Read this and this for better context (Oh wait! don’t go read them as you’ll never come back to read this post – that’s what this post is all about)
My experience tells me that almost always when two competing arguments trying to describe a reality, the ‘truth’ is somewhere in the middle. In case you missed that NYT alarmist article about the corrupted young minds who are wired for distraction, it’s well worth a read. In response, Megan Garber from the always fascinating Nieman Journalism Lab rightly asked the questions:
“The question, though, is: distraction from what? And also: What’s inherently wrong with distraction? It seems to me that the real dichotomy here — to the extent, of course, that it’s fair to break any complex problem into reductive dualities — is less a matter of focus vs. distraction, and more a matter of the digital age’s spin-off opposition: interest vs. non-interest. Caring vs…lack of.”
She goes on to remind us that
“What that framing forgets, though, is that the other side of fragmentation can be focus: the kind of deep-dive, myopic-in-a-good-way, almost Zen-like concentration that sparks to life when intellectual engagement couples with emotional affinity”
Against the alarmist rhetoric and sentiment of such articles as the NYT’s it is indeed a question that should not be overlooked but we must admit that this is a relevant, topical challenge and there must be different answers and ‘truths’ to the debate.
In order to avoid potential rumbling let me throw few more questions/points to the debate
1. The combination of endless stream of interesting content, the fragmentation of the web and more importantly our friends just a click away created a massively irresistible escapist heaven. All the stats, trends and infographics shows one basic human truth. We very much prefer to procrastinate, to hang out with our friends in a semi-idle mode over and above pretty much every other activity.
2. The raditionally separated Work vs. Leisure spheres are now for most of ‘office’ workers of the world in constant collision. Over the last few years the gap and distance between these two worlds is becoming narrower and narrower. We can now potentially hang out with our friends all day long from our desks and mobiles.
3. The sad truth is that for the vast majority of human beings the “kind of deep-dive, myopic-in-a-good-way, almost Zen-like concentration” is something they have more likely to experience when getting high rather than in their work life. To paraphrase Megan, Life as we know it, is not only about finding ways to learn more about the things we love, but also, equally, about squelching our aversion to the things we don’t. I consider myself hugely fortunate to ‘work’ in something which I genuinely enjoy yet if I’m honest with myself I’d say that at best, 25% of my work gives me that pleasure (minus the hyperbole), the rest is stuff I just HAVE to do and the web is always nagging me in the background trying to seduce me to the more interesting things and stuff than whatever is it I HAVE to do just now.
4. Unfortunately (or not) most of our everyday lives are mundane. We couldn’t possibly be in a zone-like-semi-orgasmatic state all day long, that would be really tiring (besides, don’t you need the mundane in order to appreciate the leisure and pleasure?). So whatever is it we do, we have to get on with it – that’s part of grown up lives. And that is becoming increasingly difficult when we can so easily be distracted – I very much prefer seduced – to the social information highway with it’s amazing offerings, from other peeps babies bowls movement update to a Kevin Kelly article and EVERYTHING in between.
5. As some of us admit and most of us deny/repress, the interwebs are bloody addictive. There is a growing evidence on the developed addiction of people to connectivity. While technology allows us to connect to people far away, it can simultaneously disconnect us from people who may be directly in front of us. We are all crackberries today whether for our tweetdecks, facebooks, instagrams or good old RSS. Just take this test: next time when you’re at the pub/cafe, just notice how many time during your meet up you’ve reached for your mobile to check what’s going down?
6. But maybe that is the modern human condition, maybe what we now call ‘distraction’ will simply become the norm, the de-fault? Some form of ‘stream’ really is going to be ‘always on’. And we’ll just get better at it and stop worrying about it. And checking your stream during a meeting wouldn’t be considered as rude so people won’t have to hide their mobiles under the table, and checking your stream when you’re with your family and friends will be all very normal, and generally being bit ‘here in the moment’ and bit ‘here in the stream’ will be what we are (and Russell will write a post soon calling it ‘post-distraction’ and it’s all going to be totally cool). Maybe.
7. Extrapolating from my very own experience, until we become P. Diddy and can afford to do only what brings us that deep-dive, almost Zen-like concentration, we have to become better at being able to switch off and get back to old school focus so we can get things done. Because i don’t know what about you, I fing distraction quite tiring. We have to have better self discipline. And we have to invent better technologies (like the awesome Freedom App) that will help us with our mot-so-strong self discipline.
OR we can simply re-invent the education system, the economic system, indeed the world to massively alter the caring vs. lack of ratio and to make them all more interesting and appealing than Twitter, Kevin Kelly and cat videos.
What do you think?