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Rebuilding the Computer Room
21 days ago
- The author recalls the era of fixed-location computers, such as desktops in dedicated rooms, and contrasts it with today's portable devices like laptops and smartphones that follow us everywhere.
- Portable computing offered convenience and freedom, but also led to constant connectivity and distractions, as smartphones mediate a permanent presence of digital services and notifications in our lives.
- To combat digital overload, the author reintroduces boundaries by limiting notifications, using a desktop as a primary computer, leaving the phone in a designated spot, and considering a return to single-purpose devices, finding calm and focus as a result.
People don't buy calm: revisiting Weiser's "The Computer for the 21st Century"
5 days ago
- Mark Weiser's 1991 paper envisions computers that blend into the environment, avoiding frustration by being ubiquitous and calm, unlike today's attention-grabbing devices.
- Despite early experiments showing superior alternatives, mainstream computing doubled down on disruptive patterns, leading to current issues with attention and exploitative designs in mobile and social media.
- The author questions why calm computing failed to propagate, suggesting it may be too extreme by denying human nature and the 'lizard brain' pleasures, while pure entertainment models also neglect focus and rest.
- A balance is needed: leveraging mechanisms like gamification and triggers wisely, using adaptive software to align attention with individual goals, whether for work or leisure, without completely ignoring either side of human nature.
- Advances in AI and reduced software costs enable personalized, real-time adaptive systems that can harness attention productively, as seen in initiatives like Sky Valley Ambient Computing.
The Attention-Span Class Divide
a day ago
- Timothée Chalamet commented that he doesn't want to work in art forms like ballet or opera that struggle to maintain relevance, highlighting his focus on blockbuster films.
- Theatrical movie releases have declined from 910 in 2019 to 670 in 2025, with shrinking box-office sales and studios adapting with shorter acts and faster cuts to retain audiences.
- Going to movies has shifted from a mass-market activity to a luxury, with affluent people more likely to attend, while low-income individuals are less likely due to cost and time constraints.
- Attention spans are becoming a class issue; economic stability allows for focused leisure like watching films, whereas precarity and stress reduce the ability to concentrate, favoring phone-based distractions.
- Micro-dramas, minute-long episodes on platforms like TikTok and PineDrama, are rising in popularity, often targeting working-class, women, Gen Z, and people of color with fast-paced, AI-generated content.
- There is a growing cultural divide where traditional films may cater to the white and affluent, while micro-dramas offer accessible narratives but risk being cheaply produced and lacking depth.

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#attention economy

Rebuilding the Computer Room

People don't buy calm: revisiting Weiser's "The Computer for the 21st Century"

The Attention-Span Class Divide