Signs that you are dealing with popcorn brain
A 24-year-old male client tells me, “I hate how I’m checking my phone messages even as I watch one of my favorite shows. On Saturday night, I sat down to watch the sequel to my favourite show and within the first five minutes my mind went to messages that I hadn’t responded to
A 24-year-old male client tells me, “I hate how I’m checking my phone messages even as I watch one of my favorite shows. On Saturday night, I sat down to watch the sequel to my favourite show and within the first five minutes my mind went to messages that I hadn’t responded to. After 10 minutes of responding to texts, I remembered that I hadn’t returned my mum’s call, but now it was too late to call so I texted her. Then I ended up scrolling and by this time, one hour had passed and I had just watched 20 minutes of the show. I was frustrated and finally switched off the TV.”
Over the last six years, one concern that has kept showing up is clients reporting how their capacity to read as a hobby has been compromised. Now what’s added to the list is clients describing how they are unable to finish a movie in one go or watch a show, without self-interrupted distractions such as checking their phone. Whether at work, or in moments of leisure, brains seem to be continually flitting between multiple thoughts about what needs to be done and inability to focus and pay attention. There always seems to be a task, an action or an email that has not been attended to or an item needs to be added to the cart. Clients across age groups bring this concern, including teenagers as young as 12 who talk about the frustration they feel due to this inability to pay attention.
As I hear clients talk about this, I’m reminded of a term, ‘Popcorn brain’ which University of Washington researcher David Levy talked about in 2011in relation to the time people were spending in front of digital devices. Given the stimulation from devices, consistent multitasking, movement between screens and short video content, brains seem to respond in a way that popcorn kernels do in response to heat. The term is telling of how our screen time and social media has impacted the brain. There seems to be a cognitive overwhelm, inability to stay still and as a result increase in anxiety. In a quote which is attributed to Levy, he describes ‘Popcorn Brain’ as ‘the mind being so hooked on electronic multitasking that the slower paced life offline holds no interest’. This is telling of how we are continually wired, and it has become hard for us to be fully present and offer attentive presence to even our loved ones. Our virtual life, online tasks seem far more interesting and as a result whether it’s friendships or romantic relationships we are struggling with them.
Learning to recognize and catch ourselves when we find ourselves stuck in this space where our thoughts are constantly moving from one topic to another is essential. Observing the patterns that one is stuck in is key. Building an attitude of mindfulness in our day-to-day life can help us in a big way. Whether it’s keeping our phones away when watching a movie, at dinner tables and in moments when we are trying to do deep work is a good starting point. Meditation, mindful breathing can help us work on our focus and help us feel less wired.
While technology and social media are here to stay, the best gift we can give ourselves is learning how not to fall down this slippery slope of divided attention and overwhelm. Learning ways whereby we can hike our capacity to focus, monotasking and deep work is what all of us need to work on.