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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

A Smartphone Future? But Not Yet

A compelling article on what smartphones may be doing to us:

Nicholas Carr, author of “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains,” argues in the book that because of the brain’s neuroplasticity, Web surfing rewires people to be more adept at perfunctory multitasking, but diminishes the ability to sustain focus and think interpretatively.

Smartphones are especially pernicious because they “increase the ease of access to the Internet far beyond anything we’ve had with laptops,” Mr. Carr said in an interview over his land line (he also owns a dumbphone, as do the other family members). “You see a similar type of compulsive behavior” to computer-assisted Web surfing, “but it can go on continuously from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep.”

Such constant online status, Mr. Carr said, means that “we stop having opportunities to be alone with our thoughts, something that used to come naturally.”

“Anytime we have a spare second,” he said, “we feel compelled to check what’s going on outside of us.”


I am an avid iPhone owner and user, but these concerns have bothered me for a while. Read the rest here.

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10 comments:

Jeremy said...

Hey,

Today I took a trade in FINL on the 30 min chart. After looking back at the previous entries about a gap down and a pullback to the 8 EMA by Michael and a few other traders, I took a long entry on the 2nd bar after the extended drop on the first bar.

Instead of running up to the 8 EMA, it immediately takes me out and never really wanted to go up, and drifts downward the rest of the day. Why did this one not work when it looks just like the other setups?

Anonymous said...

I think this gets back to Michael's point of being very careful of these setups because you are essentially trying to catch a falling knife. Personally, I don't like to enter after only two bars - I would like to let it unfold a big. Looking from just a pure candlestick perspective, you entered on what you hoped was a reversal of a really wide range down first bar. But you were basing your reversal on not enough info (bars), and the bar you based it on wasn't exactly strong - sure, it closed positive, but was more doji-like. To be honest, I bet this setup would work 50% of the time. But, if you were looking for higher odds, I would wait until more bars form. In the case of FINL, I think a break of the 4th bar high was better, as it was a strong offsetting pattern. But it wasn't much of a winner - you could have made .15 or so, or got out break even.

Roger

Anonymous said...

On the comment above:

*unfold a bit, not unfold a big

Roger

Kevin said...

I've noticed my addiction to the iPhone, and my increasing ADD. I've thought about cutting the cord and only using it for calls. I try to turn it face down if I am somewhere with someone to remind me not to look.

Anonymous said...

Hi TraderX,

Thanks for keeping this blog alive. It is very helpful for learning traders. I was wondering if you are still using 2 minute & 5 minute bars, gaps and fibs from close to open for your daily trading or have you tweaked your method further.

Thanks
TheLearningTrader

Anonymous said...

I read a comment about the reversion to the mean trades, I can't find it now but it was something like "they always work - either price will stall and wait for the moving average to catch up, or it will move to the moving average." That has helped me as I've been in these types of trades.

Srini

Anonymous said...

No comment on this article, because I see all the negative consequences in myself!

Srini

Trader-X said...

TLT, I am trading a lot of 5-minute charts these days - more than 2-minute. My Fibonacci lines are either close to open, or opening range move. I'm still usually done for the day well before lunch!

Anonymous said...

TraderX,

Thanks for the response. For opening range are you plotting first 15 minutes or reaction high/low? Also, are you still finding 4 to 5 trades a day (15 to 20 a week).

TheLearningTrader

Trader-X said...

TLT, I generally use the opening move, which almost always correlates to a high/low in the first 15-30 minutes (usually first 15). Last week I had 14 trades, but I haven't crunched the data to see what my average week is like. I'll do that in the near future!