What affects our attention so much?

Attention in our lives determine our success in certain context. Attention is affected by myriad of factors. However, one of the major ones which I have been observing (and recently confirmed by a study conducted at the University of Granada) is anxiety.

The article titled Anxiety Affects Attention Processes highlights that "Being of a nervous disposition and being anxious at a given moment affects our attention to what happens. This finding will help improve the treatment of anxiety disorders, so common in our days. In fact, anxiety has become one of the most common conditions among the population, which can explain the negative connotations usually associated to this term."

Dealing with anxiety in an efficient way may have tremendous affect in our life satisfaction as I believe that attention is the key enabler of this process. Wondering what else may have as much impact as anxiety for our attention? Could it be other strong emotions like fear, love and even other shades of anxiety?

A preliminary and informal study on seven online tools for professional and business use

In this post, I'd like to share my findings for a preliminary study as a partial requirement of a paper to be published. It is related to the use of some popular online tools for business and professional purposes.

Study Approach: I selected 10 active online profiles from my networks. These are the co-networkers whom I established personal trust via a number of correspondence over 12 months. The sample is gender agnostic, representing only English speaking countries (USA, UK, Australia, and New Zealand) with business and professional background. I interviewed these 10 people via Google, MSN, Skype, Yahoo, and Facebook chat tools in an informal way approximately half an hour. I also confirmed some of conflicting and contradictory views via email follow-ups. My key questions were about their current beliefs on Ecademy, Facebook, Google, Linked, Twitter, Yasni and Youtube in terms of the contribution of these tools to their business or profession.

Findings: There were a number of interesting views that I will make available in a paper progressing on these tools. However I'd like to share the key common findings for each online tool related to their profession and business as of 7 April 2010 to validate my findings with a wider sample:
1. Google is the main source of information for their profession and business. They use it everyday.
2. Youtube is secondary source of information for their business. They use it everyday.
3. Twitter has done nothing for their business as yet. However they see it as third important source of information.
4. They all are in Facebook. They believe to have some potential for their profession and business even though they haven't used it for business purpose as yet.
5. Linkedin is seen as a business card or CV collection and they sometimes use it to check some contact references.
6. Ecademy is only known to them by the blogs they saw in Twitter and some email invitations. They have no idea so far how Ecademy can help their profession but they all are interested to explore the possibilities further.
7. Yasni was heard by 4 of them in various online sites but none of them knew its scope and contribution for their profession and business. They all indicated interest to explore the possibilities further.

I have some impressions, perceptions and personal views established based on my experience but what do these findings tell or mean to you? Can you comment on the points you are familiar with? If you prefer your views to be kept confidential; please send me a personal mail linked to my Google profile.

Regards,
Mehmet Yildiz

Back to basics and cost effective solutions for our sanity

Solutions in technology and science to help us survive, feel better and stay sane are ubiquitous. The progress is fascinating to follow. Each day I explore new studies, new approaches, new ideas leading towards desired solutions.

Interestingly, we appear to go back to basics; natural, simple and cost effective solutions. For example, "exercise is a magic drug for many people with depression and anxiety disorders, and it should be more widely prescribed by mental health care providers, according to researchers who analyzed the results of numerous published studies". This was highlighted by the SMU Research recently.

In addition, cost effective and simplistic solutions are attracting our attentions. It is great to know that researchers in Penn State University developed a low-cost behavioral assessment that can clue someone in to Alzheimer's disease at its earliest stage. More information could be obtained from this link.

I'd be interested to obtain your views and examples of basic, natural, simple, inexpensive yet efficient solutions from your experience that you can comment here.

Another factor or manifestation of smoking : Low IQ and its implications

IQ (intelligence quotient) is a measure of a person's intelligence as indicated by an intelligence test; the ratio of a person's mental age to their chronological age (multiplied by 100).There are many factors believed to be affecting IQ such as genetic, environmental, parental, schooling, breastfeeding, external stimulus, malnutrition, and so on.

It is interesting to read about a media release titled "Proof: Smoking Is Dumb" by Tel Aviv University which shows links between cigarette smoking and lower IQ.

I was thinking whether it may mean that lower IQ could be a cause of addictions? Or does that mean something else? The answer was provided in the article. Interestingly, Prof. Weiser claimed that "People with lower IQs are not only prone to addictions such as smoking, these same people are more likely to have obesity, nutrition and narcotics issues. Our study adds to the evidence of this growing body of research, and it may help parents and health professionals help at-risk young people make better choices."

This study is a kind of warning and targeting certain groups who are at risk. This sounds good in theory but the practice of this may have many implications on young people's lives. Your thoughts on putting this knowledge into practice by addressing the implications in a favourable way? I also posted a discussion blog on Ecademy asking "Is smoking dump" from a different perspective; you are welcome to participate with your views and experience on this.