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When I Couldn’t Focus Anymore, This is How I Fixed It
Aleteia ^ | 08/30/2022 | Fr. Michael Rennier

Posted on 08/30/2022 6:39:35 AM PDT by KierkegaardMAN

The internet, social media and my smart phone had ceased to be my servants and had become my masters, but I turned it around.

About five years ago, I noticed I was struggling to focus while reading. Instead of turning to the next page of the book, I kept wanting to grab my phone and fiddle with it. I had to keep re-reading paragraphs because my mind was wandering, and I’d get to the end of a page and not remember what I had just read. I almost felt itchy. Sooner or later I would always give up and, before I knew it, I was scrolling social media.

(Excerpt) Read more at aleteia.org ...


TOPICS: Education; Health/Medicine; Miscellaneous; Society
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What's daddy doing?

He's on his phone.

1 posted on 08/30/2022 6:39:35 AM PDT by KierkegaardMAN
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To: KierkegaardMAN

If people spent as much time reading as they do on their phone, and/or as much time reading and studying as they do watching TV or online movies, they and we (as a nation) would be much better off.


2 posted on 08/30/2022 6:51:46 AM PDT by neverevergiveup
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To: KierkegaardMAN

I get that way when I read Kierkegaard!


3 posted on 08/30/2022 6:52:53 AM PDT by Buttons12 ( )
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To: KierkegaardMAN

Tough challenge being an Analog Guy in a Digital World.

Sitting at dinner in a restaurant, spouse and her mother are absolutely stuck to their phones. If there’s no food on a fork, it’s a face to the phone. No conversation. Smartphones have made people more stupider, prolly, lol, lmfao, btw.

I have no desire to share my dinner information with anyone other than “my server tonight”. (Now isn’t that racist, by the way?)

Beer or bourbon is my answer, depending on the food.


4 posted on 08/30/2022 6:56:08 AM PDT by drSteve78 (Je suis Deplorable STILL)
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To: KierkegaardMAN
Reading? It makes your mind weak as stated by Socrates via Plato.

If men learn this, it will implant forgetfulness in their souls; they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks. What you have discovered is a recipe not for memory, but for reminder. And it is no true wisdom that you offer your disciples, but only its semblance, for by telling them of many things without teaching them you will make them seem to know much, while for the most part they know nothing, and as men filled, not with wisdom, but with the conceit of wisdom, they will be a burden to their fellows.

Plato, Phaedrus

My favorite quote whenever someone complains about a new technology weakening the mind.
5 posted on 08/30/2022 6:56:08 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (The government sees you as either livestock or pet. If things get bad they will eat their pets too.)
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To: KierkegaardMAN

Read the article; it’s not rocket science, but sound advice.


6 posted on 08/30/2022 6:57:45 AM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: KierkegaardMAN

Thank you for posting. It is a nice and helpful article.


7 posted on 08/30/2022 6:59:29 AM PDT by FlyingEagle
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To: KarlInOhio

new technology weakening the mind.

LED and computer screens frequently emit blue wavelength light, which fatigues your eyes/ retinas. If you wear glasses to read any backlit screen, a good suggestion is to wear blue filtered lens, even available at your local drugstore.

You’ll likely even sleep better.


8 posted on 08/30/2022 7:01:33 AM PDT by drSteve78 (Je suis Deplorable STILL)
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To: KierkegaardMAN

He didn’t really list what kind of books he is reading.

I just plot out a hour a day to read and read. I pick books that are interesting to me, and, as long as I picked well, I have no problem focusing on the book.

I also read on my phone, computer, and tablet.

To me, the medium isn’t important, it’s the content.


9 posted on 08/30/2022 7:09:43 AM PDT by Conan the Librarian (Conan the Sailing Librarian)
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To: KierkegaardMAN

I cannot stand reading books electronically.


10 posted on 08/30/2022 7:11:20 AM PDT by goodnesswins (The Chinese are teaching calculus to their 3rd graders while ours are trying to pick a pronoun.)
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To: neverevergiveup

I have noticed that anywhere I go where waiting is involved. Almost everyone is on their phone. It truly is an addiction. Try looking around in a waiting room at the Doctors, waiting on a meal at a restaurant, waiting at a tire shop, etc. In particular, people don’t talk to each other anymore. They “reach out” to total strangers, trying to validate their existence with folks that really don’t give a damn whether they live or not. It is truly sad. I am as guilty as anyone, but as the author is saying, I am trying to refocus away from phones, tablets, etc. As a recovering phone addict, it is difficult to learn how to ‘communicate’ without them.


11 posted on 08/30/2022 7:15:07 AM PDT by silent majority rising ( )
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To: neverevergiveup

We should have taken this song by John Prine to heart, long ago.

https://youtu.be/NWOoiMtevdY


12 posted on 08/30/2022 7:15:10 AM PDT by pingman ("I ain't in no ways tarred.." of WINNING!)
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To: pingman

Nice! Blow up your TV!


13 posted on 08/30/2022 7:23:55 AM PDT by KierkegaardMAN (I never engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed man.)
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To: drSteve78

Self medicating is a sign of mental disorder. Don’t fall into it.


14 posted on 08/30/2022 7:27:21 AM PDT by MHGinTN (A dispensation perspective is a powerful tool for discernment)
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To: KierkegaardMAN

I’m sorry, what were you saying?

CC


15 posted on 08/30/2022 7:31:17 AM PDT by Celtic Conservative (My cats are more amusing than 200 channels worth of TV.)
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To: KierkegaardMAN

I stopped reading before going out to the site to read the rest of the article. If the entire article was posted here, I would read it to the end.


16 posted on 08/30/2022 7:48:03 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (DJT24)
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To: silent majority rising
I have noticed that anywhere I go where waiting is involved. Almost everyone is on their phone. It truly is an addiction."

Worse. Here in the "low income" city at least, even tossing a football or shooting hoops, youth need to stop and answer or check their phones. In addition, more are staying in to play video games rather than playing with friends outside, let alone shoveling snow as the adults do when needed. Very rare among the young. Soon, alarming reports of juvenile obesity. Wait: it is already here:

The [CDC] study is the largest tracking to date on the rate of weight gain in children and teens.

By the numbers: The average body-mass index increase for children and teens approximately doubled between 2018 and 2020. About 22% of children and teens were obese last August, up from 19% a year prior.

The big picture: Heart disease and cancer were the leading causes of death in the U.S. last year despite hundreds of thousands of lives lost from COVID-19.


17 posted on 08/30/2022 7:49:42 AM PDT by daniel1212 (Turn to the Lord Jesus as a damned+destitute sinner, trust Him who saves, be baptized + follow Him!)
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To: KierkegaardMAN

The classic “Medieval Helpdesk.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT4LS25O1MA

Monk with the new tech, books with pages.


18 posted on 08/30/2022 7:49:50 AM PDT by Buttons12 ( )
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To: daniel1212

I had a long time Pest Control Serviceman that came by with his grandson, who was out working his tail off and learning ‘grandpa’s business’, which I suspect is quite lucrative. He did not thumb his phone once that I observed. I told Grandpa that he is truly lucky that he has a young person that is wiling to take over his business and that his blessing will be my reward.


19 posted on 08/30/2022 7:53:11 AM PDT by silent majority rising ( )
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To: Celtic Conservative

I Know!
.
Look, A Squirrel!


20 posted on 08/30/2022 8:00:14 AM PDT by Big Red Badger (We Are JONAH)
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