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by boplicity 65 days ago
> "People’s persistence drops."

Has anyone else noticed this, as they've scaled up their AI coding use? I've found it harder to stay on task, and it's affected a broad range of my personal activities. I'm able to make incredible things happen with AI tools, but do worry about the personal costs.
2 comments
bluGill 65 days ago
I think I'm more able to stay on task - when there is something hard I don't want to do I just tell the AI to figure it out. Previously I would find any excuse to procrastinate. For that matter while the AI is "thinking" I can read a book (unrelated fiction), but I'm still on task because the work is getting done.
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fragmede 65 days ago
It predates LLMs though. It's after work and you're hanging out with friends, and someone asked about that one actress from that one thing. Do you struggle and think real hard and pull a name out of your brain with a bunch of effort, or do you just look it up in IMDB?
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free-nachos 65 days ago
I have, absolutely, as I'm trying to learn the fully agentic style of development to keep up with the pace that a couple colleagues are setting.

Im that style of working, spinning up multiple parallel workstreams appears to be the highest output strategy. So now I'm practicing rapid context switching, jumping from virtual desktop to virtual desktop, and even adding monitors to my desk to keep tabs on more workstreams.

In my home life, I've observed myself wandering off mid-task (reminder to self: the eggs on the stove DO NOT have the ability to wait idly for your next input), or pausing to make an unrelated voice note mid-conversation with a loved one (which does NOT feel good to anyone involved...)

I suspect I can get better as I learn more skills and practice. For example, there are people great at both the hours long tournament chess format, and the 2 minute bullet chess format.

But the fact that so I quickly went from being top tier at long term focus to not very good at focusing on anything gives me real pause...

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boplicity 65 days ago
I too have noticed the shift in completely different contexts. Definitely gives me real pause. Mental acuity and sharpness is so important; it's the foundation of who we are as people...
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