“What do you notice about that newspaper?” He asked, as he slid the local edition across the table.
“It’s very thin?” probed the questionee, wondering if they were on the mark. While that was the most noticeable thing about the newspaper, it wasn’t the response the questioner was looking for. The local newspaper had obviously been short on pages for some time now, but now it was short on something else.
“There’s no ads,” responded the questioner.
There wasn’t an advertisement in the whole newspaper. While there were three ad spaces taken, they were all for apps or websites that were owned by the media organisation that owned the newspaper. Those weren’t real ads. The classifieds were also almost non-existent. Barely half a page.
It was a newspaper without any advertising. None. No local, state, or national business had seen fit to place an ad on that day. It was the same for local, state and federal government. Nothing. It was a Monday, so maybe a low sales day, but it was fascinating a reader could get through a whole newspaper without being pitched a car, TV, or even a service from a local business.
If you set aside your concerns about the sustainability of your local newspaper, your next thought might be wondering where all the ads went?
The internet. Somewhere they are much more persistent and distracting. All those ads that used to be in the newspaper are now ready to smother us the moment we get online. Ads are crammed top to bottom on many websites, then there’s the endless pop-ups. If we open our email there’s another deal from a store we bought something from three years ago, or just the weekly specials from the supermarket.
Sometimes you don’t even have to be using the internet. Your pocket might start vibrating or dinging with a notification from an app. Then there’s an SMS reminding you about a new deal on your internet or a phone tower being upgraded. Endless distraction.
While the last one may not be an ad as such, it is another distraction and something you probably didn’t want to give your attention to. Which is what the majority of these pop ups, dings and reminders are. The text reminder about your specialist appointment might be welcome, the other endless distractions are less so. It seems to be the case we’re being interrupted more frequently. Due to this, people are trying to understand if our attention spans are shortening.
A study from 2004 showed workers at an IT and accountancy support firm were switching screens or windows every couple of minutes. A study involving one of the same researchers in 2016 showed that tech workers were switching screens or windows every 47 seconds. Eight years on, in 2024 we can only wonder how often similar workers are switching screens, but it would seem unlikely the time spent on a task would be increasing.
What can we do about distractions or that urge we might have to divide our attention, and why is it even important? Because distractions are not great for our cognition. A number of studies have shown that divided attention when encoding to memory can hinder the ability to fully recall things. Essentially, if we’re trying to focus, being repeatedly distracted or interrupted will result in poor memory recall on whatever we were trying to focus on.
One Thing at a Time
We’ve all heard from the person who says they’re great at multitasking. Research disputes this. The data says most people are terrible at attempting to do multiple tasks at once. Simply because if we’re forever switching between tasks, it incurs something called a switch cost. Our attention is still with the prior task while we’re trying to make headway with the next one.
The best move? Give one job, task, or pursuit our full attention. If we have another task in mind, set a definitive end point for the current task. An example might be reading a book. Make the goal the end of a chapter. Give it your undivided attention, then put it down and move on.
Remove Distractions
Smart phones are unprompted distraction boxes. They’re dinging, beeping and vibrating even when we’re not using them. And they don’t even have to be dinging, beeping and vibrating for them to be a distraction. A study from 2017 showed just the mere presence of a person’s smart phone is distracting and reduces cognitive ability.
The further a phone was away from its owner, the higher their cognitive capacity was. The best place for a phone when we’re trying to focus? Another room. Failing that, we can all control our phones. The do not disturb setting can time restrict notifications. Don’t want to hear from our phone after 7pm at night? It’s in our phone settings, and if needed, we can allow interruptions from specific people.
Ads when browsing the internet have become ungodly. While there are ad blocking extensions for browsers, some are dubious. But there are now legitimate browsers such as Brave, which are privacy focused and are set to block many popups and ads. However, some websites hate this and will attempt to limit access if we try to restore the functionality of the site and simply focus on the words without deception or distraction.
Give Yourself a Break
If we’re feeling distracted, we might just need a break. Mental fatigue can make us feel distracted. Fresh air or a walk may be the best thing to give a mind a rest. A 2018 study found students who broke up a 50-minute lecture with three 5 minute exercise breaks increased their attention and had superior learning outcomes. That was compared to students who just sat through the whole lecture without breaks.
And you might even give yourself a moment to disengage when you’ve arrived somewhere, such as an appointment. Getting ready, driving, finding a park. It all takes focus. Then when you arrive, the distractions in the waiting room are everywhere. The pamphlet rack, posters on the walls, TVs blaring, the people in the waiting room. Close your eyes and give your mind a rest until your name is called. Try not to go to sleep though!
With our investment success significantly influenced by how we behave, being less distracted, more disciplined, and feeling relaxed should play a role in letting the market do its work and contribute to our long-term success.
Congratulations if you made it to the end of this blog post without distraction. Sadly, the author is forced to admit he couldn’t write the whole thing without significant distraction!
This represents general information only. Before making any financial or investment decisions, we recommend you consult a financial planner to take into account your personal investment objectives, financial situation and individual needs.
