A friend of mine recently emailed me an article from the Mayo Clinic on “popcorn brain.” I might have thought she was trying to send me a message, except she copied several other people on her email, too. So I decided she was not singling me out.
I’d never heard of “popcorn brain” before. But after I read the article, I recognized the concept. According to the professor who coined the term, it is “being so hooked on electronic multitasking that the slower paced life offline holds no interest.”
It’s when you are addicted to the dopamine hit of a new ping on your phone or other electronic device—a new email, a like on a social media post, a photograph from a friend on Instagram. So addicted you wait for the next ping and even abandon the task at hand to go scrolling for it.
Some electronic distractions are positive, like an email from a friend. But many are negative, like the email from your accounting firm saying you must upload your tax documents SOON. Still, each hit seems to require an immediate response, leading to the multitasking at which humans are not nearly as good as they think they are. We can’t really do two things at once, so we switch rapidly back and forth, losing our focus on each topic in the process.
Even though we might try to rebel against the constant interruptions, online services are getting better and better at intruding on our lives. News feeds become based on the last post you clicked on. Only the friends you respond to show up on Facebook.
Several years ago, my son told me “we are the product” that social media produces. I would amend his advice to say we are both the producer and the customer. What we input is the content, and what we click on is our consumption.
And so we jump from task to task.
As a writer, I need stretches of uninterrupted time. It is difficult to jump between the fictional world I am creating and the demands of email and social media. Sometimes I can ignore the distractions and concentrate on my novel. Sometimes I am waiting for an important bit of information (like the closing timeline for the house we just sold or a medical appointment I’ve been trying to schedule for months), and I fall prey to popcorn brain.
And sometimes it isn’t pings from others I let interrupt me. Sometimes, I let myself be drawn down the rabbit holes of research. I start by looking for one fact, and end up thirty minutes later developing a timeline for my next novel.
Popcorn brain indeed. This week it was triggered by an article forwarded by a friend. What will it be next time? I don’t agree popcorn brain keeps me from being interested in life away from the internet, but I am as subject to diversion as anyone else and therefore I suffer from popcorn brain.
When have you been subject to popcorn brain?
When have I been subject to popcorn brain? DAILY! At least I can say “no” now to the diversion, in an effort to pop less corn! 🙂
Being aware of the problem does help reduce the temptation to give into distraction.
Theresa
I often and willingly submit to popcorn brain since retirement and enjoy it. On the other hand, when busy, I use a “do not disturb” feature on my phone which only allows interruptions from people/phone numbers I set.
I agree completely that “We can’t really do two things at once.” Even listening to music counts as a thing. Throughout college, I would find remote desks (preferably buried deep in the library stacks where ambient sounds go to die) to do long or difficult homework assignments and for the one study day I allowed myself to study for each exam.
Oddly, my kids were not convinced by my obviously sage advice on this….
It’s amazing how kids don’t learn from their parents’ advice.But eventually, they learn the lesson themselves. Theresa
I am accustomed to have music no matter what I am doing, since I was young and home alone to do my homework.
Almost all the time I am alone at home I have a radio open (or a youtube). I prefer music to news/ other broadcasted emmissions.
I can listen to music without lyrics while working, but any lyrics distract me from whatever I’m doing. Two word streams coming into my head don’t work for me.
Theresa
Oh my, far too often. I deleted (not just deactivated) my Facebook account. I knew I spent far too much time on it and was far too bothered by others’ content for it to be a healthy distraction. WITHDRAWALS! Yep, I was so accustomed to switching from my current task to my FB feed that when it was no longer available, I felt at loose ends…now I have redirected my popcorn brain to LinkedIn which is not near as distracting as FB. I am not cured, but I am certainly toned down.
Facebook is one of the worst for sucking me in. But because I use a Facebook page for some marketing and because there are a couple of groups I’m in that use Facebook for communicating with members, I feel I need to stay on the platform.
Theresa