It's sad when you realize that you've watched so much KZfaq that you come back to videos that you thumbed-up without even realizing you've seen the video

We hunger for knowledge. The internet is fast food. Mostly junk food.

Summary : 1. Similar to a magical device that can either create nutritional food or cocaine, with your phone, you can choose to obtain valuable knowledge from the internet or just scroll through Reddit and waste time. 2. You might be teaching your brain that your phone is a tool to enjoy instant gratification and enhance distractibility, thus the default mode of the brain is preventing you from focusing on tasks for a long time. 3. When you're constantly distracted while learning, the information doesn't get the chance to trickle from the short term memory to the long term memory, thus making learning more difficult. 4. Similar to cocaine, not only that the internet rewires the reward centre of the brain to crave it, but it also damages the dendrites of neurons in the prefrontal cortex which is responsible for executive control, thus decreasing the ability to stay rational, maintain focus and exert willpower when doing tasks.

being taught how to navigate the the internet should SERIOUSLY be a mandatory subject in school, just like we are taught to be careful in traffic and have safe sex. it's an amazing tool, but it's necessary to be aware of the downfalls also considering how vital a tool a computer will be in most peoples lives, it's strange that it isn't a mandatory subject in school already. by not spreading awareness, it's like producing a generation of people that will all have to drive a car every day for the rest of their lives, but that were never taught to stop for a red light. and unlike in traffic, they won't die or anything, the consequence will be lazy and ineffective people that will seriously struggle both mentally and physically. by getting depressed and fat. which is sorta shit right, and which we're already kinda seeing right anyway good video! thanks for sharing! i'm totally addicted to youtube and it's an issue, but i'm very aware and trying to work on it

I am addicted to the comment sections...

My newest find. You make incredible content. Ever since I found your channel almost a week back, my LIFE has undergone a SEA of change. I've cut back on sugar, started practicing mindfulness and started running more. This is exactly what I like, Science based, Evidence backed FACTS that have a REAL impact on your life. Thank you!

"what have i been doing the last 30 minutes?" ye right 30 minutes ... more like 30 days

This channel is part of the intellectually-nourishing part of the net.

Shared your video on sugar with my brother, who is not even slightly overweight, he stopped eating sugar, shared your video on sleep with my insomniac friend, she's doing better already. Please keep up the good work, you really are making a positive impact on peoples lives.

How would you reverse these effects? Is it as simple as going cold turkey and focusing on long term objectives? A follow up would be helpful. The effects you mention are very noticeable in me because of my recent circumstance. I'm near enough an isolated test subject. I cooked every meal, worked out with a regime I researched and read books regularly. After 6 months with an illness being bed ridden, I used my phone more than ever consuming shallow distraction media. Now I'm free to go outside again it feels like I've developed ADHD, I have seriously low willpower and focusing on a book or a task that takes more than 5 minutes has me craving to open IG, Twitter or Sport articles to scroll through. In this short time I've had a concentrated change in daily life. It is genuinely noticeable.

Thank you KZfaq recommended for letting me know I’m destroying my brain with the internet

You have no idea how difficult it was not to switch tabs during this video

Seriously though, this is outstanding material. I wish my psychology classes were as practical, entertaining and to the point as your videos are. I get more practical, real world realisations and knowledge from these videos than I have ever gotten from a textbook. You are a really switched on dude and your videos are helping a lot of people change their lives in huge ways. Thanks.

Something I did recently is remove internet from my living space. This does a number of things: -Eliminates a lot of the distractedness that comes from internet browsing -Saves tons of money -I focus on high-priority tasks to make the most of limited time on library internet -Creates space in my day for activities that I value more, e.g. reading, writing, creative stuff. Clutch video, by the way. I love the cube analogy!

A phone isn't as distracting when you have no friends

My mom has said how dizzy she gets watching me switch tab to tab. Sometimes I'm between 10 or more. Yet she can only focus on one. But outside of the internet, the roles of reversed; I have to focus on just one thing, all my attention and hard work goes into that. Where as my mom, she can multitask and gets upset if I'm not quick as her or I'm too busy with one task to pay attention to another.

best channel on youtube

I'm so addicted to the Internet I get depressed when its gone, and I get this angst drumming trough my body every time I lose it just for a minute.

Your videos are so brilliant. I feel like all these "mindlessly spent hours " on youtube are, in the end, worth of something, at least i found your channel.

Thinking fast and slow, Daniel Kahneman Deep Work, Cal Newport Flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

The funny thing is i watched this video while i was doing other things. I might have to watch it again because i didn´t get the point

You're making my life better.

Just I few days ago I had the insight, that I'm heavily addicted to distraction which is the one big reason I'm no getting the progress in life that I want. Thanks for explaining the neurology behind it, great channel:-)

Its not just enhanced distractability, it also rewards immediate gratification. Not only do I see people have a lack of focus, but an aversion to being patient or diligently improving over time. Even reading, which I greatly enjoy, is something I suffer to convince people to engage in. Mention its in a book and suddenly you see them abandon looking into a thing they were otherwise psyched about, like a cool fantasy story. With emails or notes, some people seem incapable of reading anything beyond the first 3 lines, as a result they make mistakes I explicitly warn them about in the message. Its very frustrating, people need to learn to center themselves.

I'm not addicted to the internet! *ten hours later still in youtube commenting randomly and forgot to study for his exam*

This is one of the best video essays I've come across on youtube.

Good stuff! People need to talk more about the internet and the effects that recent technologies have on us. We haven't had enough time to develop an etiquette for these new-found behaviors, but I think this is changing.

I absolutely cannot stand to not learn something, while on the net. Sites like FB etc make me feel horrible, because it reminds me of how naive my culture is. I avoid them as I avoid the news.

Thank You very much for your thorough research. I do feel like an addict! Strange thing is I don't really miss it when for some reason I don't have access to it for longer periods of time.

I love when stuff like this is published on THE INTERNET

You have a talent dear, your gentle discourses present complex information with such coherency and neatness, its almost magical.

This is why I have cut down on my use of the internet. I remember going to a formal dinner at University of Cambridge recently and before we were allowed to enter the dining hall - we all had to turn off our phones. It felt GOOD to be disconnected from technology and just engage in conversations with people around us in reality. I'm about to reach 2 months of NoFap and don't feel the need to go back to that lifestyle again. I haven't reach the hardest part of quitting it altogether yet, which is to delete the library.

Now this is a value packed REAL self improvement video. Thank you for all you do man! We all appreciate your amazing quality videos

*Sees that What I've Learned uploaded a new video* *Gets an instant dopamine hit!* 😊

I really apreciate this video, hope to see everyone so we hopefully change our lifestyle. I think is one of the few times where I take something serious in this world full of entertaiment where you have to joke about it to make the people listen to you.

thank you man....you made my day with this video. I was wondering why I can't focus now a days comparing few years back when I used to just listen to someone and remember everything. Even in college days I never read books except exam time and scored very nice. But now I have to read same book multiple times and still find lost and cannot remember what I read. Thanks to give me action item to avoid smart phone and internet and focus on things in old ways. THANK YOU MAN...THANKS A LOT

Soooooo, how do I reverse this to become a better thinker?

Watching right now! Your videos are always generous in information. Keep it up! and thank you! :)

I'm so glad that you ended the video with another Limitless clip, half way through the video I decided I wanted to look up where I can watch it but was trying hard to not let myself wander from watching this first lol.

This makes an incredible amount of sense. I’m glad my morning fogged & distraction craving mind chose to click on this video.

I've gone 50 years without a smartphone. I'll bet I can go another 50 without one.

I wish I knew you in real life. You are an indirect mentor to me. Thank you for making videos. I am a better person because of you

This was just wanted I needed, I'm an Msc student and was wondering why I was struggling to focus. Even when I wanted to complete a task. This was an eye-opener.

The channel that just keeps on giving. Thankyou

Is it ironic that I shared this on facebook?

I can't really tell if this is all any better but i can't really look at memes anymore because recently I've been on somn called, semen retention. I have became really hostile, irritated, and stoic. Best way to describe it. When I look at a meme now, theyre all predictable. They're just. Not funny. So now all I usually find on the internet is different perspectives to at least feel something.

Socrates to Phaedrus on the invention of writing. "In fact, it will introduce forgetfulness into the soul of those who learn it: they will not practice using their memory because they will put their trust in writing, which is external and depends on signs that belong to others, instead of trying to remember from the inside, completely on their own. You have not discovered a potion for remembering, but for reminding; you provide your students with the appearance of wisdom, not with its reality. Your invention will enable them to hear many things without being properly taught, and they will imagine that they have come to know much while for the most part they will know nothing. And they will be difficult to get along with, since they will merely appear to be wise instead of really being so.”

I've been watching informational videos for several months, all on very weighty topics. But this has the greatest practical significance of them all. What may have taken a week to understand you've managed to compress into 10 minutes. Excellent video. Keep up the great work.

wow...over 100k Already? i was here since 1k.... you deserve it!

Never clicked a notification so fast.

Sometimes I think I'm addicted to smart channels like this and this has become my new entertainment vs having it actually change my life

I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know.. but, the way you've put it all together, got me to change my thinking. Thanks.

tbh, the fact that I had to watch this at 2x speed to feel engaged fully probably proves the point. Tho I still wrote this comment during the video

So does that mean most people have ADD? It always thought I have short attention span, but it turns it could just be the way modern technology is shaping us out to be.

A couple of things that I personally found help with this: 1. going outside in nature as much as possible (especially these days) 2. deleting useless social media accounts. you won't use it if it's not there. 3. tracking your time spent online to know WHEN you go online (lunch for example) and replace that with another task. 4. ask yourself daily 'do I really want to spend time reading/watching this thing?' 5. check if what you're doing online can just be done offline, eg. do you really need to tweet that thought or is it personal? 6. cut back on music if you listen to it in the background 24/7. this one makes a huge impact. 7. keep trying. the more you cut back the easier it will be to focus on what you actually want to do.

Thanks, now I can blame the internet even though I’ve always been easily distracted

Holy crap you have 700k subs now that’s insane I was your 12th sub well done man

Thank you for making this channel and these videos. It is seriously needed.

I started noticing my life was on hold while I binge watch videos on KZfaq; started on meditation today and have been doing exercises for 2 months. It is cool finding this content so I can program my brain more effectively. Thank you.

What are your sources? Would love to read further into the neurology you've mentioned in this video :)

I try not to endlessly scroll on FB, Insta, twitter, reddit etc. I'll check my notifications a couple times a day, but anything more than that is mentally demanding/draining and makes me feel gross. Instead I listen to a lot of music and distract myself (still in a somewhat negative way) by finding new music. At least finding good music feels more meaningful than passively scrolling for hours. Great video as always!

I have often found that I read quite easy with things going on around me. I can read while someone talks to me and split my focus between the book and the conversation. Then again to talk of the analogy "most would find it hard to write with their left hand". I was born ambidextrous and was forced to write with my left hand due to studies saying ambidextrousness leads to dyslexia. It is rare that my mind isn't occupied with more than one thing. Often I will play 2-3 video games at once. But my mind is always in a state of of information influx or repeat. I will often not be able to sleep at night because my brain refuses to go silent. When I'm experiencing a migraine I often will notice certain memories playing like a broken record in my head often exacerbating the migraine. I think that is part of the reason why I enjoy the occasional joint. It allows my mind to wholeheartedly focus on something and finally quiets all the excess noise. It often makes my ocular issues a tad more prevalent though, the main one being my visual snow being more noticeable.

endless scroll sucks

Please a video on water and it's importance to human body. As you've done with sleep food and exercise

Your channel is pure gold on youtube. No wonder why you have grown so much in short time.

awesome video. ironically I was a little distracted at the very end when links to two if your other videos popped up while your voiceover was still wrapping up this one! shows how deep this internet information addiction problem is for everyone now!

I had to restart this video 5 times because I kept getting distracted and had forgotten what I had just heard... Jesus Christ

Me: you're absolutely right (closes the video)

Thanks for this my man. I've been diagnosed with ADHD all my life and while I don't doubt my diagnosis, for the past few years Its been harder and harder to maintain my grades, probably because I've not been mindful about how I use the internet for escapism. Your tip in another video about how being mindful of "the call of twitter" as I call it has actually been really helpful, and its really helped me not just resign myself to not understanding how my brain works, and it gives me a method of control.

This channel is absolutely amazing, I already realised how much I used the internet is bad for me, but this video really gave me a big punch and I think a lot of people could use that. And I really wish I wouldn't be this addicted to the internet, so I could have a good paying job, so I could subscribe on your patroen! You deserve it!! I hope these videos/information gets more attention, because I can't imagine how many lives were unconsciously ruined because of the internet, just like my own

so basically, you should but your phone on silent or airplane mode during times when you need 100% focus to store the learned information in long term memory.. Makes total sense and I find it works very well when I apply that.. make your "breaks" from learning/working/studying/focus, when you check your social media or chat with friends < 10 minutes

What if you constantly do research, and/or learn scientific things on the internet?

Everything redesigns your mind. EVERYTHING. At lest on internet you can choose how your mind can be designed

This Channel has not only given me the motivation to examine and change the negative habitual behaviour in my life, it has also explained to me why I have those behaviours. Without a doubt the best discovery I've made in years. Thanks man

Was this your way to make me watch the whole video?

No kidding, Kerrygold is sold in Japan!!!!

I will start translating all your videos after I finish all the work i had been putting off that you helped me start.

What is described in the part about short-term memory distractions erasing information from moving into the subconscious and long-term memory and forming meaningful connections in the brain... I see this exact same phenomenon with human relationships these days. People will contact you, reach out for friendship and soon lose attention/interest and then move on to someone or something else before returning again later to "pick up" the relationship where they left off. So many people see no harm in this but by moving on to the "next thing" so quickly they are not giving the relationship a chance to become deep and meaningful. Hence, we live in a world where a lot of people know a lot of people, can say they have many friends, but there is not the same bond and purpose to it that comes only when you grow together. As a musician, I've seen this in terms of the decline of bands and rise of solo artists. People don't have the same commitment to stick together in a band, preferring to jump from project to project as an individual, which I see as a real shame.

4:56 I find that having multiple monitors helps with this. Leave youtube/video open on one, maybe something you're reading on another, and then a main monitor for all "computer-related" tasks. I don't have a TV or use phones so all of my "distractions" are right in front of me where I can see that they're not interesting enough to distract me.

Great video as always. Could you do one on nicotine (the substance itself, and perhaps about added chemicals in cigarettes) and its mental / physical effects?

@2:42 "You are what you use."

amazing video. you are right it is so important that we all start to understand how the internet effects us!

Funny how exurb1a came out with a similar video on the same day.

The internet is more addictive than cocaine for some people, I can tell you that...

sometimes when im scrolling facebook or tumblr i swear i feel just like hypnotized where im not even stopping to look at and understand specific posts but just scrolling mindlessly. i feel like im just loosing IQ points by the minute so i just close everything and do something completely different.

I deal with pretty heavy ADD and I have to agree with what's said in the video. Unlike people I live with, I always naturally gave myself tips to concentrate on tasks because I am awful with focus the way my brain works. Funny enough, I find that I multitask way less than my friends, lover, teamates and rather finish the work I do in one seance rather than take breaks. I guess I have always been aware of the way internet distracts me and tried all my life to understand the way I process information, but people without ADD don't tend to do that naturally. (From what I observe!)

Make a video on meditation benefits and such

Still using typewriter... AM I SAFE?

I love these little Simpsons clips in between. But they are like clearing my brain's recent what-did-he-just-say history! 🙃

This is by far the most valuable channel. The day when i watch this channel, i definitely do exercise, yoga, meditation and also minimum sugar consumption.

This is going to be a petty comment, very petty... ahem... Okay, okay, okay, first I'm really happy about this video cause I have a big problem with that and this really gives me hope, looking forward to you depicting the topic even more, great, great and now... THEY DON'T GET IT. People around me don't get it. They think it's oh so easy. It looks like simple selfishness and lazyness to them. It's my fault. I got myself to this situation. It was years in the making. But this problem - the problem in it of itself bugs me the most, of course, but it also bugs me how people don't get it, how pathetic it seems to them, when it's an actual problem. It's really one of the several pathetic, looking like easy problems with easy solutions on the outside problems that I have that hinder my studies. And they're ALL my fault and my responsibility. But it bugs me how people don't get it and don't respect the fact that people go through different things and most of all percieve them differently. For my close ones to think that I _just don't do anything_ to fix things it's... bugging me. And it's petty, super petty, but I just wanted to let it out somewhere. But they love me so freakin' much and they do a lot for me so is all good. ❤️ I'm good. More than good.

what is the movie with the author? he took some pill and became awesome if I recall correctly.

8:29 "...Your brain has the annoying ability to quickly habituate towards activities that provide enjoyment for very little energy." 1st - what a quote, I truly love it 2nd - no wonder I like marajuana 3rd - time to reflect

You are doing absolutely vital work, thank you for your contribution.

so would you say there is evidence to conclude Internet addiction can lead to A.D.D

I've been using the internet for about 10 years, and my attention span is still fine... Maybe, it's because I didn't start young!

Great work on the internet adiction analysis. I've found that just checking my cellphone every now and then afects deeply my capacity to concentrate. Keep the good work. Watching from Medellín, Colombia.

Lots of things to thing about, many things to change and improve in my life now. Thanks for the info. I'm on it.

Soooooo.... prohibition on the internet! Or.... Legalize cocaine! xD (I love the way you break things down and explain these interesting subjects, keep up the good work!) Edit: punctuation

I watch almost all KZfaq videos at 1.5 - 2x speeds now. My attention span is shot. I can't stand the slow talking.