How Do We Reclaim Our Focus?我们该如何重拾专注力？

Talking to Gen Z about tech overuse isn’t exactly groundbreaking. We all recognize the impact of daily device usage on our health， well-being and ability to focus. One day， we’ll look at social media use the way we now view smoking， a friend argues—we know it’s bad for us， but we might need a little help to quit.

和Z世代谈论科技产品的过度使用根本不是什么新鲜事。我们都意识到了日常使用电子设备对我们的健康、幸福感和专注力有何影响。我的一位朋友认为，终有一日，我们会像现在看待抽烟那样看待使用社交媒体的行为——我们知道这个行为对自己有害，但我们可能需要一点帮助才能戒掉。

Popular social media and online dating platforms are designed for addiction. Social media features such as TikTok’s self-shuffling “For You” page， or the rare thrill of going viral or finding a cute match on a dating app， mimic the unpredictable reward cycles that keep slot machine players going back for more. The results of one study likened humans on social media to rats in a Skinner box1—by maintaining a Snapchat streak or posting your vacation photos on Instagram， you’re rewarded with a flood of hearts on your screen or a little flame emoji （cue TikTok sound： “It’s like a reward”）， and you’re conditioned to do it again and again.

流行的社交媒体和线上交友平台就是为了让人上瘾而设计的。社交媒体的特色功能（比如TikTok自动随机推送的“为你推荐”页面），还有在交友软件上走红或找到合拍对象的绝妙快感，都模仿了让老虎机玩家欲罢不能的那种不可预测的奖励周期。一项研究的结果显示，使用社交媒体的人如同斯金纳箱中的老鼠：保持“色拉布”的连发纪录或在“照片墙”上发布度假照片，屏幕上就会涌现出大量爱心或者出现一个小火焰表情（此处响起TikTok的音效素材声：“这就像个奖励。”），于是人们养成了反复这样做的习惯。

But beyond app design， the reasons we can’t seem to detach ourselves from unhealthy cycles with social media are more complex， and probably linked to a lack of access to in-person social interaction outside of planned hangouts with familiar people or friends of friends. Even in a bustling university student center， I’ve noticed there aren’t many unscheduled collisions—with earbuds in， people signal that they don’t wish to be disturbed， no matter how much the brains between the earbuds might be craving conversations with new people.

不过，除了应用程序的设计，我们似乎无法摆脱社交媒体不健康循环的原因更为复杂，而且与之相关的可能还有一点——除了与熟人或远近朋友有计划地聚会，我们缺乏其他面对面的社交活动。我注意到，即便是在熙熙攘攘的大学生活动中心，计划外的邂逅也并不多。一塞上耳机，人们就传递了自己不愿被打扰的信号，无论左右耳机之间的大脑多么渴求与陌生人对谈。

For many members of Gen Z， most of our human interactions—everything from dating to brainstorming client strategy—now happen at least partially online. It’s certainly not the case for everyone： Many young people have thriving social lives IRL2 and use their phones only to send quick texts or to figure out their next move for the night. But many others feel powerless to resist the pull3 of the phone—if everyone else is online， being offline often means being alone.

对许多Z世代的人来说，大部分的人际交往——从约会交友到为制定客户战略进行头脑风暴——现在都至少有一部分发生在线上。当然，并非所有人都如此：许多年轻人在现实生活中有丰富多彩的社交生活，他们使用手机只是为了发送简短的消息或者搜搜晚上要去哪儿。但还有很多人感到无力抗拒手机的诱惑：如果其他人都在线，那么不在线往往就意味着孤身一人。

In an unscientific yet interesting experiment， I recently polled my personal Instagram followers about the possibility of logging off completely. To one question， “Would you ever consider quitting social media for good4？” 34 percent chose the response “I have， but can’t bring myself to do it5.” The follow-up question： “If all your friends quit social media at once tomorrow， would you？” A surprising 42 percent responded， “Yes， definitely，” with 30 percent “Not sure” and the rest choosing “No， I still get value from these apps！”

我最近做了一个科学性有限但趣味性很强的试验，调查了我自己的“照片墙”关注者是否有可能彻底注销社交媒体账号。对于“你会考虑永远退出社交媒体吗？”这一问题，34%的人选择了“我考虑过，但无法做到”。对于接下来的问题“如果明天你所有的朋友同时退出社交媒体，你也会选择退出吗？”竟有高达42% 的人回答“是的，肯定会”，30%的人“不确定”，其余的人选择了“不会，我仍然能从这些应用程序中获得价值！”

It sometimes seems social media has turned everyone into an armchair psychologist， bringing awareness and language to some of the same mental health issues it exacerbates. For example， take the buzz around dopamine， that pleasure-inducing neurotransmitter that governs our mood， motivation and focus. “Dopamine detoxing” is a recent trend that aims to reset your brain’s reward center by giving it a break from things that usually give you a dopamine rush—social media included. Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman’s podcast episodes on dopamine have garnered millions of YouTube views， striking a chord6 with people seeking to improve their mood， reduce procrastination and increase focus in a distracting， overstimulating world.

有时候，社交媒体似乎把每个人都变成了夸夸其谈的心理学家，促使人们对一些心理问题加以关注与讨论，而这些心理问题正是因为社交媒体才加剧的。以多巴胺为例，这种能让人愉悦的神经递质控制着我们的情绪、动力和专注力。“多巴胺排毒”是最近的一种趋势，其目的是将大脑从通常会让多巴胺水平飙升的事物（包括社交媒体）中解脱出来，从而重置大脑的奖励中心。斯坦福大学的神经科学家安德鲁·休伯曼关于多巴胺的播客节目在优兔平台上获得了数百万点击量，希望在这个令人分心、刺激过度的世界里改善情绪、减少拖延、提高专注力的人们对节目内容深有共鸣。

The internet’s obsession with dopa-mine and how to harness its powers might be masking collective unease about our ability to pay adequate attention in the highly online environment exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic—I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how U.S.-based Google searches for “ADHD” have tripled since the first lockdowns in March 2020. Maintaining motivation and focus in the wake of a constantly pinging phone and email has certainly been on my mind—though I enjoy having many hobbies， projects and interests， I often find myself wishing for silence and slowness， a space to have more control over where I put my attention.