In Defense of Attention

Attention is a scarce resource. Since every app started being optimized for engagement, human's lives, and especially our attention was really affected, leading to cognitive deterioration and structural changes on how humans interact with each other and the world outside.

For all its grandiose promises, modern tech often leaves us feeling alienated, ever more distant from who we want to be. - Resonant Computing Manifesto

Most humans are overstimulated. It's like a kind of obesity for the brain: your mind is constantly processing junk input it never asked for. Hundreds of push notifications, endless scrolling, and the pressure to "keep up to date" on social media are some of the main drivers.

How I Defend Myself From Overstimulation Exposure

In defense of my attention, I did some changes on my daily routine to avoid overstimulation exposure:

Digital boundaries

• Delete all social media from your phone. Social media apps are like smoking for your brain. They are optimized for retention. That means what I am sure you already know, you can't quit them. And even if you try, the anxiety is so high. I deleted all social media from my phone and keep using them time-boxed in my computer.
• Disable all notifications. Imagine working with someone who interrupts you by tapping your shoulder to ask something every few minutes. These are push notifications, and I found them as one of the major factors of distractions in my daily life. I recommend removing ALL push notifications from your phone, even from your family. If they need something urgent, they will call you, and you also will develop an habit of checking their messages from time to time.
• Cleanup your email inbox. Every time I entered my email inbox I had hundreds of emails waiting. For sure not all of them were important ones. Treat your email like your mailbox at home (you don't want to receive 50+ letters a day). Cleanup the newsletters you are subscribed to (I have a reminder to review them quarterly), also block any unnecessary emails you receive from unknown senders.

Embodied life

• Engage with in-person activities. As humans, we tended to switch a ton of activities to be online-first after the pandemic. This just added more hours in front of the screen. I recommend engaging with real people out there. Find a hobby, something new you want to learn and do it in person. I also changed my therapy sessions to be in person again and the change was really positive.
• Take time for the basics, stop outsourcing your life. Cooking, reading, walking, enjoying the little ray of sunlight coming from the window. Make sure you have time to enjoy these "little things" (without looking at your phone). Avoid delivery as much as you can, avoid having someone else to walk your dog, please stop outsourcing the incredible small things that life is about to spend more time in front of screens.
• Avoid using the phone while you are doing something else. Are you on a date with the one you love? Are you walking your dog or watching a movie? Avoid using the phone. You just cannot pay attention to something else with half of your brain looking at the phone.
• Go outside. Related with the previous items, humans were not born to be 10+ hours day in front of the computer. Make sure you spend time outside and have healthy social ties, go for a coffee with a friend (you can also cowork with them!), do some sports, etc.
• Body maintenance. If you want to defend your attention you need first to take care of your body. Eating well is a really huge part of this job. Other super important parts are sleeping (alongside a good sleeping routine) and exercise.

Inner signal

• Create a routine ensuring you have time for the important things. Ensure you have time for the important things. You need to ensure your priorities get enough attention during the day. I use Obsidian to keep a simple routine tracker. I like it because I try to avoid complex apps (like Notion) to track my personal stuff while prioritizing local-first environments.
• Prioritize introspection. Examining your feelings and thoughts is a very important piece to prioritize yourself. Personally, I dedicate at least 10-30 minutes every day to write about how I am feeling, what challenges I faced what I am worried about and what I am grateful for.
• Apply the "right speech" concept to attention. This is a Buddhist principle that we can summarize as being conscious before speaking: is this the right moment to speak? Is what I'm saying genuinely helpful? The same principle applies to any request for attention.
• Have healthy friendships! There are many different forms of friendship, make sure to be surrounded by people that care about you.

This is just the list of things I implemented recently and had really great impact on my life. Your recipe can just be different and that's perfectly good. If you want to be in touch, please email me at me@0xpili.xyz

Attention is the only currency we have in life. Thanks for gifting me yours.

Resources

• The Quality Without a Name - Fragments of Code
• Resonant Computing Manifesto
• In Praise of Memorization - by Simon Sarris
• Texting While Driving - by Manuel Araoz