Category: Personal

Post 1000: Thinking about thinking, the brain and information addiction

Today is my birthday, it also happens to be the day on which I have reached 1000 posts, so it seems like a good time to reflect a bit on previous post themes.

Morecombe Bay SunsetWe are currently going through a revolution that is being fuelled by technology but is primarily a social and economic change.

I first posted about this back in 2006 when I started with a couple of posts:

Both of these posts put forward the view that the people we are going to need in the new economy are people who are versatile generalists and people who are creative. In other words we are going to move from a left-brain economy to a right-brain one, at least in the traditional developed economies. This, in turn will make the brain ever more important.

I have a nagging fear and it’s this: The brain is ever more important yet we make people work in ways and subject them to technologies for which we really have no idea of their impact. In other words, I worry that we will, in years to come, see employees suing their employer for the damage that they have received through the impact of current technology much like we have seen mine workers receiving compensation for the impact of their chosen trade on them.

I worry that the millions of people constantly being interrupted by Facebook and Twitter are doing themselves unseen and yet to be understood damage.

We are already starting to know about some of the impacts and they are concerning.

It’s already accepted wisdom that people’s attention span is shorter than it used to be. In a post from 2010 Nicholas Carr stated that The Web Shatters Focus, Rewires Brains.

There’s impacts such as information addiction are starting to be documented, researched and understood. But we are only at the beginning of that journey. I know of a number of young people who rarely leave their bedrooms and think nothing about putting in 10 hours solid on a particular game. I know of people who can’t go for more than a few seconds without having to check-in to one or other of the social media networks. Anyone else heard the phrase Facebook widower?

Then there are impacts such as the drive to multitask even though we are awful at it and it causes us all sorts of problems. One of the more popular posts on this blog is entitled

“Multitasking is dumbing us down and driving us crazy”. I wrote that post back in 2008 and then Walter Kirn estimated that workers wasted 28 percent of their time "dealing with multitasking related transitions and interruptions". Multitasking has become a huge epidemic everything from the woman who was driving behind me yesterday while on the phone (in her hand) and doing her lipstick through to the conference calls which you know would only take 10 minutes if everyone just concentrated.

There is immerging evidence to show that the brain of digital natives is different to that of digital immigrants like myself, but do we know that’s a good thing?

There’s also the physical impact that I know a number of people are already experiencing, I explain my experience with in blogs about Tension Headaches. There’s also the current conversation and research on the dangers of sitting for long periods of time.

It’s time to look after ourselves and especially to look after our brain.

(I was amazed how much I had written on this subject once I started looking into it, but I’ve kept the post short because I know how short an attention span you all have Smile)

Blessings #183 – Counting the thing I have that money can’t buy

I was reading something today when I cam across this saying:

IMG_9324“If you want to feel rich, just count the things you have that money can’t buy”

Now there’s a thought? Can I count the things I have that money can’t buy:

  1. Last night’s sunset
  2. A family that I love
  3. The wonder of sight
  4. The ability to read
  5. The cry of the curlew on the moors
  6. A breath of crisp cool fresh air after a warm day
  7. A sky full of stars
  8. The ability to write
  9. A crescent moon
  10. Watching the sun fall into the sea
  11. A warm summer day
  12. Love
  13. The view from Gummer’s How at the weekend
  14. A full moon
  15. The patterns in wood
  16. The buds on the trees
  17. A kiss from Sue
  18. Hope
  19. Answering a crossword clue
  20. A walk in the woods
  21. Delight
  22. The change of the seasons
  23. A wild deer in the field in the morning
  24. A good night sleep
  25. A hug from Jonathan
  26. A crisp cold autumn day
  27. Friends who are there
  28. Finishing the crossword
  29. Kind words from an acquaintance
  30. Watching my children grow into adults
  31. The time of friends
  32. Gratitude
  33. The comfort of being at home
  34. A glorious sunrise
  35. Praise
  36. A heritage
  37. Walking
  38. A rainbow after a storm
  39. Tears of joy
  40. Watching the acrobatics of a swallow
  41. Holding Emily’s hand
  42. Laughter
  43. A thunder storm
  44. Forgiveness
  45. Prayer
  46. The touch of a polished stone
  47. Pleasant surprises
  48. Visiting wildlife in the garden
  49. The crash of a wave
  50. Smelling a log fire

I got to 50 and decided that I felt rich enough.

My benefits are worth more than a big salary, even a very big salary;
the returns on me exceed any imaginable bonus.

Proverbs 8:20

Blessings #182 – Collective Experiences

This is a year of events in Preston. Every 20 years the city is overtaken by a series of ceremonies, celebrations, activities and exploits. It’s known as the Preston Guild and dates back more than 800 years.

Global RainbowThe whole thing comes to a crescendo in the late summer with a series of precessions but the activities have already begun.

One event that’s already taken place was a visit by an art installation known as the Global Rainbow. The installation comprised a set of lasers in the colours of the rainbow beamed across the sky. They were set up at the marina and shone from there over the centre of the city and out of the other side towards Blackburn, where it was still visible.

In many ways it’s quite a simple idea for an installation but like all good art the Global Rainbow engaged everyone in a collective experience.

Global RainbowWe went down to the marina a couple of evenings and it was great to see a place that is normally a bit quiet buzzing with all sorts of people. There were families just taking it in. There were people with cameras of all sorts of sizes, sophistication and costs. There were people who were in on what it was all about. There were others who were baffled by the whole thing. We spoke to one couple who lived down there and hadn’t a clue what was going on. There were people intent on knowing how it worked and others who marvelled at the spectacle.

The event was talked about in the local paper and on the TV news. Nearly everyone I met that weekend wanted to know whether we’d been to visit. It was certainly to topic of conversation for a few days.

We were bound together as a community by our communal participation and immersion.

Global RainbowThe Bible is full of all sorts of collective experiences. One of them stand out as memorable because of it’s eternal symbolism, but also because we continue to remember the events through a simple and regular act of worship. It was a collective experience that was so significant it was retold in each of the four gospels and bound the disciples together. As a ceremony it continues to bind communities together.

When it was time, he sat down, all the apostles with him, and said, "You’ve no idea how much I have looked forward to eating this Passover meal with you before I enter my time of suffering. It’s the last one I’ll eat until we all eat it together in the kingdom of God."

Taking the cup, he blessed it, then said, "Take this and pass it among you. As for me, I’ll not drink wine again until the kingdom of God arrives."

Taking bread, he blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, given for you. Eat it in my memory."

He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you.

Luke 22

Nano Workouts – Conference Call Push-ups

Following on from the thought that sitting is killing us I’ve been thinking about the different ways that I can counteract my personal inactivity.

While doing some research (sitting down) I came across a site called Nano Workout which produces regular pictures of exercise ideas for the office or home.

Today’s idea is Conference Call Push-ups:

I can’t see myself doing this in the office, at home maybe, but not in the office. The culture is such that this would be regarded as a totally mad thing to do, but perhaps that will change. Once upon a time it was regarded as acceptable to smoke in the office, now it’s illegal. I regularly walk around while on a conference call, so perhaps push-ups aren’t too mad an idea.

Blessings #181 – Portal Songs

Last night I was out and about in the car on my own. The music was playing loud and I was singing along. Bob Dylan’s Slow Train Coming was the album of choice.

LangstrathI’d already listened to "Gotta Serve Somebody" and "Precious Angel!" and then it was time for "I Believe in You". As Bob’s guitar played I was immediately transported to all sorts of places where I’d listened to that song before. I saw some of the places as real physical things, others were just the feelings of a time and a place. The song was like a portal through time.

One of the places is a small room in a halls of residence and I am watching the needle glide across the vinyl on the jet black turntable that I’d bought with some of my student grant.

Another place is a hillside in the Lake District overlooking a turbulent lake. The rain is pouring down and I’m listening through my headphones. I’m protected and hidden under my hood.

There’s a different place this is a place of passion. I can’t see the time or the physical place, but I know the emotion of the passion of the place.

There’s another place, I’m in my car, it’s wintery and dark and I’m travelling home on the M6 alongside thousands of other people travelling the same road. The journey has been long, but I’m going home, back to the place where I belong.

I’m transported to all of these places, and others, all at the same time. Like a set of strings resonating together each of these moments rings with the same tune, the same emotions, the same thoughts, the same words:

Don’t let me drift too far
Keep me where you are
Where I will always be renewed
And that which you’ve given me today
Is worth more than I could pay
And no matter what they say
I believe in you

Sorting out sitting – before it kills me

There have been a number of articles in recent days about the dangers of sitting for long periods of the day, dangers that are serious and include a higher risk of death.

Global RainbowI, like many workers, spend much of my time sitting. If I’m working at home – I’m sitting at a desk. If I’m in the office – I’m sitting at a desk. If I’m in a meeting – I’m sitting at a table. Sitting, sitting, sitting. I’ve written before about my experiences with tension headaches which are primarily caused by issues of posture – posture while sitting. While these headaches are mostly under control, I’ve not yet managed to change my lifestyle sufficiently for me to remove all medicinal support, so sitting is still a problem.

Tom Ferris has a great post summarising the emerging evidence that inactivity, and sitting specifically, is a problem, but also what one organisation did to combat the problem.

Recent research suggests that those who sit from 9-5 (more than 6 hours daily) and exercise regularly are more likely to have heart disease than those who sit less than 3 hours per day and don’t “exercise” at all.

It’s a great shopping list of ideas including:

  • Standing desks
  • Exercise balls
  • Balance cushions
  • Monitors stands
  • Ergonomic keyboard
  • Ergonomic mice
  • Hand grippers
  • Wobble boards
  • Pedometers
  • Shoe options
  • Conference room and meeting configurations
  • Office layout
  • Food and snacks

The important point for me is that good office configurations have a direct payback in terms of productivity. We’ve known this for a long time, and yet many organisations continue to build facilities that have barely changed since the advent of the Personal Computer.

A small number of offices across the country have slowly begun to endorse the idea of exercising during work (e.g. walking on a treadmill while doing your job at Mutual of Omaha). Besides the obvious fitness benefits, exercise also increases productivity (according to research done by the Vermont Board of Education — PDF download).

Most surprising of all, remaking the workplace into a healthy, exercise-supportive environment has a cost benefit. Many of the design changes we have implemented cost little or nothing.

But it’s not just about gadgets, it’s also about culture. There are limits to what I can personally influence, especially in the office, but even then I don’t do what I know is good for me. It’s a change I am having to learn to make though. Which reminds me, I haven’t done my stretches yet today and perhaps it’s time to order an exercise ball.

Blessings #180 – Conclusions

Last night I slouched in the armchair, with my legs over the arm on one side and my head rested on the arm on the other, and read these words:

LindisfarneAn orange sickle of new moon hung above the chimneys in a deep mauve sky. Autumn bonfires glowed in the mist and floated white smoke-rings above it. The beach shone in the gathering dusk as the tide fell and the sea grew less perturbed. I turned and swam on into the quiet waves.

And in so doing I concluded Waterlog: A Summer’s Journey Through Britain by Roger Deakin. Like many books that I read, I loved reading it, but I also loved concluding it. It was journey for a period that had run its course.

Life is full of beginnings and it’s equally full of conclusions. Each day has a sunrise and each day has a sunset. Each year begins with January and concludes with December.

Sometimes the conclusion can feel like a journey that’s ended before it’s really got going, at others the conclusion feels like one more unexpected summit higher than the summits already climbed.

It doesn’t matter where on the journey the conclusion lands, it’s still the conclusion. We might not like where the conclusion fell, but that doesn’t change it’s place.

Without a conclusion nothing ends. Without a conclusion life is an endless beginning. Without a conclusion we are doomed to endlessly revisit the failures of our past. Without a conclusion there is uncertainty.

With a conclusion we end the good and the bad. With a conclusion we give birth to the new. With a conclusion there is applause. With a conclusion there is clarity.

With a conclusion he said "it is finished".

We haven't quite figured out filtering yet

The other day I wrote about information filtering – "There’s no such thing as information overload only failure to filter”. This post was linked to by The Social Organisation who makes some really interesting points about filtering and the hoarding instinct:

FormbyA few years ago I wrote a post about scarcity and abundance and I still think this is the fundamental issue at play with information. Humans are driven to hoard because our impulses were built for an environment of scarcity. We are worried that if we don’t read everything – particularly if passed on through trusted social connections – we might miss something important and that makes us anxious. We mistake the available and accessible for the valuable.

I’ve never been much of a hoarder but I only have to look out across my back garden to see a house where someone clearly has huge issues with hoarding, and you don’t have to walk around many offices to realise that lots of people have similar issues when it comes to folders of paper. That’s all before we deluge people with electronic information.

While I was writing the post I was reminded of a cartoon which I couldn’t find at the time, but came across it again today:

From Bonkers World

I'm a publisher?

According to The Register I could be regarded as a publisher and subject to regulation if I was based in Australia:

LindisfarneBloggers whose online scrawling earns just 41 page impressions a day could be forced to apologise to those they wrong on their sites and issue corrections, under a proposed new model of media regulation for Australia.

Under those numbers I would count as someone who needed to be regulated, that is if you class this site as a news site. I’m not sure what counts as a news site? I’m sure that this site could be classed as news under some of the dictionary definitions? I comment on things that are current?

The report then says “If a publisher distributes more than 3000 copies of print per issue or a news internet site has a minimum of 15 000 hits per annum it should be subject to the jurisdiction of the News Media Council, but not otherwise.” The report adds that “ These numbers are arbitrary, but a line must be drawn somewhere.”

We, in the UK, are still in the middle of the enquiries into the actions that sparked the discussions in Australia so I’ve no idea whether anyone is thinking of a similar thing over here. I can’t imagine that 15,000 hits a year would be a sensible number for the UK market though.

King Google the Generator

When it comes to referrals Google is still the absolute king (at least on this site).

Lindisfarne MonksThe following chart shows the percentage of visitors that I received by location for all of last year.

At 62% Google generates, by far, the most traffic. Those young pretenders to the throne Twitter, Facebook and even linkedin barely register on the radar, I get more traffic from all of the people using an RSS reader:

image

Is there any wonder people give so much attention to their Google ranking!

"There's no such thing as information overload only failure to filter"

In a recent article John Gaudiin from Cisco recounts how, at a conference one of the attendees half jokingly said:

"There’s no such thing as information overload only failure to filter."

LindisfarneI’ve heard this view before, and probably used it in a few situations myself. I am an avid filterer myself. Of the hundreds of emails I receive every day the number that make it to my inbox is quite small, but I also think that it’s an overly simplistic view.

One of the problems I have is that this statement places all of the responsibility on the person receiving the information and the systems transporting it. It places no responsibility with the person or system sending the information.

I can filter all sorts of things if people or groups of people behave consistently, and the technology can do the same. The problem comes because people are not consistent, and groups of people are even less consistent.

Taking email as an example, it can be categorised in all sorts of ways, but the category is set by the person sending the information and their view of the category is probably different to mine. Just because an email is marked as urgent doesn’t mean that it becomes urgent to me, my idea of urgent and theirs are rarely the same. If I’m added as a cc: doesn’t mean I can always ignore it because sometimes I should really be at the heart of the activity. In some ways categorisation makes it worse, because people believe they are communicating something that I’m likely to ignore.

The other challenge with filtering is that it’s secret. The person who has sent me some information has now knowledge of whether I have let the information onto my field of vision or not. There is only room for a certain number of players on the pitch so a lot of people have to be happy to be a spectator, but current filtering systems don’t even tell people whether they’ve made it into the team, the reserves, a spectator or have already been ejected from the park.

The final challenge with current filtering systems is the scope of context. Current filtering systems work within their context (email, IM, etc.) they understand very little about each other’s context. They definitely don’t collect all of the context – voice is an obvious omission. The email system has no way of knowing that someone has phoned me to tell me to look out for an important or urgent email, if it did I would want it to tell me.

That leaves me in the situation where the ultimate filter has to be my eyeballs.

My approach to filtering is a version of the zero inbox approach. It’s only going to get worked on if it’s in my diary or it’s in my ‘to action’ folder. It only gets into my ‘to action’ folder if it’s not been deleted by a filter, or I’ve moved it there from one of my other filter folders like ‘newsletters’, ‘expenses system’ or ‘travel system’ which is highly unlikely, or if I’ve personally filtered it in there from what remains of what remains in my inbox. At some point in every day my inbox is empty. By using different automatic filter folders I am able to apply a different approach to reading in the different folders. In the ‘expenses system’ folder I’m only looking for one thing and that’s the ‘rejected’ word, everything else is noise. In the ‘newsletters’ folder I filter on title, if the title isn’t very interesting it gets deleted.

I don’t filter on individuals although I have seriously considered putting some people into a ‘too chatty’ filter to let me filter them separately.

While filtering items I also operate a 30 second rule, if I can respond completely in 30 seconds I will. The important thing is that I can respond completely if I’m not sure about something or I only have half the answer it goes into the ‘to action’ folder. I don’t send ‘I’ll get back to you tomorrow’ type emails, because I don’t see any value in them and they just annoy me when people send them to me.

Most of the time this works very well for me and I rarely feel completely overloaded.

My filter regime for other systems isn’t anything like as sophisticated primarily because the technology isn’t yet there.

Do you get that overloaded feeling or is your filter system working?

I've put the pictures back

As part of trying to resolve some performance problems on this site I got rid of the pictures in the header.Over the last couple of days I’ve put them back along with some new ones because some people commented that they missed them.

You might be wondering where some of them are, others are a bit more obvious:

This is San Francisco harbour.

This is Grasmere taken from a beach at the Rydal end. It was taken just before we went swimming on a lovely summer evening.

Lavender in our garden which is a favourite with the local bees.

Another garden picture.

On holiday in Italy we were at the top of the Tower of Pisa as the sun set. This is the view back towards the duomo.

A more local picture this time, taken at Cobble Hey gardens in the Through of Bowland.

From north west to north east, a lovely sunset taken from the beach at Banburgh.

One of my favourite places is Borrowdale in the Lake District.

More lake district, looking across Derwentwater towards Borrowdale.

One summer we decided to try out a Maize Maze. This was the sculpture in the middle.

More sculpture, this was on display at Chatsworth, and on sale – we decided not to ask about the price. They are contemporary terracotta warriors designed by Yue Min Jun.

Another sunset, this time at a local nature reserve called Brockhole.

More lake district and more swimming, this time it’s Buttermere, it’s late spring and the water hadn’t really warmed up yet.

From Lindisfarne looking back towards the mainland.

Finishing off with a view from the far north of Scotland at a little hamlet called Tarbet which is the place where you go to if you want to visit Handa island.

The pictures are configured so that you will get a random one for each page and post that you visit. If you want to see different ones then you need to click around a bit.

There are some others and I’m likely to update them from time to time.