BIG NEWS!
\"Algorithms that maximize attention give an advantage to negative messages. People tend to react more to inputs that land low on the brainstem. Fear and anger produce a lot more engagement and sharing than joy. The result is that the algorithms favor sensational content over substance. \"
\"A new study incorporating traditional Indigenous Australian ecological knowledge describes the largely unknown behaviour of so-called \'firehawk raptors\' – birds that intentionally spread fire by wielding burning sticks in their talons and beaks.\"
\"Consider the effect smartphones have on our ability to focus. In 2015, Microsoft Canada published a report indicating that the average human attention span had shrunk from 12 to eight seconds between 2000 and 2013. The finding was widely reported at the time and elicited some shock – for about eight seconds.\n\nBut John Ratey, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and an expert on attention-deficit disorder, said the problem is actually getting worse. \"We\'re not developing the attention muscles in our brain nearly as much as we used to,\" he said. In fact, Prof. Ratey has noticed a convergence between his ADD patients and the rest of the world. The symptoms of people with ADD and people with smartphones are \"absolutely the same,\" he said.\"