

Cognitive psychologist Dr. Keith Oakley

Rare Air

"You're not victims of a scheme of things, of a mechanical world or autocratic God, the life you are living is what you put yourself into. Only you won't admit it - you want to play the game that it's happened to you."

Alan Watts talks about why happiness is not meaning in life

Appendix

“The results indicated that higher-order gratitude made a significant unique contribution to psychological well-being, self-esteem, and depression above the effects of demographic variables, personality traits, and unifactorial gratitude.

These findings suggested that higher-order gratitude is more than just personality traits or unifactorial gratitude, and it is important in its own right for integrated mental well-being.”

The mood enhancing effects of just being grateful

LOL

This made me laugh out loud.

My Content

I did a short-film (20 minutes) called SUBS earlier in the year with a great bunch of graduate students at the London Film Academy.

It’s not released anywhere as it is being entered into festivals who don’t want it to be shown online anywhere beforehand.

It was a pleasure to be a part of.

Just reply to this email if you want a private link. No spam don’t worry.

Enjoy the week.