However, Adrian Chadi, an associate professor at the University of Southampton, says the evidence that phone bans improve productivity is not definitive. His research suggests they can help with simple, routine jobs by reducing distractions, but the impact is less clear in more complex work that involves creativity or problem-solving.
I mean, yeah, if you care what science says…
/s
If you’re doing something that actually takes thinking, you need to give your brain a “break” while still keeping the rpms up.
2 minutes of scrolling articles and quick comments is more refreshing than a 15 minute break relaxing. Because your brain is still “up” but it’s switching to a brand new task which (in a very simplified fashion) is a quick reboot for our brains, it’s just enough to push everything out of working memory so when you pivot back to what you were doing, it’s with a fresh set of eyes.
I thought this was as well known as “rubber duck debugging”?
We really need to start teaching people how their own brains work
2 minutes of scrolling articles and quick comments is more refreshing than a 15 minute break relaxing.
I am not at all convinced, and in fact this might be the first time I’ve heard anyone say low attention span piecemeal content does anything but rot your brain.
I thought this was as well known as “rubber duck debugging”?
That’s… a completely different thing? Rubberducking is when you explain your problem out in words, which engages the speech production part of your brain which often helps you solve the problem by making you crystallize your thoughts.
It works. I use this during my workday when I’m working on highly complex things that have multi inter-dependent relations. It becomes fatiguing. A quick scroll through Lemmy is more refreshing than just sitting there
2 minutes of scrolling articles and quick comments is more refreshing than a 15 minute break relaxing. Because your brain is still “up” but it’s switching to a brand new task which (in a very simplified fashion) is a quick reboot for our brains, it’s just enough to push everything out of working memory so when you pivot back to what you were doing, it’s with a fresh set of eyes.
you realize these idiots in the C-Suite are going to read this and think the solution is to just give people more tasks, right?
Cognitive flexibility is jumping between unrelated tasks
Research on CF training is still in its infancy; yet, emerging research proposes that training CF may be effective in improving cognitive skills. Conditions that engage skills at the core of CF may facilitate improvement, that is, introducing variability in training protocols, uncertainty, and switching between task-relevant dimensions and across tasks. Furthermore, skills related to creativity that engage novel and divergent thinking (e.g. generation, remote association) may support CF.
The evidence for far-transfer effects following CF training is currently scarce but promising. Initial studies suggest notable improvements in task switching with transfer effects on different areas of executive functioning 46, 47. Friedman and Miyake [48] have demonstrated through confirmatory factor analysis the potential impact of CF in real-world settings. Further studies suggest beneficial effects of CF training on academic abilities (i.e. language, performance in math tests, sentence comprehension in standardized reading tasks in children 49, 50, 51). Training programs that target the diverse cognitive processes involved in CF may have stronger potential to show benefits that generalize to real-world settings.
But we’re kind of blurring the lines between long term practice and short term relief.
But even tho the brain isn’t a muscle, it’s still a metabolic system. Like, if you’re running a 5k you may run/jog, that’s a standard way to rest while still moving because if you stand still, it’s harder to jump back to running.
To get into what I was originally talking about…
Id have to start explaining metabolic processes inside a brain and all the different parts of memory.
Like, I think it might help more to think of highway hypnosis, the problem is if you focus on one thing, your brain wants to offload that workload. So occasionally you need to make your brain focus on something else for a few minutes at a rest stop, then when it goes back to driving it stops trying to offload it
It’s not enough to “pause” the activity the brain wants to offload, because taking a break is normal and the brain still is lazy and will just keep trying to offload it when you start work again.
To fight that, you need to trick your brain into thinking it’s an unpredictable environment and your conscious mind still needs to focus on the task at hand.
That’s what CF is about, training your concousnmind to stay tuned in longer, be ause it thinks that at any moment you may thru something completely unrelated at it.
“Writing is an extraordinarily difficult thing to do…particularly when you get to the hard part,” Will Young, the theater’s executive director, told The Financial Times. “When you get stuck, it’s easier to reach for a distraction.”
Is it a distraction, or is it a way to refresh one’s brain? Sometimes when you’re writing and you get stuck, a break from the task is exactly what you need to regain focus. Task switching frequently can make things harder, yes, but if you’ve already been writing for hours, I’d argue that spending a few minutes doing something else is a good thing to overcome writer’s block.
Attempting to power through every minute despite your brain hitting a hard limit is how we get burnout. Whether it’s a few minutes taking a walk outside or a few minutes on the phone, giving your brain a chance to wander every now and then can go far in getting you back on track.
I mean, yeah, if you care what science says…
/s
If you’re doing something that actually takes thinking, you need to give your brain a “break” while still keeping the rpms up.
2 minutes of scrolling articles and quick comments is more refreshing than a 15 minute break relaxing. Because your brain is still “up” but it’s switching to a brand new task which (in a very simplified fashion) is a quick reboot for our brains, it’s just enough to push everything out of working memory so when you pivot back to what you were doing, it’s with a fresh set of eyes.
I thought this was as well known as “rubber duck debugging”?
We really need to start teaching people how their own brains work
I am not at all convinced, and in fact this might be the first time I’ve heard anyone say low attention span piecemeal content does anything but rot your brain.
That’s… a completely different thing? Rubberducking is when you explain your problem out in words, which engages the speech production part of your brain which often helps you solve the problem by making you crystallize your thoughts.
It works. I use this during my workday when I’m working on highly complex things that have multi inter-dependent relations. It becomes fatiguing. A quick scroll through Lemmy is more refreshing than just sitting there
Well, that’s the neat thing, you didn’t…
I’m talking about deliberately practicing cognitive flexibility which literally combats that…
100% spot on here.
If I said Wayne Gretzky was as well known as Michael Jordan, you’d also be correct in pointing out they were two separate people.
And if I said Bo Jackson is as popular as Bo Jackson…
I shouldn’t be surprised if someone asked me why I compared the same thing to itself, but apparently some people would take it in stride.
Oh, I thought you said “this was well known as rubber-duck debugging”, with only one as.
you realize these idiots in the C-Suite are going to read this and think the solution is to just give people more tasks, right?
Since you invoke science, can you provide sources for the claim that Lemmy is better than taking a break? Or is it based on your personal experience?
I have never heard of this effect before - is there a name for it?
Cognitive flexibility is jumping between unrelated tasks
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352154624000640
But we’re kind of blurring the lines between long term practice and short term relief.
But even tho the brain isn’t a muscle, it’s still a metabolic system. Like, if you’re running a 5k you may run/jog, that’s a standard way to rest while still moving because if you stand still, it’s harder to jump back to running.
To get into what I was originally talking about…
Id have to start explaining metabolic processes inside a brain and all the different parts of memory.
Like, I think it might help more to think of highway hypnosis, the problem is if you focus on one thing, your brain wants to offload that workload. So occasionally you need to make your brain focus on something else for a few minutes at a rest stop, then when it goes back to driving it stops trying to offload it
It’s not enough to “pause” the activity the brain wants to offload, because taking a break is normal and the brain still is lazy and will just keep trying to offload it when you start work again.
To fight that, you need to trick your brain into thinking it’s an unpredictable environment and your conscious mind still needs to focus on the task at hand.
That’s what CF is about, training your concousnmind to stay tuned in longer, be ause it thinks that at any moment you may thru something completely unrelated at it.
I was also confused by this part:
Is it a distraction, or is it a way to refresh one’s brain? Sometimes when you’re writing and you get stuck, a break from the task is exactly what you need to regain focus. Task switching frequently can make things harder, yes, but if you’ve already been writing for hours, I’d argue that spending a few minutes doing something else is a good thing to overcome writer’s block.
Attempting to power through every minute despite your brain hitting a hard limit is how we get burnout. Whether it’s a few minutes taking a walk outside or a few minutes on the phone, giving your brain a chance to wander every now and then can go far in getting you back on track.