When you enter a certain situation, minimize the interference of other factors on you, reduce your cognitive load and attention load, so that you do not need to think over and over again and can devote yourself to the situation. middle. What's its purpose? It's to make you comfortable. Below is a list of reasons I compiled for everyone, let’s take a look!

Text/Lachel

Last week I did a small experiment.

When I usually browse Zhihu, I always choose the "Follow" page by default to see the users I follow. But this time, I tried to switch to the "recommended" page to see what the algorithm recommended to me.

Then, I roughly estimated the time I spent browsing Zhihu during those few days.

The results are very interesting: even though I consciously control my time, and even though the quality of the content recommended by the algorithm is not as good as that of the users I follow, the former still consumes more time than the latter.

What is the reason? One of the most important reasons is: I don’t follow many users, so it is easy to scroll to the end? That is to say, I found: "Ah, I have seen this content before." .

Theoretically, even if I reach the end, I can still look at other things? For example, other answers to the same question, related questions, etc.? But this idea that enters consciousness will Give me a signal: I've been grinding for a long time and it's time to do something else.

Writer Adam Alter calls it a "stop signal." You can also understand it as a "psychological boundary" that reminds you "it's time to stop."

Don’t underestimate this thing. Many times, its impact is beyond imagination.

You must have had this experience: you originally just wanted to check some information, but you got out of control. You clicked on links one by one and jumped from page to page. When you woke up, you had already spent a lot of time. . But what exactly did they read? I couldn’t tell.

This is the "time black hole" brought about by the Internet. The reason is because it blocks the "stop signal" to you.

Later on, Pinterest invented the waterfall flow, and social networking sites invented the information flow. Even jump links were omitted: you only need to swipe down, and new information will be continuously sent to you. in front of you.

The information flow model further reduces the resistance to obtaining information. Unless you reach "where you started last time" like at the beginning of the article, people rarely touch the "border".

The rise of algorithms has pushed this model to the extreme: through your behavior, the algorithm can find the content that is most attractive to you, eliminating the cost of manual recommendations and the uncontrollable timeline. sex, delivering a steady stream of content.

What’s even more interesting is: every action you take contributes material to the algorithm and becomes its nourishment. It will strengthen itself based on your behavior, improve itself, and better understand your preferences.

In 2015, the University of Cambridge and Stanford University conducted an experiment. They invited a series of relatives and friends of participant A to answer a test questionnaire specific to A to test their knowledge of A. At the same time, they synchronize the algorithm to answer questions based on A’s behavioral data on social networks.

What’s the result? It only takes 10 “likes” and the algorithm will surpass your colleagues. And once you have 300 "likes", the algorithm can know you better than your partner.

Even, in some cases, the algorithm knows better than the participants themselves? In some predictions of future behavior and decisions, the algorithm is more accurate than the person.

In this case, are you actively absorbing information, or are you being fed by the algorithm?

The answer may be worrying.

This kind of blurring and weakening of boundaries is called "immersion" in psychology.

Specifically, when you enter a certain situation, try to minimize the interference of other factors on you, reduce your cognitive load and attention load, so that you do not need to think over and over again and can concentrate on it. Throw yourself into the situation.

What is its purpose? It is to make you comfortable.

This approach is actually very common.

For example: when you are shopping in a mall, you will never see a clock, nor can you see a window that can see the sky. The purpose is to prevent you from noticing the passage of time and allowing you to shop for a while longer. , more contributions are placed in odd numbers.

Media content continues to become multimedia, from text to graphics, audio, and audio-visual? It is also a way to improve immersion. By stimulating your senses and brain areas in an all-round way, it makes you feel comfortable and reduces the cost of obtaining and understanding information, thereby allowing you to "stay".

Electronic products continue to become smart, large-screen, and portable. Adaptable apps are constantly being launched to build and create an ecosystem, just to make it easier and more comfortable for you to use them.

Also, various "gamified" educational software, learning software, and various content products that constantly cut, break, and turn content into stories all have the same purpose: to reduce your use and Touch costs.

These behaviors are all good, but there is just a problem: do these people who work hard to create a sense of immersion for us and make your experience more comfortable really need it? Or like it? ?

Perhaps not necessarily.

In 2014, an article in the New York Times pointed out: Many leaders, executives and investors in the technology industry limit their children’s use of electronic devices at home.

For example: When the iPad first came out, Jobs told reporters: His children had never used an iPad, and he would limit their use of technology products.

Chris Anderson, the former editor-in-chief of "Wired" magazine and the proposer of the long tail theory, has parental controls enabled on all digital devices at home and strictly limits time.

Evan Williams, the founder of Blogger, Twitter and Medium, said that he does not allow his children to use iPads, but provides them with a large number of paper books for them to read at any time.

And so on. The author points out: Parents in non-technology industries may provide their children with digital devices at the age of 8, while parents in these technology industries usually do not give their children mobile phones until they are 14 years old, and do not allow their children to access the Internet until they are 16 years old.

Why? The reason is simple: the more convenient and comfortable something is, the more it means the lack of "boundaries", and the easier it is for you to become addicted.

I would like to emphasize the difference between "addiction" and "addiction": addiction means that you know that something is bad, but you can't control yourself to reach out to it and get close to it. And addiction means that you are so immersed in using it that you forget everything around you, let alone leaving, quitting, and returning.

This is very similar to flow. The difference is: flow is a creative process, which is accompanied by a sense of happiness and accomplishment. And addiction is a consumption process, which is often accompanied by loss, frustration and annoyance? "Why did I waste so much time again."

But I can't blame you.

One characteristic of consumer society is that it allows you to take off your guard, give up your vigilance, and immerse yourself in the "illusion of satisfaction" created for you by everything outside. Then, honestly invest your time, attention, and money.

In other words: almost everything around you is carefully designed.

In 2014, an article in New Scientist pointed out that the average person in the United States consumes 40 kilograms of sugar per year, which is equivalent to 109 grams per day.

What is the concept of this data? The WHO’s recommendation is: try to control the daily intake of free sugars between 25-50 grams. And if you pick up a bottle of drink (such as 500 ml of Coke), its sugar content is just over 50 grams.

This is the illusion designed for us by the food industry: hiding high sugar content in food, stimulating your reward circuit so that you are not aware of it, eat them comfortably, and then keep buying them and consumption.

Give another example.

In 2011, researchers Chartterjee and Rose's experiments showed that there is a difference between people who use cash and credit cards when consuming: the former will pay more attention to "cost", while the latter will pay more attention to "income".

What is the direct result of this? Consumers who use credit cards will be more likely to make impulsive purchases and overdraft purchases.

A 2018 report pointed out: Almost all studies on credit cards have reached a conclusion: credit cards will make us spend more money. In some studies, the gap reaches 82%. In the lowest case, even just the appearance of a credit card logo will cause us to pay 10% more money.

The reason is very simple: when using a credit card, your entire payment process is very comfortable? No need to touch banknotes, no need to count, no need to make change? Money is abstracted into a number and symbol, then, Psychologically, your "vigilance" about your account is reduced.

Of course, these studies are all focused on European and American countries where credit cards are used a lot. In China, everyone can switch to "mobile payment" by themselves. The essence is the same, and it is even simpler: you don't even have to take out your wallet.

What are more common are various membership cards, stored-value cards, and gift cards?

When your consumption is completely separated from "payment", you will hardly have any "Boundary awareness". You may not even know how much you spend each time, how long it was last time you recharged, how much you spent on average, and how much "extra" you paid.

When you give up control of your mind, someone else will take over it.

So, I have a habit: I am subconsciously wary of anything that tries to "immerse" me.

Except for creating, I don’t like to be immersed in anything. Because immersion often means that it tries to take off your defenses, relax your control, and take control of your emotions, behavior, and mind.

For me, this is unacceptable.

Whether it is a movie, novel, game, or other form of entertainment, I have two basic criteria for judging it: 1) Whether it requires me to use my brain. 2) Does it have clear boundaries that will not let me unknowingly invest too much emotion, attention and energy.

Following these two guidelines, you may feel uncomfortable, troublesome, and tired? But this is a standard to keep yourself alert and "feeling" at all times.

If being comfortable means letting down your guard, then what you have to do is to maintain the ability to "regain vigilance" at any time.

I have a basic judgment: when you read an article or a book, if the author constantly tries to stir up your emotions and make you indignant, excited, anxious, and excited, then you may need Beware? The author's content may not hold up so well, so emotion is needed to make up for it.

As we all know, our emotional brain and rational brain inhibit each other. Therefore, if the author tries to immerse you in a certain emotion, it will inevitably weaken our thinking and judgment.

For example, "The Crowd" (written by Le Pen), which many people regard as a classic, actually has a lot of controversy in the academic circle. Why? Because it contains too many opinions and assertions, which can easily arouse public emotions, but lacks rigorous argumentation and data.

Even Steven Pinker, whom I like very much, has been pointed out: In several of his books, he committed the problem of subjectively selecting data and ignoring negative arguments.

Give your brain a massage and let your emotions stir and release. It will certainly be very comfortable, but what can it really give you? This is something you need to be vigilant about.

Similarly, if you feel particularly comfortable and smooth when absorbing a piece of information, you should also pay attention to it: you may have just gained an "immersive experience", but you will not be able to retain anything afterwards.

Why? I mentioned in "If you don't get rid of this perception, no matter how many books you read, it will be useless": Our memory and understanding effects are positively related to the energy we put in. The more knowledge you can acquire and consolidate, the more brain power you expend.

Many times, being immersed in comfort may not be a good thing? It may mean that your ability to control yourself is being replaced.

Seeing this, you should also be able to understand:

What I hope you are wary of is essentially the opposite of "autonomy."

It often leads to a kind of alienation? You think your behavior is from your will, but in fact, it may be the result of being influenced, interfered and manipulated by external information.

This may be a bit serious, but it is not alarmist.

In the past few decades in communication studies, there has been an important research topic, which is the potential influence of the media on the audience. "Magic bullet", "agenda setting", "mimetic world", "gatekeeper effect"? And then to the opinion leaders, communication nodes, and public opinion building in today's social media and new media era?

Many of us "self We think that our own opinions are actually just what others have instilled in us.

As an interdisciplinary subject of economics and psychology, behavioral economics’ achievement in the past few decades is to discover that people are irrational. We are extremely easily influenced by various external clues and internal inherent thinking, and make various judgments that can be followed.

Science fiction also has an eternal theme, that is, in the future society, people are supported by machines. We have lost our perception of the outside world and control of ourselves, and handed everything over to machines and processes, gradually becoming paralyzed and weakened in this comfort.

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Therefore, in many articles, you can see my worries about this phenomenon, and my repeated opinions on "I am the master and I am the one who uses me." The appeal? Only when our actions are completely based on "autonomy" and "subjectivity", we are our own masters.

So, what can we do in the face of this situation?

I would like to share some thoughts with you.

1. Keep a distance

How to prevent yourself from being "immersed"? The most direct solution is to keep a distance.

It’s not just about keeping a distance from external things and situations, but also from your own heart. In other words, it is a process of detachment, awareness, and control.

It is an effective toolbox that can help you improve your ability to perceive and intervene in the outside world.

Specifically: Detachment: Jump out of the situation and observe yourself from the perspective of a third-party bystander. Awareness: Be aware of your own state, what you are doing, what reactions you are having, and how you are interacting with the outside world. Control: Consciously control one's own behavior, restrain one's attention, and interfere with one's thinking.

You will find that they are actually part of "metacognition"? That is, the examination and control of cognition.

You might as well start with these simple scenarios to try to "keep a distance" from yourself and the outside world:

1) When you have any emotion, ask yourself: I have it What kind of emotion did you feel? What happened because of it? Is this reaction reasonable?

2) When you "naturally" come to a certain conclusion or make a certain inference, ask yourself : Is this reasoning definitely true? Are there counterexamples and other possibilities?

3) When you hear or see a certain point of view, examine: Is this point of view reliable? What is the source? How old am I? To what extent can you believe it?

4) When you observe a certain phenomenon, you might as well take a step back and think: Is there any deep reason behind it? Are there any factors that I may not be able to see?

Try to turn this way of thinking into instinct and call it at any time when needed. It can effectively improve your ability to control your thoughts.

However, of course it also has shortcomings? You may be like me, it is difficult to "immerse" or "invest" in a movie, novel, or game, and you have to sacrifice this kind of fun.

2. Establish "border awareness"

The importance of boundaries has been mentioned above.

However, relying on external "boundaries" is unreliable and very weak. What we need to do is to always maintain such a "border awareness" in the brain.

You can refer to these examples:

1) When performing any action, first set a period of time for yourself as a boundary. Let yourself always maintain the initiative over time.

For example: If I want to look up a term, I will set 15 minutes for myself and stop immediately when the time is up to avoid being endlessly involved in the "time black hole".

When I suddenly have an idea, I will set it for half an hour, and spend this half hour to divergent thinking and brainstorming. Stop when the time is up to avoid spending too much time on it.

2) Regarding the massive information, tasks, and events we receive every day, we might as well draw a boundary and ask ourselves: Are they valuable to my goals?

Try to Don’t do those low-value, short-term things that others “ask me to do.” Similarly, don't be obsessed with external information and knowledge. Information that cannot guide your behavior and help you get closer to your goals is invalid.

3) When buying anything, you might as well ask yourself: Do I really need it, or do others make me think I need it?

Someone on Zhihu proposed an idea. , it’s interesting: ask yourself, which one would make me happier if I got a sum of money equivalent to that, or if I got that thing? If it’s the latter, buy it again.

This is a kind of "desire boundary" for reference.

3. Appropriate "discomfort".

Taleb gave an example in "Antifragility":

Since the emergence of autonomous driving, pilots' attention and skills have gradually become dull. Once an accident occurs, Often the machine is destroyed and people are killed. Therefore, even with autonomous driving, pilots still need to undergo certain intensity of training. This may seem redundant, but it will help them cope with all kinds of surprises.

This is "uncomfortable", but it is a "necessary redundancy".

Another example: I have a whole set of work processes and models, but whenever a new productivity tool appears, I will try it and create a new set of processes.

This is also redundant and "uncomfortable", but it allows me to always maintain an insight into the industry and a "feel" for myself.

To stay sharp, try doing something "uncomfortable". It helps you stay diligent.

Many readers have told me: Your articles are too complicated. It sometimes takes an hour to read an article and take notes, which is too much?

I can do it. Writing the article more simply will make it easier for you, but in this case, it will lose its own meaning.

I hope that this not very "comfortable" reading and thinking process can slowly exercise your critical thinking skills and help you chew and absorb information better.

Thinking is like a sharp sword, it needs to be sharpened regularly to keep it sharp.