I'm 40 and as far as I can tell, I can concentrate just as well now as I did when I was 20. I'm also pretty deliberate with what I do in life, I don't engage in "mass social media" like FB/Twitter/etc. , I don't use YouTube, Tiktok, etc.. .. I mean, I will view something if someone sends a link, but I don't "browse" stuff (partly because browsing literally anything feels like I'm being manipulated and I'm pretty sensitive to that). Sometimes I see someone using a modern social media app like FB, IG or whatever, and I cannot imagine that months and years of this kind of "scrolling endlessly, pausing on things that grab your attention, then resuming" is healthy for one's consciousness or focus. I think the summary is, I live my life the same way I did in 1999 or whatever, as I've found that works for me, and I have to basically actively reject what modern society tries to manipulate me into living like. (btw this is hard to do, EVERYONE and EVERYTHING wants me to be paying attention to millions of disparate trivial things, it's a literal nonstop battle...)

This site is a social network. Not as bad as Facebook or Twitter/X, but pretty much the same idea.

I imagine you can recognize the difference between an extractive, engagement-metric-driven profit-centre like FB or "X" and a forum-like discussion site like Hacker News. There's a reason I used the phrase "mass social media". And actually, no, HN is not a social network in the same category as the ones I mentioned. No one has a "wall"/feed, you can't add/message friends, there's no algorithm telling me what to see, etc.

I think the differences between a _forum_ like this - which isn't far off from Usenet - as compared to modern social media are entirely the point.

It's precisely those differences that matter: the highly polished, short form content designed to give a dopamine hit. The highly polarized topics, the hot takes, ML echo chambers, dark patterns, all of it.

HN isn't without its issues, and much of those other platforms' issues bleed over, but we're talking apples and aircraft carriers here, and I reject the idea that this is "pretty much the same thing".

A social network requires at least being able to "friend" another user does it not? I don't think Hacker News has such features.

It's a forum... And a bloody good one.

Forums are like proto-social networks, but were around a long time before the MySpace/FB-type of bona fide social networks

I’ve seen this argument made so much lately I’m starting to feel like it’s being astroturfed.

I'm 40; you're fine. I put down Instagram last year, and I never even think of it anymore. Your mind evolved over millions of years, "short form content" is not going to rewrite that. Once you delete that stuff off of your phone, your brain will immediately free up that headspace, like Instagram never even existed.

I don't know about my concentration. I've got more non-negotiable responsibilities now, so I have less time to work on things, but I work on them harder, and I take advantage of the off time to let solutions bubble up.

I'm also a middle aged programmer and I don't think parent's observation is really about age per se.

Rather: we of a certain age grew up in a world before the optimized dopamine reward cycle of social media, and when the news / politics / outrage loops were far less potent. We could focus more because... well... we weren't being distracted to death.

Maintaining deep focus in the face of this onslaught is a skill I feel like people of all ages need to curate.

I've felt the same. I started reading books again though, and I felt a small improvement in my ability to concentrate. Digital detoxing helps too.

Focus is a muscle. Gotta build it up. Block everything, read books. (And I really should practice what I preach, here).