We are a culture of distraction says Joe Kraus in this nicely put together, thoughtful presentation (btw I will take a bow if you can watch the entire video without getting distracted:)
Some subtle points that stand out:
- Attention is like a muscle. And training this muscle needs discipline, just like any other sport.
- Multitasking is the only "skill" in the world that gets worse with practice. Multitasking is nothing but practicing the art of getting distracted.
- Our minds constantly seek stimulation. Because we love the feeling of random payout (you don't know what's out there so you keep checking on stuff, often) - checking tweets, facebook timeline, email inbox, phone messages etc. have the idea of "random payout" baked in. This is similar to the feeling of paying at a slot machine in casinos.
- We fill our "gap time" (time that we get away from work or stuff that needs attention) with distractions. Gap time is important to make those subconscious connections (Remember, connecting the dots?). Such connections give rise to epiphanies. We lose that ability by missing out on these times of solitude - which is also incidentally the heart of creativity.
- Practicing mindfulness (for eg: listening to your breath while meditating) clears your head and assists you in longform thinking - the ability to think and pay attention for long periods of time.
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