A recent press release in Medical News Today discusses a new book about technology and how it is affecting our ability to focus. It talks about how connected we are with friends, family, work, current events and the world. But how all of this “connection” is decreasing our ability for critical thinking, we are ignorant about many issues and we are fragmented as a community. The cause for all of this is due to our erosion of attention, according to Maggie Jackson. She has complied her research, conclusions and remedies in a book, DISTRACTED: THE EROSION OF ATTENTION AND THE COMING DARK AGE (Prometheus Books).

Jackson notes that the average worker switches tasks every three minutes and once interrupted takes nearly half an hour to go back to the original task. Families and friends find it increasingly difficult to meet face-to-face and even more difficult to do so without interruption or willful multitasking. News segments bombard us with superficially simple pieces of information. We have essentially been ushered into a world of constant distraction in which reflective thinking and undivided attention (single-tasking) has become exceedingly rare. Analytical reasoning exams show that children and college graduates have a decreased capacity for rigorous thought and analysis. These are important skills for running businesses, making informed political decisions, and innovating new ideas – all of which are necessary components of an advanced democratic society.

This is a non-fiction book that researches the subject of attention and focus throughout history. The causes are deep but we can change our course. Warning, this is not a self-help book and problems are all not solved by the end of the book. But it is a well research book which calls our attention to the subject of paying attention.

Link to press release Distracted

Link to Amazon Distracted by Maggie Jackson