As a Gen-Xer, I am part of one of the few generations left (besides Millennials and some Boomers) who know what life was like before the internet and constantly-online life became very normal, and we saw how it was becoming common for more and more people to lose focus/have shorter attention spans, etc., all leading to less focused concentration/deep work, as well as less quiet time in our personal lives, like just sitting still and having coffee/tea with our friends/family, reading books, taking walks outside, etc.
So I am not surprised that this is where we are now, with constant notifications and background updates, etc. And with long-form media consumption being popular, I have found myself often playing some podcast or another in the background while doing other things (usually mindless chores/things I do all the time, like cleaning, cooking, packing orders) instead of just having it be quiet.
Years ago I forced myself to disable all sounds on my phone except for calls from certain contacts, and that has helped a lot. Even taking a 2-minute call that leads me to a 15-minute task is an interruption that can throw me off for an hour.
I think boredom is still a thing, but people who find themselves bored will often say it's because they have gotten caught up on their social feed or whatever (lol) and have nothing else to do. They have plenty to do, but have chosen the dopamine-delivery machine of web applications to become their primary activities, in a lot of cases. Productivity is no longer a goal for people whose highway of life to find things to do is the internet.
These kinds get told to go touch grass, and while it's probably a fair jab, I can understand how the normalization of constantly-online or constantly-notified of online activity can really pull people from what can potentially be more meaningful (or more rewarding) activities offline.
However, I also understand and appreciate the value of what the web has brought to technological advances in work (and life) enhancements that lead to satisfaction.
I myself am personally grateful every day for the growth of the web, since my day job revolves around web development and serving up websites, and if it weren't for online shopping (now made ever better with Bitcoin payments), I would be hard-pressed to be employed in other ways, especially in the job market we are in now.
If it weren't for online community, I might never have found folks locally who were all against the nonsense in 2020 which led us to forming our own community that gathers periodically to do freedom stuff...including sharing skills like permaculture/gardening/food preservation, money outside banks, buying and trading things amongst each other, privacy/security-focused tech and communications. etc.
As a Gen-Xer, I am part of one of the few generations left (besides Millennials and some Boomers) who know what life was like before the internet and constantly-online life became very normal, and we saw how it was becoming common for more and more people to lose focus/have shorter attention spans, etc., all leading to less focused concentration/deep work, as well as less quiet time in our personal lives, like just sitting still and having coffee/tea with our friends/family, reading books, taking walks outside, etc.
So I am not surprised that this is where we are now, with constant notifications and background updates, etc. And with long-form media consumption being popular, I have found myself often playing some podcast or another in the background while doing other things (usually mindless chores/things I do all the time, like cleaning, cooking, packing orders) instead of just having it be quiet.
Years ago I forced myself to disable all sounds on my phone except for calls from certain contacts, and that has helped a lot. Even taking a 2-minute call that leads me to a 15-minute task is an interruption that can throw me off for an hour.
I think boredom is still a thing, but people who find themselves bored will often say it's because they have gotten caught up on their social feed or whatever (lol) and have nothing else to do. They have plenty to do, but have chosen the dopamine-delivery machine of web applications to become their primary activities, in a lot of cases. Productivity is no longer a goal for people whose highway of life to find things to do is the internet.
These kinds get told to go touch grass, and while it's probably a fair jab, I can understand how the normalization of constantly-online or constantly-notified of online activity can really pull people from what can potentially be more meaningful (or more rewarding) activities offline.
However, I also understand and appreciate the value of what the web has brought to technological advances in work (and life) enhancements that lead to satisfaction.
I myself am personally grateful every day for the growth of the web, since my day job revolves around web development and serving up websites, and if it weren't for online shopping (now made ever better with Bitcoin payments), I would be hard-pressed to be employed in other ways, especially in the job market we are in now.
If it weren't for online community, I might never have found folks locally who were all against the nonsense in 2020 which led us to forming our own community that gathers periodically to do freedom stuff...including sharing skills like permaculture/gardening/food preservation, money outside banks, buying and trading things amongst each other, privacy/security-focused tech and communications. etc.