Have you ever noticed how quickly you can completely lose focus on one task in favor of another? If you’ve seen the movie “Up,” you may remember that the cartoon dog could be hopelessly distracted any time he sees or senses a squirrel. For too many humans, the same can be said about that tiny little letter icon popping up on screen, indicating “new email.”
That state of easy distractibility defines “popcorn brain” — a trending topic in the world of mental health. The term was initially coined by David M. Levy, Ph.D., a computer scientist at the University of Washington. He described it as “being so hooked on electronic multitasking that the slower paced life offline holds no interest.” Social media-obsessed teens and email-obsessed employees aren’t the only ones affected though. The dinging, distracting devices we carry around make the phenomenon feel real for most of us.
If you’re not sure whether you experience popcorn brain, conduct your own experiment. Put your phone in another room and keep track of the number of times you feel the urge to go get it. Uncomfortable, right?
What’s a social-media devotee to do about popcorn brain?
Consider these points:
People who experience popcorn brain simply find themselves jumping from one thought or task to another. Think of popcorn brain as the inability to sit and engage with the real world without those constant intrusive thoughts and urges to check Facebook text a friend or refresh your email. It’s a mental state, although it’s important to note that popcorn brain is not a diagnosis recognized by the American Psychological Association or the American Psychiatric Association.
The human brain evolved to crave social reinforcement, and the likes and comments on social media posts trigger this primitive drive. Online content developers, especially those at social media companies, have gotten better and better at keeping us engaged. They’ve taught our brains to crave the reinforcement we get on their platforms. Websites have gotten good too. They implement algorithms to present content in our feeds that is particularly relevant to our interests (or latest search word). They also evoke strong emotional reactions. This positive reinforcement can also be thought of as an information incentive. Such incentives are received immediately when checking social media platforms and they engage the part of the brain responsible for reward processing. Think of it as a flash of dopamine and oxytocin, those “happy” hormones.
Being able to pay attention and focus is a complex function that requires lots of cognitive resources. The back and forth that happens when people are working on one task but intermittently interacting with their phones or social media is essentially a form of multitasking. Decades of research show that while many people think they are good at multitasking, the human brain is, in fact, quite bad at it. This is partially true because switching attention between different tasks is especially demanding on the brain. Research shows that the more people have to regulate their attention by moving it back and forth between tasks, the more “attention fatigue” they develop and the harder it is to maintain focus over time. This lack of focus makes people even more susceptible to distractions. Distractibility breeds more distractibility.
Use technology to your advantage, for example with your smartphone’s notification filters. Consider setting a do not disturb period during the workday or a wind down time at night. These features are usually referred to as focus mode and can be enabled through the settings menu. Focus mode helps by minimizing the number of distracting push notifications you receive throughout the day, with the option of allowing important notifications from select apps or contacts to come through. Smartphones also usually allow you to set time limits for apps that reset each day. When time’s up, your phone will not allow you to use the app for the rest of that day.
Increase mindfulness around tech use (as well as in general). Put the phone down — maybe even in the next room! Identify how often you feel drawn to check it. This is the urge. Notice it and then return to the task at hand. If you need a bit of structure, try the Pomodoro method, a time management strategy based on 25-minute stretches of focused work broken by five-minute breaks. Longer breaks, typically 15 to 30 minutes, are taken after four consecutive work intervals.
Did you even make it through reading all five points? If not, that’s OK! Practice makes … less popcorn?