I just listened to a different interview with Johann Hari yesterday, and I couldn't agree more! As a former teacher of teens with learning differences (and as an adult with attention issues myself), I can very much relate. I found Hari's comments about the current state of childhood (little unsupervised outdoor play) and public education (focus on meaningless testing vs. individually engaging inquiry) to be critical insights. My students were checking out at an alarming rate prior to the pandemic, literally unable to disengage from their devices. They were also extremely sleep-deprived because of their media consumption at home (usually gaming). I hear from my former colleagues that this is all exponentially worse after two years of off-and-on-again virtual learning. I don't know what the solution is, but the business models that focus on addicting children to social media would be an excellent place to start. Now I'm going to put my phone down and take a nap.
First of all, yes, ha re. 'put my phone down and take a nap.' And second you are so right, it's this endless circle, don't get enough sleep because of the devices, then the fact that they're sleep deprived makes them more susceptible to the charmes of the devices. I hope there's some action on this for that whole generation. They don't know a world without it.
Great piece Susanna! We were just talking about this at home after recently seeing Johann Hari on Bill Maher. I can relate to almost everything you wrote concerning the distraction of social media. As a musician, my time is best spend with my instrument, not with my smartphone. I probably don't need to tell you which of those is winning most of my attention these days. But I appreciate that I am not alone and what they say about the first step to making changes in yourself is recognizing that you have a problem. That sounds more dramatic than it is... after all it's not a chemical addiction, but important nonetheless. Congratulations on your new adventure, I always look forward to reading your pieces.
Aw, thanks Jeff. Yeah, it's the incremental drains on our attention, tiny little bits, and then you look around and realize it's been hours. Awareness... not everything but it is something. Thanks for reading , and for the insightful comment.
That was an interesting piece you wrote, and distraction and competition for one's time/attention. Guess I'd never really thought about it that way. Yes, I think most all of us (yes, me) are affected by this kind of thing. Maybe, for me personally, the distractions come largely from within my own thoughts, not so much (you think?) from the external media competition--well, partly anyway. I guess I'll need to think about this some more [another distraction??, ah, but "deep thoughts" aren't distraction, they're a good thing... right?], before I can make any more meaningful-insightful comments here! [Hey, in spite of many distractions, internal or external, I DO have meaningful conversations with friends, read good books that give me insight into life and people... I think I'm not TOO bad. Still a lot of time "wasted" (not used as productively as I ought to make it?)...
That's so good to hear Pete, you need to share your secrets. And one of the things in Hari's book is this idea that we need time to have 'wandering thoughts,' ie. time where you're not getting lots of information or other inputs and can mull and dream about what you've already got in your head. Thanks so much for writing.
It's always been good to read your columns & thoughts--new things to think about. My favorite (activity good for my thoughts?) is going hiking, and just taking my time, sitting down on top of the (hill/ridge/mountain/river or lake) and contemplating nature/the world/life/the past, present, or future). As I just got to do several times, the past couple weeks when I was in AZ & NM.
Thank YOU Johnny! And yes, yes, yes, that is how I was feeling! Had a lovely conversation with my kid, a real in-depth look you in the eyes conversation and I thought, this needs to be my priority.
Usually, you columns are both interesting and informative. However , in your current "editorial". you've gone overboard in your rationale and conclusions on the subject you write about. Very disappointing, and not much value or insight! I realize not all is "great" or "upliftting ", but the whole tenor of your column is both disappointing and not of much value to those of us who believe you are really an insigtful and down to earth commentator i
Oh, I'm sorry this one didn't sit right, Bob. But I'm glad you commented! Good to know. I was a little feisty this week, it's been rough for a bunch of reasons. I was really just thinking about priorities, and about how precious it is to give and receive someone's undivided attention. Take care, and thanks, Susanna
Such an important topic to discuss and try to deal with. Very insightful of you to have focussed on something so "everyday", yet so rarely considered these days. You mention technology and the digital environment that are so "finally calibrated to attract, harvest and resell our attention" and lure us away from what is deeply important to us, whom we love and what we love. Plus there are the more than two unnatural years that have also distracted us and, also as Johann Hari says, that caused the "collective deterioration of our ability to focus" on what is important, to pay attention to things and people we love.
I love your description of "online hours slipping away like eggs off a frying pan!" I was also impressed when you mentioned the close relationship between our description of attention and money..."attention deficits", "pay attention". In addition, I think that our insomnia does play a significant role in our limited attention spans. And I heartily agree that we should "try like hell to get more sleep so that we are better able to choose what we pay attention to" and to stop giving our love away in all the wrong places."
Thank you for this phenomenal article! It's all truth. I noticed the lack of sustained attention resulting from constant interruptions during the day to perform varied job tasks. I'm retired now so there's been some improvement but the ability to channel surf hasn't helped the goal. But mindfulness, slowly but surely, has entered the pictures. And you nailed it about the kitchen table and the life that place around it, on it, and because of it. Thank you so much for sharing your talents!
I was diagnosed with adult ADD in 1996, long after I gave up on my dissertation and even longer after I'd turned away from the love of my life because I was distracted by something I thought was more important. There are so many more stories to tell.
This article moved me on several levels. I think the bottom line is that what we pay attention to is what offers the greatest or most immediate payoff. If we're goal-oriented, it might be something on the horizon or beyond. If we're not moved by goals, more likely it offers either a short-term benefit or enables us to avoid something undesirable. It takes a careful and refined awareness of oneself to see these kinds of things.
Thanks again for sharing a bit of yourself, a mirror we, your readers, can see ourselves in.
"It takes a careful and refined awareness of oneself to see these kinds of things." that's it. And because we're rushing, it's hard to see those things, and this week I kind of woke up to them. My kid was going back to college and I tried to count the hours I had with her that were meaningful and I was kind of shocked. The time goes so fast. And my whole family is a wild and fascinating study in shades of ADD... one of my siblings went to see the now disgraced Dr. Mel Levine. There's some evidence that Gen Z has a real challenge with this. There's this idea that we can multitask, look at many things at a time, texting, TV, schoolwork... not so true. The Ezra Klein podcast talks about this: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/11/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-johann-hari.html
I just listened to a different interview with Johann Hari yesterday, and I couldn't agree more! As a former teacher of teens with learning differences (and as an adult with attention issues myself), I can very much relate. I found Hari's comments about the current state of childhood (little unsupervised outdoor play) and public education (focus on meaningless testing vs. individually engaging inquiry) to be critical insights. My students were checking out at an alarming rate prior to the pandemic, literally unable to disengage from their devices. They were also extremely sleep-deprived because of their media consumption at home (usually gaming). I hear from my former colleagues that this is all exponentially worse after two years of off-and-on-again virtual learning. I don't know what the solution is, but the business models that focus on addicting children to social media would be an excellent place to start. Now I'm going to put my phone down and take a nap.
First of all, yes, ha re. 'put my phone down and take a nap.' And second you are so right, it's this endless circle, don't get enough sleep because of the devices, then the fact that they're sleep deprived makes them more susceptible to the charmes of the devices. I hope there's some action on this for that whole generation. They don't know a world without it.
Great piece Susanna! We were just talking about this at home after recently seeing Johann Hari on Bill Maher. I can relate to almost everything you wrote concerning the distraction of social media. As a musician, my time is best spend with my instrument, not with my smartphone. I probably don't need to tell you which of those is winning most of my attention these days. But I appreciate that I am not alone and what they say about the first step to making changes in yourself is recognizing that you have a problem. That sounds more dramatic than it is... after all it's not a chemical addiction, but important nonetheless. Congratulations on your new adventure, I always look forward to reading your pieces.
Aw, thanks Jeff. Yeah, it's the incremental drains on our attention, tiny little bits, and then you look around and realize it's been hours. Awareness... not everything but it is something. Thanks for reading , and for the insightful comment.
That was an interesting piece you wrote, and distraction and competition for one's time/attention. Guess I'd never really thought about it that way. Yes, I think most all of us (yes, me) are affected by this kind of thing. Maybe, for me personally, the distractions come largely from within my own thoughts, not so much (you think?) from the external media competition--well, partly anyway. I guess I'll need to think about this some more [another distraction??, ah, but "deep thoughts" aren't distraction, they're a good thing... right?], before I can make any more meaningful-insightful comments here! [Hey, in spite of many distractions, internal or external, I DO have meaningful conversations with friends, read good books that give me insight into life and people... I think I'm not TOO bad. Still a lot of time "wasted" (not used as productively as I ought to make it?)...
That's so good to hear Pete, you need to share your secrets. And one of the things in Hari's book is this idea that we need time to have 'wandering thoughts,' ie. time where you're not getting lots of information or other inputs and can mull and dream about what you've already got in your head. Thanks so much for writing.
It's always been good to read your columns & thoughts--new things to think about. My favorite (activity good for my thoughts?) is going hiking, and just taking my time, sitting down on top of the (hill/ridge/mountain/river or lake) and contemplating nature/the world/life/the past, present, or future). As I just got to do several times, the past couple weeks when I was in AZ & NM.
I’ve opened up some time recently by no longer playing the Words with Friends Solo Games. That was very addicting.
Even a little bit of extra time is meaningful. I'm trying to think of things to cut out because I can't seem to cut 'down.' ha.
I've read that the greatest gift we can give to another person is our time. Your gift to us was your time in writing your post. Thank you
Thank YOU Johnny! And yes, yes, yes, that is how I was feeling! Had a lovely conversation with my kid, a real in-depth look you in the eyes conversation and I thought, this needs to be my priority.
Usually, you columns are both interesting and informative. However , in your current "editorial". you've gone overboard in your rationale and conclusions on the subject you write about. Very disappointing, and not much value or insight! I realize not all is "great" or "upliftting ", but the whole tenor of your column is both disappointing and not of much value to those of us who believe you are really an insigtful and down to earth commentator i
Oh, I'm sorry this one didn't sit right, Bob. But I'm glad you commented! Good to know. I was a little feisty this week, it's been rough for a bunch of reasons. I was really just thinking about priorities, and about how precious it is to give and receive someone's undivided attention. Take care, and thanks, Susanna
Such an important topic to discuss and try to deal with. Very insightful of you to have focussed on something so "everyday", yet so rarely considered these days. You mention technology and the digital environment that are so "finally calibrated to attract, harvest and resell our attention" and lure us away from what is deeply important to us, whom we love and what we love. Plus there are the more than two unnatural years that have also distracted us and, also as Johann Hari says, that caused the "collective deterioration of our ability to focus" on what is important, to pay attention to things and people we love.
I love your description of "online hours slipping away like eggs off a frying pan!" I was also impressed when you mentioned the close relationship between our description of attention and money..."attention deficits", "pay attention". In addition, I think that our insomnia does play a significant role in our limited attention spans. And I heartily agree that we should "try like hell to get more sleep so that we are better able to choose what we pay attention to" and to stop giving our love away in all the wrong places."
As always, my heartfelt thanks and love, Wissie
Thanks so much for the kind words, Wissie. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep is the key. I guess awareness is a start. Right?
Thank you for this phenomenal article! It's all truth. I noticed the lack of sustained attention resulting from constant interruptions during the day to perform varied job tasks. I'm retired now so there's been some improvement but the ability to channel surf hasn't helped the goal. But mindfulness, slowly but surely, has entered the pictures. And you nailed it about the kitchen table and the life that place around it, on it, and because of it. Thank you so much for sharing your talents!
Hi Bonita, thanks so much for the kind words. I'm trying to get back to meditating myself, it's really a change that starts on the inside.
How does distraction affect your life?
I was diagnosed with adult ADD in 1996, long after I gave up on my dissertation and even longer after I'd turned away from the love of my life because I was distracted by something I thought was more important. There are so many more stories to tell.
This article moved me on several levels. I think the bottom line is that what we pay attention to is what offers the greatest or most immediate payoff. If we're goal-oriented, it might be something on the horizon or beyond. If we're not moved by goals, more likely it offers either a short-term benefit or enables us to avoid something undesirable. It takes a careful and refined awareness of oneself to see these kinds of things.
Thanks again for sharing a bit of yourself, a mirror we, your readers, can see ourselves in.
"It takes a careful and refined awareness of oneself to see these kinds of things." that's it. And because we're rushing, it's hard to see those things, and this week I kind of woke up to them. My kid was going back to college and I tried to count the hours I had with her that were meaningful and I was kind of shocked. The time goes so fast. And my whole family is a wild and fascinating study in shades of ADD... one of my siblings went to see the now disgraced Dr. Mel Levine. There's some evidence that Gen Z has a real challenge with this. There's this idea that we can multitask, look at many things at a time, texting, TV, schoolwork... not so true. The Ezra Klein podcast talks about this: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/11/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-johann-hari.html
p.s. thank you
This was the fantastic podcast that I heard, as well.
I'm sure we could talk for hours around this.
absolutely