Indistractable
Page 19
Sarah Soha
Steven Sohcot
Kaisa Soininen
David Spencer
James Taylor Stables
Kurt Stangl
Laurel Stanley
John A. Starmer
Juliano Statdlober
Christin Staubo
Ihor Stecko
Nick Di Stefano
Murray Steinman
Alexander Stempel
Seth Sternberg
Anthony Sterns
Shelby Stewart
Adam Stoltz
Alan Stout
Carmela Stricklett
Scott Stroud
Swetha Suresh
Sarah Surrette
Cathleen Swallow
Bryan Sykes
Eric Szulc
Lilla Tagai
Michel Tagami
J. P. Tanner
Shantanu Tarey
Claire Tatro
Harry E. Tawil
Noreen Teoh
C. J. Terral
Amanda Tersigni
Matt Tharp
Nay Thein
Brenton Thornicroft
Julianne Tillmann
Edwin Tin
Avegail Tizon
Zak Tomich
Roger Toor
Anders Toxboe
Jimmy Tran
Tom Trebes
Artem Troinoi
Justin Trugman
Kacy Turelli
Kunal Haresh Udani
Christian von Uffel
Jason Ugie
Matt Ulrich
Branislav Vajagić
Lionel Zivan Valdellon
Steve Valiquette
Jared Vallejo
René Van der Veer
Anulekha Venkatram
Poornima Vijayashanker
Claire Viskovic
Brigit Vucic
Thuy Vuong
Sean Wachsman
Maurizio Wagenhaus
Amelia Bland Waller
Shelley Walsh
Trish Ward
Levi Warvel
Kafi Waters
Adam Waxman
Jennifer Wei
Robin Tim Weis
Patrick Wells
Gabriel Werlich
Scott Wheelwright
Ed Wieczorek
Ward van de Wiel
Hannah Mary Williams
Robert Williger
Jean Gaddy Wilson
Rob Wilson
Claire Winter
Trevor Witt
Fanny Wu
Alex Wykoff
Maria Xenidou
Raj Yadav
Josephine Yap
Arsalan Yarveisi
Yoav Yechiam
Andrew Yee
Paul Anthony Yu
Mohamad Izwan Zakaria
Jeannie Zapanta
Anna Zaremba
Renee Zau
Ari Zelmanow
Linda Zespy
Fei Zheng
Rona Zhou
Lotte Zwijnenburg
Notes
INTRODUCTION: FROM HOOKED TO INDISTRACTABLE
Page 1 “The book, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, was a Wall Street Journal best seller . . .” “Amazon Best Sellers: Best Sellers in Industrial Product Design,” accessed October 29, 2017, www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/7921653011/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_1_6_last.
Page 2 “When you invent the ship, you also invent the shipwreck.” Paul Virilio, Politics of the Very Worst (New York: Semiotext(e), 1999), 89.
CHAPTER 1: WHAT’S YOUR SUPERPOWER?
Page 8 “After all, the time you plan to waste is not wasted time.” A play on a Marthe Troly-Curtin quote, “Time You Enjoy Wasting Is Not Wasted Time,” Quote Investigator, accessed August 19, 2018, https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/06/11/time-you-enjoy/.
CHAPTER 2: BEING INDISTRACTABLE
Page 11 “The story goes that Tantalus was banished to the underworld . . .” Euripides, Orestes, 4–13.
Page 12 “Tantalus’s curse—forever reaching for something.” August Theodor Kaselowsky, Tantalus and Sisyphus in Hades, oil painting, ca. 1850, now destroyed, previously held in the Niobidensaal of the Neues Museum, Berlin, Germany, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tantalus-and-sisyphus-in-hades-august-theodor-kaselowsky.jpg.
Page 12 “Derived from the same Latin root . . .” Online Etymology Dictionary, s.v. “distraction,” accessed January 15, 2018, www.etymonline.com/word/distraction.
Page 13 “People complained about the brain-melting power of television . . .” Louis Anslow, “What Technology Are We Addicted to This Time?” Timeline, May 27, 2016, https://timeline.com/what-technology-are-we-addicted-to-this-time-f0f7860f2fab#.rfzxtvj1l.
Page 13 “Even the written word was blamed for creating . . .” Plato, Phaedrus, trans. Benjamin Jowett, 277a3–4, http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/phaedrus.html.
Page 13 “The wealth of information means a dearth of something else . . .” H. A. Simon, “Designing Organizations for an Information-Rich World” in Computers, Communication, and the Public Interest, ed. Martin Greenberger (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1971), 40–41.
Page 13 “Researchers tell us attention and focus are the raw materials . . .” Hikaru Takeuchi et al., “Failing to Deactivate: The Association between Brain Activity During a Working Memory Task and Creativity,” NeuroImage 55, no. 2 (March 15, 2011): 681–87, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.11.052; Nelson Cowan, “The Focus of Attention As Observed in Visual Working Memory Tasks: Making Sense of Competing Claims,” Neuropsychologia 49, no. 6 (May 2011): 1401–6, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.01.035; P. A. Howard-Jones and S. Murray, “Ideational Productivity, Focus Of Attention, and Context,” Creativity Research Journal 15, no. 2–3 (2003): 153–66, doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2003.9651409; Nilli Lavie, “Distracted and Confused? Selective Attention under Load,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 9, no. 2 (February 1, 2005): 75–82, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2004.12.004; Barbara J. Grosz and Peter C. Gordon, “Conceptions of Limited Attention and Discourse Focus,” Computational Linguistics 25, no. 4 (1999): 617–24, http://aclweb.org/anthology/J/J99/J99-4006; Amanda L. Gilchrist and Nelson Cowan, “Can the Focus of Attention Accommodate Multiple, Separate Items?” Journal of Experimental Psychology, Learning, Memory, and Cognition 37, no. 6 (November 2011): 1484–1502, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024352.
Page 14 “Loneliness, according to researchers, is more dangerous than obesity.” Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Timothy B. Smith, and J. Bradley Layton, “Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review,” PLOS Medicine 7, no. 7 (July 27, 2010), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316.
CHAPTER 3: WHAT MOTIVATES US, REALLY?
Page 19 “I’m coming clean today, telling this story . . .” Zoë Chance, “How to Make a Behavior Addictive,” TEDx talk at TEDxMillRiver, May 14, 2013, 16:57, www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHfiKav9fcQ.
Page 19 “She tells me, ‘We kept saying . . .’” Zoë Chance in interview with the author, May 16, 2014.
Page 21 “Nature has placed mankind under the governance . . .” Jeremy Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, new edition, corrected by the author (1823; repr., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907), www.econlib.org/library/Bentham/bnthPML1.html.
Page 22 “By pleasure, we mean the absence of pain in the body . . .” Epicurus, “Letter to Menoeceus,” contained in Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book X, 131, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lives_of_the_Eminent_Philosophers/Book_X.
Page 22 “The white cue ball and stick aren’t the root causes . . .” Paul F. Wilson, Larry D. Dell, and Gaylord F. Anderson, Root Cause Analysis: A Tool for Total Quality Management (Milwaukee: American Society for Quality, 1993).
Page 23 “My addiction to Striiv coincided with . . .” Zoë Chance in email exchange with author, July 11, 2014.
CHAPTER 4: TIME MANAGEMENT IS PAIN MANAGEMENT
Page 27 “We live in the safest, healthiest, mo
st well-educated . . .” Max Roser, “The Short History of Global Living Conditions and Why It Matters That We Know It,” Our World in Data, accessed December 30, 2017, https://ourworldindata.org/a-history-of-global-living-conditions-in-5-charts.
Page 28 “My life is one long escape from myself.” Adam Gopnik, “Man of Fetters,” New Yorker, December 1, 2008, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/12/08/man-of-fetters.
Page 28 “If satisfaction and pleasure were permanent . . .” R. F. Baumeister et al., “Bad Is Stronger than Good,” Review of General Psychology 5, no. 4 (December 2001): 323–70, https://doi.org/10.1037//1089-2680.5.4.323.
Page 28 “A 2014 study published in Science asked participants . . .” Timothy D. Wilson et al., “Just Think: The Challenges of the Disengaged Mind,” Science 345, no. 6192 (July 4, 2014): 75–77, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1250830.
Page 29 “It’s no surprise, therefore, that most of the top twenty-five websites . . .” “Top Sites in United States,” Alexa, accessed December 30, 2017, www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/US.
Page 29 “. . . a phenomenon in which negative events are more salient . . .” Jing Chai et al., “Negativity Bias in Dangerous Drivers,” PLOS ONE 11, no. 1 (January 14, 2016), https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0147083.
Page 29 “It appears to be a basic, pervasive fact of psychology that bad is stronger than good.” Baumeister et al., “Bad Is Stronger than Good.”
Page 29 “Babies begin to show signs of negativity bias . . .” A. Vaish, T. Grossmann, and A. Woodward, “Not All Emotions Are Created Equal: The Negativity Bias in Social-Emotional Development,” Psychological Bulletin 134, no. 3 (2008): 383–403, https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.134.3.383.
Page 29 “Studies have found people are more likely to recall . . .” Baumeister et al., “Bad Is Stronger than Good.”
Page 29 “This ‘passive comparison of one’s current situation . . .’” Wendy Treynor, Richard Gonzalez, and Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, “Rumination Reconsidered: A Psychometric Analysis,” Cognitive Therapy and Research 27, no. 3 (June 1, 2003): 247–59, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023910315561.
Page 29 “By reflecting on what went wrong and how to rectify it . . .” N. J. Ciarocco, K. D. Vohs, and R. F. Baumeister, “Some Good News About Rumination: Task-Focused Thinking After Failure Facilitates Performance Improvement,” Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 29, no.10 (2010): 1057–73, http://assets.csom.umn.edu/assets/166704.pdf.
Page 30 “For instance, people who have experienced extremely good fortune . . .” K. M. Sheldon and S. Lyubomirsky, “The Challenge of Staying Happier: Testing the Hedonic Adaptation Prevention Model,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38 (February 23, 2012): 670, http://sonjalyubomirsky.com/wp-content/themes/sonjalyubomirsky/papers/SL2012.pdf.
Page 30 “Every desirable experience . . . is transitory.” David Myers, The Pursuit of Happiness (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1992), 53.
Page 30 “The author of one study explains that as ‘new goals continually capture one’s attention . . .’” Richard E. Lucas et al., “Reexamining Adaptation and the Set Point Model of Happiness: Reactions to Changes in Marital Status,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84, no. 3 (2003): 527–39, www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-843527.pdf.
CHAPTER 5: DEAL WITH DISTRACTION FROM WITHIN
Page 33 “Most people don’t think of cancer as a behavioral problem . . .” “Jonathan Bricker, Psychologist and Smoking Cessation Researcher,” Featured Researchers, Fred Hutch, accessed February 4, 2018, www.fredhutch.org/en/diseases/featured-researchers/bricker-jonathan.html.
Page 34 “Try to pose for yourself this task . . .” Fyodor Dostoevsky, Winter Notes on Summer Impressions, trans. David Patterson (1988; repr., Evanston, Ill: Northwestern University Press, 1997).
Page 34 “The results suggested that suppressing the thought . . .” Lea Winerman, “Suppressing the ‘White Bears,’” Monitor on Psychology 42, no. 9 (October, 2011), https://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/10/unwanted-thoughts.
Page 34 “All the smokers were asked by the researchers . . .” Nicky Blackburn, “Smoking—a Habit Not an Addiction,” ISRAEL21c (July 18, 2010), www.israel21c.org/smoking-a-habit-not-an-addiction/.
Page 35 “What affected their desire was not how much time had passed after a smoke . . .” Reuven Dar et al., “The Craving to Smoke in Flight Attendants: Relations with Smoking Deprivation, Anticipation of Smoking, and Actual Smoking,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 119, no. 1 (February 2010): 248–53, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017778.
Page 35 “I do this for two reasons: first, though studies show . . .” Cecilia Cheng and Angel Yee-lam Li, “Internet Addiction Prevalence and Quality of (Real) Life: A Meta-analysis of 31 Nations Across Seven World Regions,” Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 17, no. 12 (December 1, 2014): 755–60, https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2014.0317.
CHAPTER 6: REIMAGINE THE INTERNAL TRIGGER
Page 38 “Bricker advises focusing on the internal trigger that precedes . . .” Jonathan Bricker in conversation with the author, August 2017.
Page 39 “When similar techniques were applied in a smoking cessation study . . .” Judson A. Brewer et al., “Mindfulness Training for Smoking Cessation: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial,” Drug and Alcohol Dependence 119, no. 1–2 (December 2011): 72–80, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2011.05.027.
Page 39 “A technique I’ve found particularly helpful . . .” Kelly McGonigal, The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It (New York: Avery Publishing, 2011).
Page 40 “This rule allows time to do what some behavioral psychologists call . . .” “Riding the Wave: Using Mindfulness to Help Cope with Urge,” Portland Psychotherapy (blog), November 18, 2011, https://portlandpsychotherapyclinic.com/2011/11/riding-wave-using-mindfulness-help-cope-urges/.
Page 40 “Surfing the urge, along with other techniques . . .” Sarah Bowen and Alan Marlatt, “Surfing the Urge: Brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention for College Student Smokers,” Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 23, no. 4 (December 2009): 666–71, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017127.
Page 40 “It’s a curious truth that when you gently pay attention . . .” Oliver Burkeman, “If You Want to Have a Good Time, Ask a Buddhist,” Guardian, August 17, 2018, www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/aug/17/want-have-good-time-ask-abuddhist.
CHAPTER 7: REIMAGINE THE TASK
Page 41 “Fun turns out to be fun even if it doesn’t involve much (or any) enjoyment.” Ian Bogost, Play Anything: The Pleasure of Limits, the Uses of Boredom, and the Secret of Games (New York: Basic Books, 2016), 19.
Page 43 “To use a popular aphorism . . .” “The Cure for Boredom Is Curiosity. There Is No Cure for Curiosity,” Quote Investigator, accessed March 4, 2019, https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/11/01/cure/.
CHAPTER 8: REIMAGINE YOUR TEMPERAMENT
Page 45 “The way we perceive our temperament, which is defined as . . .” Oxford Dictionaries, s.v. “temperament,” accessed August 17, 2018, https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/temperament.
Page 46 “In 2011, the psychologist Roy Baumeister wrote the best seller . . .” Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney, Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, 2nd ed. (New York: Penguin, 2012).
Page 46 “The book cited several of Baumeister’s studies . . .” M. T. Gailliot et al., “Self-Control Relies on Glucose as a Limited Energy Source: Willpower Is More than a Metaphor,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 92, no. 2 (February 2007): 325–36, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17279852.
Page 46 “Upon closer inspection, however, he identified a ‘publication bias,’ . . .” Evan C. Carter and Michael E. McCullough, “Publication Bias and the Limited Strength Model of Self-Control: Has the Evidence for Ego Depletion Been Overestimated?” Frontiers in Psychology 5 (July 2014), https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00823.
Page 46 “When factoring in their results, he conclude
d there was no firm evidence . . .” Evan C. Carter et al., “A Series of Meta-analytic Tests of the Depletion Effect: Self-Control Does Not Seem to Rely on a Limited Resource,” Journal of Experimental Psychology, General 144, no. 4 (August 2015): 796–815, https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000083.
Page 46 “Furthermore, some of the more magical aspects of the theory . . .” Rob Kurzban, “Glucose Is Not Willpower Fuel,” Evolutionary Psychology blog archive, accessed February 4, 2018, http://web.sas.upenn.edu/kurzbanepblog/2011/08/29/glucose-is-not-willpower-fuel/; Miguel A. Vadillo, Natalie Gold, and Magda Osman, “The Bitter Truth About Sugar and Willpower: The Limited Evidential Value of the Glucose Model of Ego Depletion,” Psychological Science 27, no. 9 (September 1, 2016): 1207–14, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616654911.
Page 46 “In a study conducted by the Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck and her colleagues . . .” Veronika Job et al., “Beliefs About Willpower Determine the Impact of Glucose on Self-Control,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110, no. 37 (September 10, 2013): 14837–42, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1313475110.
Page 47 “He believes that willpower is not a finite resource . . .” “Research,” on Michael Inzlicht’s official website, accessed February 4, 2018, http://michaelinzlicht.com/research/.
Page 47 “For example, to determine how in control people feel regarding their cravings . . .” “Craving Beliefs Questionnaire,” accessed August 17, 2018, https://drive.google.com/a/nireyal.com/file/d/0B0Q6Jkc_9z2DaHJaTndPMVVkY1E/view?usp=drive_open&usp=embed_facebook.
Page 48 “Participants who indicate they feel more powerful . . .” Nicole K. Lee et al., “It’s the Thought That Counts: Craving Metacognitions and Their Role in Abstinence from Methamphetamine Use,” Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 38, no. 3 (April 2010): 245–50, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2009.12.006.
Page 48 “In contrast, studies of methamphetamine users and cigarette smokers . . .” Elizabeth Nosen and Sheila R. Woody, “Acceptance of Cravings: How Smoking Cessation Experiences Affect Craving Belief,” Behaviour Research and Therapy 59 (August 2014): 71–81, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2014.05.003.
Page 48 “A study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs found . . .” Hakan Turkcapar et al., “Beliefs as a Predictor of Relapse in Alcohol-Dependent Turkish Men,” Journal of Studies on Alcohol 66, no. 6 (November 1, 2005): 848–51, https://doi.org/10.15288/jsa.2005.66.848.