agapantoblu:

the-last-teabender:

elainapoststhings:

digitaldiscipline:

liddelkid:

isaubel:

my attention span is so bad i cant watch something without being on my phone at the same time i always have to have 2 layers of activity when did this happen why is capitalism stealing my soul away the spectacle has me firmly in its grip

Psychology time!

This isn’t having a short attention span (or well maybe thats part of it), but probably something called “Optimal Arousal.”(This is psychology, not anatomy, please keep your mind out of the gutter Xp)

Optimal Arousal goes like this: When effort is low, more stimulus is better. When effort is high, less stimulus is better.

I’ll elaborate. Whenever you do something easy (like maybe some homework as an example), unless something else is happening (like music or a show) you tend to get drawn away or doze off. In this homework scenario, the effort is low, so in order to keep at it and do well on working on it, you need a higher amount of stimulus, like a movie.

If something is hard, like for instance a test, you probably will try to avoid noise, going so far as to hush others so you can concentrate. The effort is high so you want less stimulus.

Keep this in mind. It can help you focus, and make life a lot easier. Dont feel bad for doing lots of different things while you are just chillin. Enjoy the knowledge!

This is also the reason that when people get lost or are trying to find an unfamiliar destination, they turn their car stereo down.

Whoa wait turning down the music so you can “see better” is a real thing and not just something to poke fun at?

I FEEL SO FUCKING VINDICATED

Brains are not all-mighty. 

Our working memory (or short-span memory) can only withhold a number from five to nine items at time, and it only partially distinguishes between the type of stimulus it is storing.

Also, yes, the parts of our brains that elaborate visive and uditive inputs are different, but the attention network is only one and it is limited, which means that the brain has to divide its attention in many directions. If you’re lost, you need to put more attention into checking your surroundings as you need to take note of an higher number of details than usually, so having something pocking at your uditive cortex takes away bits of attention that you actually need. 

So yeah, turning down the music in the car helps redirect attention to sight and increase your ability to spot details or analyze the situation.