Makes sense

I’ve never used a cellphone so I don’t know anything about the experience. It’s not quite the same as regular web. Biles at MindMatters is discussing the increasing bans on cellphones in schools. He points to an aspect of iPhone-based life, especially for youngsters, that I didn’t realize:

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Between text messages, social media and other apps, young people’s phones average 192 alerts per day. If sleep time is seven hours a day, that equates to 11 notifications per waking hour, or one every five minutes. For some heavier teenage phone users, that can average one interrupting notification every minute of every day. While it may be hard for adults to concentrate, the adolescent’s ability is far more hindered as the brain’s frontal cortex is still developing. The never-ending stream of interruptions — this constant fragmentation of attention — takes a toll on adolescents’ ability to think and may leave permanent marks in their rapidly reconfiguring brains.

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A mind that’s constantly interrupted by URGENT BREAKING NEWS never gets a chance to practice absorption and focus. Cable TV figured this out long before the web. An absorbing task cures MANY ills, including divisions. Workplaces and the military figured this out a long time ago. When a team is working together toward a purpose, they worry much less about differences that don’t affect the purposeful task. The result used to be visible in ex-military vs civilians. Ex-military guys formed teams and worked together easily, getting shit done without fussing about D vs R or black vs white or popular vs unpopular.

When you haven’t experienced absorption, you don’t know how to leave differences aside.