Dr. Cal Newport

So I do have a name related to the gaps we're talking about, but for one of the other negative effects, right?

So we have the positive effects you talked about.

which is consolidation of learning and acceleration of learning.

We had the one negative effect, which was the Pavlovian connection to distraction.

The other one I've written about before is solitude deprivation.

So I'm using a different definition of solitude than the colloquial one.

Most people think of it as a physical thing.

I'm just isolated.

But there's a cognitive psychological definition of solitude, which means absence of stimuli created by other human minds.

So I'm not taking in information that's coming directly from another human mind.

Having no period with this solitude, so having no period in your day where you're free from stimuli created from other minds is solitude deprivation and it's a real issue.

And partially it's a real issue because when we're processing input from another human brain,

It's all hands on deck, right?

I mean we're very social beings.

A huge portion of our brain is dedicated to this, right?

So it's a very cognitively expensive activity when I'm trying to understand another human's – what they're saying.

I'm simulating their mental state.

I'm trying to understand like where do they fall in this sort of social hierarchy.

And one of my arguments was when you spend your entire day in that state, it's exhausting and anxiety-producing.

And like until we had smartphones and ubiquitous wireless internet, the idea that you could banish all solitude from your day is laughable.