Ritalin was just a stand-in that had the right connotations for the discussion. Something that plays the role of enabling/encouraging focus. The real point was surrounding that state of focus with a turned-up reward system, and then using the random rewards to get the person hooked on getting and staying in the desired focus state.
Re:The distraction society
by jamesbritt on Saturday May 08, 2010 @05:47PM
(#1330985)
OK, I see. Yeah, the idea of "psychic training wheels" would be good, help get people first doing, then coupling the reward to that action, such that over time one acquires an innate desire to do that action again.
Sometimes that's how things work for me. If I can just get myself over the aversion hump I'm often then able to get on a roll and keep going. By then there's a workable feedback loop of effort and results.
One, finding the right dosage is a trick all by itself; two, Ritalin does not force focus. It ups the level of dopamine available to the brain. An improved ability to focus may be one of the results, but (sadly) it's not so predictable.