And who "better" for our gnat-sized attention spans than the Donald--a "reality" television "personality" who is a master at manipulation. In an era when "liking" is paramount, who could possibly like himself more?
19
A few years ago I watched a reporter interviewing kids at a High School, about smartphones and how they're being used. There were three girls, about 14 or 15 yrs of age, leaning on the top of a chain link fence outside the school. They were all busy texting. When girl #1 was asked who she was messaging, she answered, without pause and without raising her head, by pointing one of her thumbs to girl#3, no more that three feet to her right.
A couple of weeks ago one of my Nephews came to visit with his 16 yr old daughter. During one of my conversations with her, person to person, she told me something that she thought I would find "really funny". During one of her Math classes, her teacher had asked her to answer a question. She didn't respond. She was bust texting, and the teacher was aware of this classroom "no-no". So, he asked her a second time, in a text message. That of course, got her attention and everyone in class thought it was "really funny", the teacher included!
There's a time and place for everything, something we're all told as kids. Smartphones, and other similar devices have no place in a place of learning. I do hope the schools are doing something about it. What will happen if a kid needs more than 8 seconds to tie their shoe? Scary.
A couple of weeks ago one of my Nephews came to visit with his 16 yr old daughter. During one of my conversations with her, person to person, she told me something that she thought I would find "really funny". During one of her Math classes, her teacher had asked her to answer a question. She didn't respond. She was bust texting, and the teacher was aware of this classroom "no-no". So, he asked her a second time, in a text message. That of course, got her attention and everyone in class thought it was "really funny", the teacher included!
There's a time and place for everything, something we're all told as kids. Smartphones, and other similar devices have no place in a place of learning. I do hope the schools are doing something about it. What will happen if a kid needs more than 8 seconds to tie their shoe? Scary.
20
I am a person with limited sight. When I had full vision I saw very little where I put my feet was a matter of habit. Now I am forced to pay attention as where I put my feet is crucial.
Electronics is supposed to open of your perceptions, but in fact often limits it. Try walking around with your eyes shut for awhile and see what you find out about paying attention.
Electronics is supposed to open of your perceptions, but in fact often limits it. Try walking around with your eyes shut for awhile and see what you find out about paying attention.
13
I retired from teaching in 2002. At times I would belly ache about some of my student’s limited attention spans. I would jokingly compare them to gnats.
This past week I watched two sixth graders struggling with a science project. They each had smart phones, tablets, and laptops spread out on the table. They were texting, and bouncing around listening through their ear buds to music. The poor tutor gave up and had to ask the parents to remove the electronic gadgets. One of the ladies, I assume the mother, didn’t stop talking on her phone as she yanked the ear buds from the kid.
From what I observed, a gnat’s attention span would be an improvement. I think we are doomed.
This past week I watched two sixth graders struggling with a science project. They each had smart phones, tablets, and laptops spread out on the table. They were texting, and bouncing around listening through their ear buds to music. The poor tutor gave up and had to ask the parents to remove the electronic gadgets. One of the ladies, I assume the mother, didn’t stop talking on her phone as she yanked the ear buds from the kid.
From what I observed, a gnat’s attention span would be an improvement. I think we are doomed.
29
"Working the ground, there’s no instant gratification."
Oh, but I must object. There is intense gratification (for this digital soul at least) in working the ground. Getting your hands and knees dirty, smelling the must of the earth, watching as water soaks into the ground, hearing the crunch of the trowel or spade as it splits the earth asunder; Now that is instant gratification of a kind that I will never, ever get from my smartphone.
Watching as the plant comes alive, grows and blooms is an immense bonus, but it does not detract from the original gratification.
Oh, but I must object. There is intense gratification (for this digital soul at least) in working the ground. Getting your hands and knees dirty, smelling the must of the earth, watching as water soaks into the ground, hearing the crunch of the trowel or spade as it splits the earth asunder; Now that is instant gratification of a kind that I will never, ever get from my smartphone.
Watching as the plant comes alive, grows and blooms is an immense bonus, but it does not detract from the original gratification.
21
I'm with Mr. Egan on the "deep reading," which I call "slow reading." There's nothing like an 800-page novel to slow the attention span. I just finished Thomas Mann's 3-volume Joseph series and enjoyed it immensely. On to Proust!
11
There is just more stuff out there competing for the same 24 hours that we all have. Social media is the life blood of many teenagers, competing with academics and sports. Sadly, academics is last among the three for far too many these days.
10
As a Canuck I take umbrage with Microsoft's findings. Until Tim mentioned the vile study I was absorbed.
30 seconds, Tim.
30 seconds, Tim.
5
When my son was 10 months old or so, I stopped outside of the drugstore in which we had run some errands to look towards the west and view an astonishing sunset. I pointed it out to him and talked about each color, and the cloud,s and saying good bye to another day. An old man heard and saw us. He tapped my shoulder to give me great advice: "keep spending the time to talk like that to your child, and you will raise a wonderful adult." A few years later, I pointed to a sunset visible form our balcony. My then 4 year old son gasped and said "these clouds are for the cloud museum mama," by which he meant they should be saved in our hearts forever. As a college kid, he on occasion sends me (on his smart phone!) pictures of beautiful sunsets from the beach near his campus. So the old man was right, no? One of the saddest sights I see today is parents with their young kids, not saying a word to them or looking them in the eye-- just doing heaven knows what on the smart phone. I don't think the outcome for those kids is so great.
42
You lost me at, "I'm going to the Mojave Desert." Stop by Pappy and Harriet's and if I am there, I'll buy you a beer.
Lovely column.
Lovely column.
9
ironically reading the very same book, and amazed at Churchill's foresight, diligence, courage, and persistence over many many lonely years. it makes me respect even more Obama's accomplishments. To nourish your sole and infuse some badly needed optimism, go see the large solar power plants in the Mojave just outside of Las Vegas, springing up as a reminder that as tough as things are, the seedlings of hope are there to amaze us. Joshua bar-Lev
11
A quote from a Brain Pickings' essay (great blog, btw) yesterday on Albert Camus and happiness: "The trance of productivity robs us of the very presence necessary for happiness".
17
Excellent article! Very funny too in parts.
4
And not just reduction in attention span, let's not leave out the incredible narcissism these gadgets have spawned. If not distracted by the all the chatter, then seeking out yet more selfie.
13
I still have a flip phone and blocked texts on it.
8
Does anyone really care if you "deep-read" a book made of paper instead of a book that's online? Technology is a tool, not a master.
Mr. Egan, could you explain the difference between "deep reading" and "reading', as in your sentence "The second is deep reading"? "Deep" is becoming what "power" used to be: a power walk, a power nap, a power breakfast; they lose nothing if you want to call them a deep walk, a deep nap, a deep breakfast. In fact, they lose nothing if you omit "deep" or "power" completely. Editor, we need a rewrite!
Mr. Egan, could you explain the difference between "deep reading" and "reading', as in your sentence "The second is deep reading"? "Deep" is becoming what "power" used to be: a power walk, a power nap, a power breakfast; they lose nothing if you want to call them a deep walk, a deep nap, a deep breakfast. In fact, they lose nothing if you omit "deep" or "power" completely. Editor, we need a rewrite!
4
Have heard that we will have shortage of linemen in the next 5 to 10 years. Some of the reasons they gave were young people do not want such a hard outdoor job esp in cold weather and they are banned from using their cell phones for safety reasons. You need to give the work your undivided attention.
11
I think I just understood why I find the last few years of Doctor Who so frustrating--I can never understand what is going on. The series is now being made for people with those 8-second attention spans and I'm still stuck back in the 12-second variety, therefore I'm endlessly and increasingly behind after the first 8 seconds of the show. What to do, what to do?
10
I am proud and happy to say I do not own a "smart phone, watch, music player" or, any other device I "must" pay attention to at all times. I do own a flip phone for emergencies. I have had it four years and can not remember the phone number for it.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I do have a computer for storage of my photographs that I use in a small card making business and emails...yes, I send emails even though I think the flip phone could do test messages. Who has time?
Does that make me a Troglodyte? I think not....even though I am older my memory is good because I rely on it to remember long term appointments, goals, and people. And when I can find someone to actually talk to I can follow a long and detailed conversation lasting more than eight seconds.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I do have a computer for storage of my photographs that I use in a small card making business and emails...yes, I send emails even though I think the flip phone could do test messages. Who has time?
Does that make me a Troglodyte? I think not....even though I am older my memory is good because I rely on it to remember long term appointments, goals, and people. And when I can find someone to actually talk to I can follow a long and detailed conversation lasting more than eight seconds.
9
Mr Egan,
You got our attention but now what?
You got our attention but now what?
3
I work is what is commonly known as the "entertainment industry" (I am by no means a big shot; simply a middle-class craftsman). I'm fortunate enough to work in a field where focus and immersion is required. I'm as slavish to my smartphone as the next guy, but this column reminds me of that one of the unforeseen pleasures of my chosen vocation is the privilege of immersing myself in my work for hours at a time without distraction. I get how this is an increasingly rare thing today. I don't fancy myself an advice-giver, but parents - do try to push your kids into creative careers. It might be a tougher go than making spreadsheets for a living, but they offer a respite from the media cacophony.
My wife and I have started reading physical books lately. I had complained to her not so long ago that I was not able to finish a book any more. A bunch of half-finished books took space on my tablet or phone. Since switching back to physical books, the problem is gone. There's something to be said for dead trees still.
My wife and I have started reading physical books lately. I had complained to her not so long ago that I was not able to finish a book any more. A bunch of half-finished books took space on my tablet or phone. Since switching back to physical books, the problem is gone. There's something to be said for dead trees still.
19
I guess I am behind the times --- and in this case, grateful to be so. Performing classical music is what I do, and sustained attention is not only required, it is indispensable. And it must be practiced, like everything else. So I spend anywhere from two to five hours a day focusing.
17
What you write Mr. Egan is sadly true. Being able to pay attention is becoming a lost skill.
I retired a few years ago as a clinical psychologist and used to wince every I heard attention deficit disorder described as a disease. How can that be I often though and spoke openly too others--it is the condition of the vast majority of human beings I know (at least in America) Even though until recently I gardened and am a huge reader, and a longtime meditator, I know maintaining my attention is more difficult. As I write this, there is National Public Radio on in another room, a house being built down the hill, two dachshunds sitting near me, and my wife standing at the door urging me to go to dinner. But I want to finish this note and it seems I am going to be successful, but so much was competing for my attention, and that is the state most of us find ourselves in constantly. But whereas I consciously shut down the inputs into my consciousness regularly most people cannot let go at all. But for me, leaving the cell phone on the table, the TV off, the computer off, sitting in my meditation room or someplace that is a little removed from stimulation. It is a matter of choice and it feels like a matter of survival. Not literally at this point, but the survival of the deepest richest aspect of my conscious experience.
I retired a few years ago as a clinical psychologist and used to wince every I heard attention deficit disorder described as a disease. How can that be I often though and spoke openly too others--it is the condition of the vast majority of human beings I know (at least in America) Even though until recently I gardened and am a huge reader, and a longtime meditator, I know maintaining my attention is more difficult. As I write this, there is National Public Radio on in another room, a house being built down the hill, two dachshunds sitting near me, and my wife standing at the door urging me to go to dinner. But I want to finish this note and it seems I am going to be successful, but so much was competing for my attention, and that is the state most of us find ourselves in constantly. But whereas I consciously shut down the inputs into my consciousness regularly most people cannot let go at all. But for me, leaving the cell phone on the table, the TV off, the computer off, sitting in my meditation room or someplace that is a little removed from stimulation. It is a matter of choice and it feels like a matter of survival. Not literally at this point, but the survival of the deepest richest aspect of my conscious experience.
13
Attention span? Apparently many of us cannot stand to be alone with our own thoughts, let alone pay attention to them. A 2014 study at UVA highlights our obsessive need to distract ourselves. "What is striking," the investigators write, "is that simply being alone with their own thoughts for 15 minutes was apparently so aversive that it drove many participants to self-administer an electric shock that they had earlier said they would pay to avoid."
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-07/uov-dsi063014.php
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-07/uov-dsi063014.php
11
that explains why people watch professional wrestling too
3
Though an early adopter (online since 94), I have always been reluctant to adopt technologies that take me away from what's important. I still don't have call waiting (or caller ID) or a smartphone.
Years ago, when friends started putting me on hold for "just a minute" while they answered another call, and even my mother did that at the height of a heart-to-heart talk, I decided I didn't want to become one of the rude. Then a friend who tried to reach me when I was talking on the phone, found ME rude for not having call waiting so he could get to me. And it goes on.
Now, I take my life in my hands every time I cross the street, where everyone is impatient, rolling through stop signs, cruising through lights and about 2 out of 3 on some gadget or other, attention elsewhere.
Discussion with most people online is so limited. Most people can no longer follow anything longer than the few sentences they can see in their phone screen. So conversations and argument are circumscribed without access to any context. People no longer even look to see what a pronoun referenced.
I'm lucky that I'm retired so no need for a smartphone, but it's becoming more difficult to get a cab or a job without one. And friendships suffer, alas. And all this because I try not to be rude...
Years ago, when friends started putting me on hold for "just a minute" while they answered another call, and even my mother did that at the height of a heart-to-heart talk, I decided I didn't want to become one of the rude. Then a friend who tried to reach me when I was talking on the phone, found ME rude for not having call waiting so he could get to me. And it goes on.
Now, I take my life in my hands every time I cross the street, where everyone is impatient, rolling through stop signs, cruising through lights and about 2 out of 3 on some gadget or other, attention elsewhere.
Discussion with most people online is so limited. Most people can no longer follow anything longer than the few sentences they can see in their phone screen. So conversations and argument are circumscribed without access to any context. People no longer even look to see what a pronoun referenced.
I'm lucky that I'm retired so no need for a smartphone, but it's becoming more difficult to get a cab or a job without one. And friendships suffer, alas. And all this because I try not to be rude...
27
One other interesting activity for fostering attention and focus is horseback riding. My daughter rides therapeutically, has done for a number of years. I have seen seriously ADHD children get on a horse and learn to focus on the communication and bond between horse and rider. It's magical to watch. Also interesting is that many of the kids choose to spend free time working around the stables doing heavy physical work which requires them to be off their many devices. They do go back to them, but the time they spend on task and interacting with animals and other people promotes attention and being mindfully in the moment in amazing ways.
5
I was the uncool mom. I did not get a computer until I found out important communications and events were missed. My kids were embarrassed when I used to send written notes to their teachers instead of using email. Bills were late because I did not know how to pay online. Suffice to say, my kids were very, very embarrassed and I started to feeling archaic. Finally it reached critical mass and I succumbed to the thrill with the side-effect of lost attention span. I just got an iphone ( I had a dumb phone until 3 months ago! ). I'm still getting used to the touch screen. I never seem to touch the right keys and I go onto screens that I have no idea of. At the airport, waiting for my plane everyone is poring over a screen, even a three year old! Everybody seems so intent and busy, I almost feel guilty I have the free time to stare into space and look at people who are so straddled with can't wait information or message. By the way, what is an emoji?
17
Bills were late and you couldn't communicate with your kids' teachers, and you sound very proud of this. I tire of this sort of reverse anti-tech snobbery ...
3
Other suggested antidotes:
Gibbon's Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, Physics with Calculus Volumes I and II by Halliday and Resnick, and any novel by Tolstoy.
Gibbon's Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, Physics with Calculus Volumes I and II by Halliday and Resnick, and any novel by Tolstoy.
4
Good practice for meditative calm: Sit at one of the many 20-minute-long* traffic lights in Henderson/Las Vegas, NV, and leave the radio off. I've become as lugubrious as Treebeard in no time, just sitting there.
* It just feels that long . . . but isn't that the same thing?
* It just feels that long . . . but isn't that the same thing?
7
Timothy, you and I are blessed by living in the Seattle area, a continuing bastion of real physical books, and believe it or not, use of film cameras!
Our "Half-Price" bookstores are a treasure, and there are quite a few traditional bookstores, where the salespeople actually read books, and can supply meaningful suggestions.
Our "Half-Price" bookstores are a treasure, and there are quite a few traditional bookstores, where the salespeople actually read books, and can supply meaningful suggestions.
14
Wow. What a bold and cutting column.
This part jumps out at me: "You see it in the press, the obsession with mindless listicles that have all the staying power of a Popsicle. You see it in our politics, with fear-mongering slogans replacing anything that requires sustained thought. And the collapse of a fact-based democracy [...]"
That's the fundamental problem in our discourse today: vapidity. No one sits around to read essays anymore. It's all about status updates.
To be sure, I'm in the so-called Millennial generation. That doesn't mean I agree with the values my generation peddles.
I, for one, am more than ready to see thoughtfulness rebound.
This part jumps out at me: "You see it in the press, the obsession with mindless listicles that have all the staying power of a Popsicle. You see it in our politics, with fear-mongering slogans replacing anything that requires sustained thought. And the collapse of a fact-based democracy [...]"
That's the fundamental problem in our discourse today: vapidity. No one sits around to read essays anymore. It's all about status updates.
To be sure, I'm in the so-called Millennial generation. That doesn't mean I agree with the values my generation peddles.
I, for one, am more than ready to see thoughtfulness rebound.
28
To have thoughtfulness rebound, you have to have spare time to think.
However, the entire basis of 'efficiency assessments' is to eliminate that spare time, since it is considered wasteful.
There in a nutshell lies our problem: To be creative, our brains need time to wander. To be "efficient", we are told that we must not let our brains wander. By keeping our attention span at 8 seconds or less, we prevent ourselves from being accused of being inefficient.
There are days when I am wonderfully inefficient. Those are the days when I get the most done.
However, the entire basis of 'efficiency assessments' is to eliminate that spare time, since it is considered wasteful.
There in a nutshell lies our problem: To be creative, our brains need time to wander. To be "efficient", we are told that we must not let our brains wander. By keeping our attention span at 8 seconds or less, we prevent ourselves from being accused of being inefficient.
There are days when I am wonderfully inefficient. Those are the days when I get the most done.
25
If it takes you more than 8 seconds to read the headline, you've more than attention deficit issues.
6
Great column--right on the money!
And your observation (below) really hits home:
"I can no longer wait in a grocery store line, or linger for a traffic light, or even pause long enough to let a bagel pop from the toaster, without reflexively reaching for my smartphone."
And your observation (below) really hits home:
"I can no longer wait in a grocery store line, or linger for a traffic light, or even pause long enough to let a bagel pop from the toaster, without reflexively reaching for my smartphone."
4
All is not lost, we are readers of the New York Times. Whole columns are ingested, as well as the occasional investigative piece.
10
I cannot help but wonder if the dwindling attention span is spurred, in part, by the broadcast media, which seems to increasingly switch from programmed material to a seemingly endless stream of commercials.
Leo Toribio
Pittsburgh, PA
Leo Toribio
Pittsburgh, PA
7
Maybe I'm lucky I don't have that many friends.
7
no one does
they just pretend they do
they just pretend they do
6
If the author had supplied a physical address, a relaxing moment might be spent by readers sitting in a coffee shop and writing a postcard with the comment.
Coffee shop and letter writing by hand go together.
Writing is a winter version of gardening, also requiring lots of weeding, pruning, transplanting and deadheading.
Coffee shop and letter writing by hand go together.
Writing is a winter version of gardening, also requiring lots of weeding, pruning, transplanting and deadheading.
11
Sorry, what'd you say? I tried but didn't really have time to read this. Seems a wonderful essay though...
2
I think you miss a big point - most of the stuff that flies across your screen isn't worth even 8 seconds of your time. But it's there if you let it be.
The real, serious problem with the internet is that just about anybody can post just about anything, and in the process the quality of "information" is seriously degraded. It's easier to believe that Obama is a foreign-born Muslim if you see a lot of people saying it. Unless you're an "elitist," you can be swayed.
Before the internet, when you heard stuff like that from crazy cousin George, you would dismiss it with "that's George. He's crazy."
Now the noise drowns out the facts.
The real, serious problem with the internet is that just about anybody can post just about anything, and in the process the quality of "information" is seriously degraded. It's easier to believe that Obama is a foreign-born Muslim if you see a lot of people saying it. Unless you're an "elitist," you can be swayed.
Before the internet, when you heard stuff like that from crazy cousin George, you would dismiss it with "that's George. He's crazy."
Now the noise drowns out the facts.
15
Findings by the National Endowment for the Arts and other authoritative sources show that Americans are spending less time reading, reading comprehension skills are eroding, and these declines have serious civic, social, cultural, and economic implications. At least as serious and detrimental to society are the consequences of negative trends in writing. Influences erosive of the opportunity and need for Americans to write have been around for many decades. Students here, at any grade level, have been asked to write much less than their counterparts in Western Europe and elsewhere. The introduction of multiple-choice-testing contributed hugely to text-writing avoidance. The advent of electronic mailing has had even more deleterious consequences, allowing senders to essentially ignore syntax, grammar and spelling with impunity. Pervasive resort to sound bites in speaking with one-another inescapably transitions into codes and other shortcuts in writing. We still have some of the greatest writers in the world but they have always been a tiny minority. The negative trends in both reading and writing must be urgently reversed. Initiatives in our schools, at all levels, are crucial to the speed and scope of this reversal.
6
When the first phones came out people said "whadda ya need a phone for? Nobody's gonna visit any more." Then we got cell phones and people complained "why d'ya need to need to be in touch that often? Who has that much to say?" Then we got email and text and cameras and snap chat and on and on.
I dunno but I kinda like it this way. I can watch youtube or play solitaire for hours. No 8 seconds for me!!
I dunno but I kinda like it this way. I can watch youtube or play solitaire for hours. No 8 seconds for me!!
Here's one more comment. I will never subscribe to social media. So don't look for my comments on Twitter or any place else.
Just received an email form someone who uses the photo posting media. Does she really believe anyone will be that interested in a hundreds of photos?
Just received an email form someone who uses the photo posting media. Does she really believe anyone will be that interested in a hundreds of photos?
3
Bravo. Could not agree more.
2
I come from the last generation of women who learned needlework as a matter of course. If I am crocheting and the house explodes, I'll run outside...as soon as I finish this row...
8
One of my favorite summer jobs working through college was being a BLM fire lookout on the range land of southern Idaho. I read War and Peace, a long treatise on the samurai warrior, and re-read many of my textbooks, this time for pleasure, including Voltaire's Candide. "Il faut cultive notre jardin", it ends, we must go cultivate our garden.
4
You have found the Pacific Northwest's sanity. Gardening keeps me out of my head; and reading is soothing. Reading Wulf's book on Alexander von Humboldt truly puts things in perspective. No 8 second attention span there.
1
I skimmed your article and it looks to be spot on.
3
Having been ADD for 65 years I could only think. Eight seconds without a thousand new thoughts scurrying across my mind. What a party.
I love gardening and have already designed close to three thousand gardens for myself for this spring. I have spent many years living on the Arctic tundra and even there the thoughts never stop coming. The only respite in the Mojaves is the sounds I hear are in the hundreds not the thousands.
I love gardening and have already designed close to three thousand gardens for myself for this spring. I have spent many years living on the Arctic tundra and even there the thoughts never stop coming. The only respite in the Mojaves is the sounds I hear are in the hundreds not the thousands.
1
I don't own a smartphone. Never will.
I'm on holiday in South Africa now and a little internet access at the end of the day is more than enough. But the same is true when I'm home in the states as well.
Just say no to your curiously named "smartphone". It's amazing how quickly your life will become simpler (AND less expensive).
I'm on holiday in South Africa now and a little internet access at the end of the day is more than enough. But the same is true when I'm home in the states as well.
Just say no to your curiously named "smartphone". It's amazing how quickly your life will become simpler (AND less expensive).
8
Another solution. Don't buy a smart phone, learn to use twitter or facebook. A desk top computer requires that you search it out and take the time to use it. Its becoming the equivalent of the dusty old well used book.
5
At one company, a report was distributed that, it seemed, I was the only one to read in full. On page 65 or whichever, I lost the thread. I asked around whether anyone else could follow the logic. No one could, but each was reading it for his own purpose, according to its bearing on his job, so this portion didn’t affect anyone but me. Now, unfortunately, in any hierarchy, you can’t really say, I don’t understand, sir, because your job is to understand and to take orders—it’s not put that way, but that’s what you’re doing—so the response will be, What do you mean you don’t understand? Is there something wrong with you?, or at best, What don’t you understand?! After much thought, I decided to send an e-mail and use this medium to make my question vague enough so that I could choose how to account for myself after I knew his reaction. So I seized on a syntactical disagreement to suggest that there were some words missing. Yeah! About three and a half pages! He was angry with me for not understanding this obvious problem, but later grateful that I had noticed. Unfortunately, it made everyone else look foolish, and got the person in charge of assembling the report in trouble. (Nothing good happens to anyone in an office without it being bad for someone else.)
4
What? Can you repeat that?
3
So the mind is about to become obsolete. Only tweets. Of consequence or not. The Haiku as tome. Digital life without deep thought or complex content. Junk text.
2
You want a perfect metaphor with the idiocy and uselessness of these devices. I was just writing this comment (a long one) and this internet broke off and here I am doing this again. In my half century + 10 years on earth I have never seen a more meaningless and horrible invention than the cell smart phone. But I have to admit- it is not the young people who are the worst with these devices- it is the old people who violate the basic decency of civility by using these things. I never have to ask a young person to put out their lights in the movies- it is always old people who seem dazed and transfixed as they stare at their screens like zombies as the movie starts. I guess dopamine and old people don't mix!!!!
5
I kept thinking about the ubiquitous cell phone camera which replaced the digital camera and made everything that happened to one or around one -- worthy of a photo.
Try going through life -- a vacation, etc without photographing it and instead just looking at it and making a "mind" memory. Worst vacations in the world are the ones seen through a camera lens but not experienced by the human eye and brain without that camera lens "filter" in between.
Try going through life -- a vacation, etc without photographing it and instead just looking at it and making a "mind" memory. Worst vacations in the world are the ones seen through a camera lens but not experienced by the human eye and brain without that camera lens "filter" in between.
7
I work in tech and have always thought the next wave will be people unplugging more. It seems infinitely hipper to read a paper book, walk with no iPhone plugged in or going to see art or performance instead of cat videos on YouTube. I'm with ya on the reading. I've discovered it forces me to slow down and while I'm not up to a Churchillian biography, read actual books (gasp).
7
Thank you for this. I always look for Mr. Egan's byline and I'm never disappointed.
I'm inspired to spend the next three days here in D.C. reading about gardening.
I'm inspired to spend the next three days here in D.C. reading about gardening.
5
Yes!!! I absolutely agree with you on gardening and deep reading! Page Smith's 8 volumes of American History are a real treat!!!! On the other hand, the 8 seconds is very useful for skimming to decide whether an online article is worth reading. Next, I absolutely refuse to get a "smart" phone because I loathe being interrupted. I use one that is unlisted and which basically only makes phone calls or sends texts. Old fashioned email, carefully pre-sorted in my own custom categories, is marvelous. Finally, on my Google account I disable ads tailored to what they think I am interested in, because yet another silver car is easy *not* to see, but something on gardening or photography might catch my attention.
Been diligently perusing all of the fine comments of every stripe on a most fine essay, honest self-reckonings ( maybe some not so honest) about time frittered away ( or not) on our present day's technical devices. Inspiring.
I settled back letting all of this percolate to the necessary parts; then. of a sudden, I set bolt up glanced at my timepiece and realized---hey---in all this time ruminating on the subject I could have made and scarfed down a banana split. With cherries on top.
I settled back letting all of this percolate to the necessary parts; then. of a sudden, I set bolt up glanced at my timepiece and realized---hey---in all this time ruminating on the subject I could have made and scarfed down a banana split. With cherries on top.
1
I enjoyed the column. I actually did research on electronic media use and attention for my dissertation. Depending on how you measure it (I used various self-report questionnaires and computer performance tasks) there are some correlations between electronic media use (TV, video game playing, texting, and media multitasking) and having more attention problems. To be fair, though, the links were in the small-to-moderate range (rs and betas from .10 to .20), so people are probably overestimating the size of the effect (if it is indeed a causal effect, though I suspect it is).
We don't have much good data on things that could improve attention spans. I agree with Egan that gardening and reading are plausibly helpful. My own data on reading wasn't especially encouraging, but that was a college student sample and I didn't really break down "reading" in depth so maybe with better questions or in another population, that would show a positive effect. There's some promising evidence regarding mindfulness meditation and attention span. Those interested in improving their attention span might want to consider that.
We don't have much good data on things that could improve attention spans. I agree with Egan that gardening and reading are plausibly helpful. My own data on reading wasn't especially encouraging, but that was a college student sample and I didn't really break down "reading" in depth so maybe with better questions or in another population, that would show a positive effect. There's some promising evidence regarding mindfulness meditation and attention span. Those interested in improving their attention span might want to consider that.
2
I disagree that books are coming back. As someone who reads a great deal and even collects rare books, I see only decline. Even the "libraries" in the fancy shelter mags have few actual books or only walls of decorative, color coordinated bindings on books likely never removed from where the decorator placed them. I'm writing from a big medical meeting. The book displays, which used to occupy an entire area, are now reduced to two very small tables with almost no lookers. Book stores everywhere have closed or become cafes or places for homeless to find respite. No, I don't see books coming back at all. Alas!
2
th renaissance is over, a new dark age is beginning
well, you didnt expect it to last forever, did you
well, you didnt expect it to last forever, did you
3
Anything by or about Sarah Palin is big my local library. So there.
I suggest learning the basics of guitar.
However, that takes interest, patience, dedication, self-discipline and perseverance.
My cell phone co. is pressing me to buy a smartphone. A couple of years ago I stepped into an Apple store to inquire about a problem with my iPod. I happened to get out my "clam shell" phone. An associate announced to the universe, "You've got an old phone." I responded that it very well did all I wanted it to do, that I was quite satisfied with it. Call me uncool.
However, that takes interest, patience, dedication, self-discipline and perseverance.
My cell phone co. is pressing me to buy a smartphone. A couple of years ago I stepped into an Apple store to inquire about a problem with my iPod. I happened to get out my "clam shell" phone. An associate announced to the universe, "You've got an old phone." I responded that it very well did all I wanted it to do, that I was quite satisfied with it. Call me uncool.
5
it's a flip phone. Jeez.
2
I am a researcher. I can easily become so involved in a search that I forget to eat, my coffee goes cold, and it's suddenly 5AM. I have a mobile phone, but it is a dumb phone - no pictures, no text, just a voice on the other end - more a means of emergency contact than constant communication. My research is facilitated by technology, and would be much more difficult without technology, but it still would be possible. I am also a reader, primarily of non-fiction, and still prefer turning pages to tapping screens. I have the same problem with reading as I do with research - how can it possibly be 5AM? I talk to people everywhere, about anything and everything. Your attention span is what you make of it.
12
Jean Boling: Me, too. Thanks for saying all that so precisely.
2
Cognitive psychologists tell us that attention is the holy grail of the mind. Retailers, children, your iphone (how many different rings do you have for texts, emails and calls?) all vie for our attention, to knock off whatever it is that our ind is focused on and claim that turf for a fleeting moment. Prof Cunningham (UVa) tells us that humans are curious, but that curiousity is fleeting. We quickly lose interest in somethign that is too difficult or demands too much concentration. THis is the real problem of education; no amount of money can replace student effort, which requires student attention. It is an important problem in income inequality.....higher paying jobs demand discipline and dedicated attention to details. The proverbial "monkey mind" does not cut it where premiums go to knowledge workers. The enlightenment came about from careful methodical observation and thinking--the rise of science, which pushed back against the darkness of emotions..fear, impulses and superstitution. But now rather than train our minds and those of our children to carry on that tradition of coherent thought, we, our government and our businesses instead dig up the bones of impulsivity and the superficial...skin color, identity politics, to exploit for those ancient emotions. Mass media is the great enabler of all of this. For all the greatness of the idea of a free press, most of the garbage produced by media and news organizations fail miserably in fulfiling that ideal.
7
Thanks for the "attention span" reflection, TE. Provides plenty for pondering.
Although I am an old guy, I really appreciate the technology that we now have. Nevertheless, I prefer to read books and periodicals the old-fashioned way. But the new technology allows my wife and I to stay close to our children and our 10 grandchildren that love texting and 'emojis."
However, I have a deal (an antidote to the attention span issue) with my grandchildren that encourages them to drop the texting for a while and engage in writing prose, using complete sentences for communicating ideas. The deal is this: If the grandchildren write me a story about any subject, they will receive financial remuneration from grandpa. I require them to pay attention to coherence, grammar and punctuation. This has proven to be very popular with them and provided me with some entertaining stories -- no, I am not going broke, at least not yet.
Although I am an old guy, I really appreciate the technology that we now have. Nevertheless, I prefer to read books and periodicals the old-fashioned way. But the new technology allows my wife and I to stay close to our children and our 10 grandchildren that love texting and 'emojis."
However, I have a deal (an antidote to the attention span issue) with my grandchildren that encourages them to drop the texting for a while and engage in writing prose, using complete sentences for communicating ideas. The deal is this: If the grandchildren write me a story about any subject, they will receive financial remuneration from grandpa. I require them to pay attention to coherence, grammar and punctuation. This has proven to be very popular with them and provided me with some entertaining stories -- no, I am not going broke, at least not yet.
3
For many of us that are over 50, not in the media as Mr. Egan is, and old school literate, not being tied to a screen is not a problem. I feel very sorry for those who are, because they are missing moments that are far more interesting and fun than emojis (I wonder about Egan's friend's return to hieroglyphics -- didn't humans invent words for a reason? maybe not -- it seems like a kind of dementia), listicles and falsehoods debated by buffoons, not to mention the endless gaming. Screeners, I feel compassion for your square, rectangular digitized and "marginalized life. May your tombstone be writ with emojis.
7
Golf is a great diversion. People say that enthusiasm for the game is dying, and players are leaving in droves mainly because of the time commitment. But 4.5-5 hours outside, walking around (please no carts!!), concentrating, keeping score, trying to hit a little white ball successfully in the face of a 1000 variables is great for the mind and body.
8
Mr Egan,
Do not despair of expanding your awareness. We all have sth. that seizes our attention for long spells. It can be truly worthwhile or so much trash to feed some warped hunger.
Even so, exceptions that compel our wholesome attention combine with beckoning trash and triviality, to enlarge sheer competition for our attention.
Much that is channeled our way is EITHER too compelling OR too ready to sample and therefore hard to resist. The solution looks like we need to develop keener judgment of what is really worthwhile and what are cheap snares.
After biting on so many hooks, it grew clear that seemingly interesting items I followed up on were too often either trivial tho' interesting or just plumb uninteresting deceptions.
For now, I try to widen my attention span from 0.5 seconds.
Often I find what seized my att
My attention-span must be down to 0.5 seconds
Do not despair of expanding your awareness. We all have sth. that seizes our attention for long spells. It can be truly worthwhile or so much trash to feed some warped hunger.
Even so, exceptions that compel our wholesome attention combine with beckoning trash and triviality, to enlarge sheer competition for our attention.
Much that is channeled our way is EITHER too compelling OR too ready to sample and therefore hard to resist. The solution looks like we need to develop keener judgment of what is really worthwhile and what are cheap snares.
After biting on so many hooks, it grew clear that seemingly interesting items I followed up on were too often either trivial tho' interesting or just plumb uninteresting deceptions.
For now, I try to widen my attention span from 0.5 seconds.
Often I find what seized my att
My attention-span must be down to 0.5 seconds
2
8 second attention spans for TV/Web advertisements is about all those abominations are worth, perhaps less. Same for opinion bloviators - Right or Left, but more typically Right. Some of us still value fact based thinking and are content to keep our attention span metrics to ourselves outside the reach of self appointed, industry beholden, so called experts.
2
I like the idea of reading the New Yorker. (Skip the cartoons? No way - each one takes less than 8 seconds to look at.) But I have a pile of them completely unread. The same goes for Harper's, Foreign Affairs, and even the Economist to some extent. What draws me to these particular magazines is the same thing that creates tall stacks of unread periodicals: long, thoughtful articles. It's easier to flip through my Sports Illustrated and Time because the articles are easy to glance over or not at all. The whole magazine probably requires 20 minutes at the most.
My antidote (at least the one I adopted yesterday) is to not get hung up on reading every word or even every paragraph of one of these articles. I read the recent Harper's article on bed rest last night while watching a movie (an older one that plodded much more deliberately than current movies), in much less time than normal - because I allowed myself to scan some of the details while still getting 80% of the story. Otherwise I probably never would have read anything more than the first couple of paragraphs.
I was quite surprised at how liberating this experience was. I read all the way through a serious article in a single sitting. This motivated me to continue with the same approach for several other articles last night.
Now I have hope that I can actually absorb this material without the piles that my wife absolutely adores, all while addressing this dwindling attention span endemic to our culture.
My antidote (at least the one I adopted yesterday) is to not get hung up on reading every word or even every paragraph of one of these articles. I read the recent Harper's article on bed rest last night while watching a movie (an older one that plodded much more deliberately than current movies), in much less time than normal - because I allowed myself to scan some of the details while still getting 80% of the story. Otherwise I probably never would have read anything more than the first couple of paragraphs.
I was quite surprised at how liberating this experience was. I read all the way through a serious article in a single sitting. This motivated me to continue with the same approach for several other articles last night.
Now I have hope that I can actually absorb this material without the piles that my wife absolutely adores, all while addressing this dwindling attention span endemic to our culture.
1
They also said technology would make obsolete the fax machine, copy machine and file cabinets.
Technology has actually doubled the work load. Once for the job at hand and again to support the technology.
The so called Millennial Generation is so, like, doomed.
Technology has actually doubled the work load. Once for the job at hand and again to support the technology.
The so called Millennial Generation is so, like, doomed.
7
Irony alert? I'll say. I note while reading this fine Egan essay online that it too comes with distractions. On the left an ad for Brooklyn (Oh, it's up for an Academy award! No, wait, now it's an ad for The Martian), on the right is an underwear ad which morphs to a Nissan ad, oh and there's a list of recent Egan articles (Did I read that one?) Not to mention the animated ad dancing across the top of the "page." God forbid I inadvertently click on that.
I can get rid of most of this by switching to Reader View, or waiting for the Sunday print version, but of course I have become too impatient to do so. Like many who have commented I am a reader, a gardener, a walker in the woods; yet I am inexorably drawn to all of these distractions. If it's there I will see it, I will look. What is it like for those who have never known anything else but a fractured consciousness?
I can get rid of most of this by switching to Reader View, or waiting for the Sunday print version, but of course I have become too impatient to do so. Like many who have commented I am a reader, a gardener, a walker in the woods; yet I am inexorably drawn to all of these distractions. If it's there I will see it, I will look. What is it like for those who have never known anything else but a fractured consciousness?
1
My ad is telling me that the internet thinks I am rich enough to be making bids on Old Master paintings at Sotheby's.
2
The whole world has become a Cliffs notes mecca. Tell me whatever it is you want to impart in seconds, because that's all the time my interest can be sustained. Palin is the cover girl of the eight second attention span. As an adjunct professor I have seriously been toying with the idea of paying my students to not use their cell phones during lectures. Of course they issue the classical rebuttal: Multitasking is good.
2
You've Got Me!
I only read about half of the comments; so, if I'm repeating, I apologize.
First, I agree with Timothy Egan (as usual) 100%.
I also appreciate that Bob Laughlin added fishing. Right on.
I would also like to add woodworking and sewing (very broadly defined). And if anyone has ever been obsessed with remodeling (and especially working for friends and neighbors) they will know how easy it is to leave those electronic devices in the glove compartment ... although being interrupted with the offer of a nice cold beer is hard to beat.
I only read about half of the comments; so, if I'm repeating, I apologize.
First, I agree with Timothy Egan (as usual) 100%.
I also appreciate that Bob Laughlin added fishing. Right on.
I would also like to add woodworking and sewing (very broadly defined). And if anyone has ever been obsessed with remodeling (and especially working for friends and neighbors) they will know how easy it is to leave those electronic devices in the glove compartment ... although being interrupted with the offer of a nice cold beer is hard to beat.
7
The first line compelled me to Google to check out Mojave Desert recreational possibilities, which sent me to the NWS to see if El Nino might affect the medium term weather there, which reminded me that East Coast expecting blizzard, checking update.
10
Verrrrry funny!
1
I realized sometime ago that something had happened to me. I was becoming more impatient. Waiting at a traffic signal became onerous. My cell phone kept signalling me that there was some kind of message waiting. What was it? How important was it? I just had to look at it to find out. Then one day I woke up and relegated my phone to plain old-fashioned telephone functions. I turned it off whenever I was in a meeting, whether social or business. Most of the messages I was missing were non-important things.
The other thing was that was we lose personal contact when we use cell phones. While it's convenient, it is impersonal. Friends say they lose contact with their grandchildren if they don't text. I don't believe it. They actually have lost personal contact with those grandchildren and told the grandchildren subtly that their contacts are second to whatever else there is.
I do use my cell phone full capabilities when I am on a trip, away from my computer. I am grateful for the security of being able to call (assuming I am in the area covered by my cell phone plan) to get help, if necessary.
Put it away. Learn mindfulness. Look around and see all the beauty you are missing. Talk with someone new in the grocery store and learn something.
The other thing was that was we lose personal contact when we use cell phones. While it's convenient, it is impersonal. Friends say they lose contact with their grandchildren if they don't text. I don't believe it. They actually have lost personal contact with those grandchildren and told the grandchildren subtly that their contacts are second to whatever else there is.
I do use my cell phone full capabilities when I am on a trip, away from my computer. I am grateful for the security of being able to call (assuming I am in the area covered by my cell phone plan) to get help, if necessary.
Put it away. Learn mindfulness. Look around and see all the beauty you are missing. Talk with someone new in the grocery store and learn something.
66
I have found that taking the time to talk to not just someone new but friend or neighbor or someone you just recognize in your community is my daily routine in asserting my basic humanity. Once you do this it is surprising the length and depth of conversations that ensue and the topics discussed. Your attention focused for many minutes, not just seconds.
3
Because I read several books (on paper!) a week, I think my attention span is more than 8 seconds. I don't have a TV, Smartphone, or iPad; I don't use any type of social media. Any phone calls to me go directly to voice mail, which is very liberating. I read all the news that's fit to print on my laptop. I have a few hobbies & meditate, too. I pity people who are so addicted to the internet & social media that they can't go for longer than a few minutes or even eat a meal without checking for messages, etc. How do they enjoy a beautiful day, flowers in bloom, smiling at people, or just being? Very sad.
10
Loved the column and I even read the whole thing, which I think did take me more than 8 seconds! While waiting in line the other day at Costco, I refused to take out my smart phone (that took effort) but instead chatted with the person in line next to me. I told him the great thing about Costco is learning the virtue of patience!
1
The best things in life are free; 0% down, no dollars a month, with unlimited data and resolution.
1
I gave up on Downton because it had turned into a crisis carousel, with each character getting maybe a minute of screen time to keep the viewer invested in their story before roaring on to the next person and the next problem. Compare that to the original Upstairs Downstairs or, best of all, the original Forsythe Saga from 45 years ago.
7
I went into a supermarket yesterday, and the checkout clerk told me about a movie or show he said I "just have" to see, "Thirteen Floors," or some such thing. Said it had a lot of gore, but that it is great. "Gore, eh?", I said. "Oh yeah!", he said. "You're crazy if you don't see it!" I replied, "Well, I've been known to occasionally get a little crazy."
The greatest test of my ability to concentrate was about 37 years ago while working the awards table at a swim meet. I had to take the printed out list of award winners for each race, and write the name and time of the winner on the sticker on the back of the envelope in which the medal was held. All this while surrounded by dozens of 8-12 yr old children clamoring at me to see if their award was ready! I just kept writing and at the end of the awards for that event, I'd call the names and hand out the reward. I learned to totally tune out the sound of those excited little voices.
2
Reminds me fondly of many a Cub Scout pack meeting.
I wonder if the vinyl revival also signals that we're a little weary of the toll of constant attention swerves. Listening to an album as the artist intended (well, at least the ones not relying on hit-generating software and song merchants) is restorative and exciting, all at once. A retreat from Spotify and Pandora to an era where you'd actually put everything aside just to listen to a new LP.
8
I'm convinced: No smartphone for me. Our annual bike tour is a 3-month fast from media - I typically check and send email at most twice per week. I relish being away from the news, even though I like being "informed" and follow the news (PBS, NYT, NPR) faithfully the rest of the year. We were astounded (appalled) to emerge last year and hear how much attention Donald Trump was getting.... We usually miss at least one congressional budget crisis. It's nice not to worry about events we have little possibility of influencing.
4
I love you man.....but forget Twitter.
3
Yes. My reading list is long, and I have 3 books going at a time, with a pile of new reads on the coffee table. Yet here I sit, unable to tear myself away from the least passive form of entertainment I can summon along with my morning coffee. Well.. scratch that. It's quarter after noon - how did that happen?
13
So called "smart phones" are the worst thing to happen to the masses. I sometimes wonder if I'm the only human being, who is STILL a normal human being. People walk down the street, not paying attention to where they're going; Some wait just until the light changes, then they whip out their phones, when they should be paying attention to traffic. Hey, I understand the light is green, but usually, I see some fool behind the wheel, looking down and you know right away: They're tinkering with their phone. Why are there not laws to ticket and/or arrest people for this kind of stupidity? A dear friend of mine was rear-ended and hurt very badly, because some stupid dummy was texting while driving, and of course, the fool didn't have a scratch. It's beyond insane, but have you noticed: There are no hard laws to deter this kind of behavior?
5
If they can create a car that can drive itself, they can create a phone which can turn itself off when it detects itself moving while being held by the driver, eh?
The other day I saw four cars in a center turn lane. Two if not three of the cars' hoods were rammed into the rear end of the car in front. Can they not see these big objects in front of them? Another time, saw a woman ram the rear end of the car in front of her when the light turned green. What (and How) are these people thinking? They must have their heads stuck up the ports of their smartphones.
The other day I saw four cars in a center turn lane. Two if not three of the cars' hoods were rammed into the rear end of the car in front. Can they not see these big objects in front of them? Another time, saw a woman ram the rear end of the car in front of her when the light turned green. What (and How) are these people thinking? They must have their heads stuck up the ports of their smartphones.
1
dwsingrs8, as I'm sure you are aware, they're already working on the so-called car that drives itself, but to me, that's not the point. The point is that people are distracted enough as it is, as well as brainwashed into thinking things should be easy (thank you Apple). Well, guess what? Life is not easy, and it requires that you think, observe, and process thoughtful items and I mean a heck of a lot longer than a tweet. I'm absolutely amazed when I talk to young people today, and they don't want to work at anything. One kid was asking me about Analytics and I mentioned some good books that he could read on the subject, but he kept asking me, can't I just find it on the internet? Not that this is necessarily a bad idea, but going out of ones way to cut corners, usually will lead to a result that is not as good as one would want, and worse, people who do this, feel that and expect the best and highest caliber of any and everything, but do not want to put in the actual work to prepare. Sad, because there's no substitute for the work.
Men think that it is essential that the Nation have commerce, and export ice, and talk through a telegraph, and ride thirty miles an hour, without a doubt, whether they do or not; but whether we should live like baboons or like men, is a little uncertain.
thoreau
thoreau
1
I read somewhere recently that over 300,000,000 photographs will be uploaded on Facebook every day, and in another place that a person will on average spend just two weeks of his or her life kissing. Its seems that not only have our attention spans gotten shorter, but that we maybe ought to realign what we are paying attention to....
5
Thank you for your honesty. I'm sorry that you've become Pavlov's dog and salivate when the little "smart" phone thingy makes a noise and goes dingy. at least our phones are getting smarter. I sincerely feel sorry for you. when a person cant sit in a room alone for 30 minutes and be comfortable in their own skin, be alone with their (non-intrusive) thoughts and not climb the walls truly has emotional issues.
I dont succumb to these lunacies and all it takes is two things; a will power to ignore them and an ability to mentally deal with minor frustrations of life and delay -for about a picosecond- gratification as brought to you by your favorite consumer gadget. Its not hard, almost anyone CAN do it. but most wont, just like they cant push themselves away from the table or the TV.
ie; its about attitude coupled with physical/mental training in ANYTHING that will give you back a normal human attention span such as meditation, long distance running, ballet, martial arts or even target shooting. again, not that hard.
in place of learning how to do higher math (and I'm an engineer. the "higher math" is mostly for those who cant do it and can name no use for it) maybe our schools take away sugar-coated belly bombs for breakfast, the unhealthy gator-sugar and cookies, I mean "snack" and teach skills that teach children to be able to tolerate sitting quietly and concentrate on something for longer than it takes to snap your fingers.
I dont succumb to these lunacies and all it takes is two things; a will power to ignore them and an ability to mentally deal with minor frustrations of life and delay -for about a picosecond- gratification as brought to you by your favorite consumer gadget. Its not hard, almost anyone CAN do it. but most wont, just like they cant push themselves away from the table or the TV.
ie; its about attitude coupled with physical/mental training in ANYTHING that will give you back a normal human attention span such as meditation, long distance running, ballet, martial arts or even target shooting. again, not that hard.
in place of learning how to do higher math (and I'm an engineer. the "higher math" is mostly for those who cant do it and can name no use for it) maybe our schools take away sugar-coated belly bombs for breakfast, the unhealthy gator-sugar and cookies, I mean "snack" and teach skills that teach children to be able to tolerate sitting quietly and concentrate on something for longer than it takes to snap your fingers.
I have never bought into the 'smart phone', my cell phone is off most of the time, and when I want to make a call, and turn it on it is blocked from getting text messages, and basically was the dumbest phone I could find. I love it because it never annoys me the way all you people are forced to endure those annoying smart phones. I also have noticed that the worst drivers all seem to have smart phones. Beware of cars driven by smart phone users, they are the worst.
2
Can't figure out how to make the new Kindle work, gift, and continue to hold the written page in the form of a real book. I can't get by without the real thing and I certainly don't want to pay for a book on my Kindle.
1
The plural of anecdote is not data, Mr. Egan. You're immersed in a hyper-techno environment because of your work. There are many of us out here who aren't Luddites by any stretch but who have observed all along that technology is great as long as you keep it in perspective - each new gadget and site is a tool. It's worth incorporating into your life if it serves you, but is easily rejected if it doesn't. I own the latest Apple everything, but there are days that go by when I don't touch any of the devices because I don't need them. My life and work permits that, and so I'm able to choose it. And I do. Otherwise, it's all tyranny and really will take over your life IF YOU LET IT.
2
I think that one of the most important things facing ....
I'm sorry... But, what were you talking about? My mind seemed to have drifted. Sorry.
2
No surprises here, Mr. Egan. Your article is well phrased and right on target. It has long been my opinion that the average attention span is about the length of time it takes to read a bumper sticker. Whether 8 seconds or 12, that's about what it adds up to. As you say, gardening is a great "anti-speed" solution, to which I would add long walks with one's dog, reflecting on the beauty of her "olfactory world" and my visual.
1
This is what I love about working with horses -- feeding, cleaning, grooming.... It takes time and allows we to be quiet and grounded enough to think clearly (more or less) about the state of the world and my place in it. Thanks for a fine column.
Ignoring the fact there is at least a binary relation going on here.
Not "patiently" waiting in line that never moves versus actually reading a challenging novel in big chunks are very different.
The best advice is use your precious attention for something that matters... not Twitter.. and no - I won't be following you.
And no - that is not Irony - if you have some time - look it up - don't google it.
Not "patiently" waiting in line that never moves versus actually reading a challenging novel in big chunks are very different.
The best advice is use your precious attention for something that matters... not Twitter.. and no - I won't be following you.
And no - that is not Irony - if you have some time - look it up - don't google it.
You know, some people are just too long-winded. When people are succinct, they get and hold my attention. Otherwise, life is short and time is precious.
This was a very important article by one of my favorite writers. But right after reading the first two paragraphs (about eight seconds) I jumped to the end.
1
Mr. Egan,
Thanks so much for your column today. I have been trying to figure out if my goldfish-level concentration is due to the "blessings" of age or just part of the general speeding up of the world. You mention a next book on Rome-- I presume it is SPQR by Mary Beard, a great history I'm halfway through. It's hard not to draw an uncomfortable parallel between the preening rulers of Rome with their appeals to the anger of the mob and the current political spectacle on the right. It has been put forward elsewhere that one of the contributing factors in the fall of Rome was drinking water delivered by lead pipes. Draw your own conclusions.
Thanks so much for your column today. I have been trying to figure out if my goldfish-level concentration is due to the "blessings" of age or just part of the general speeding up of the world. You mention a next book on Rome-- I presume it is SPQR by Mary Beard, a great history I'm halfway through. It's hard not to draw an uncomfortable parallel between the preening rulers of Rome with their appeals to the anger of the mob and the current political spectacle on the right. It has been put forward elsewhere that one of the contributing factors in the fall of Rome was drinking water delivered by lead pipes. Draw your own conclusions.
6
I tried finishing this article but gave up after the third paragraph. Had to answer someone's text. My attention span was 12 seconds so I'm batting better than average.
1
Have not men improved somewhat in punctuality since the railroad was invented? Do they not talk and think faster in the depot than they did in the stage-office? There is something electrifying in the atmosphere of the former place. I have been astonished at the miracles it has wrought; that some of my neighbors, who, I should have prophesied, once for all, would never get to Boston by so prompt a conveyance, are on hand when the bell rings. To do things "railroad fashion" is now the byword; and it is worth the while to be warned so often and so sincerely by any power to get off its track. There is no stopping to read the riot act, no firing over the heads of the mob, in this case. We have constructed a fate, an Atropos, that never turns aside. (Let that be the name of your engine.) Men are advertised that at a certain hour and minute these bolts will be shot toward particular points of the compass; yet it interferes with no man's business, and the children go to school on the other track. We live the steadier for it. We are all educated thus to be sons of Tell. The air is full of invisible bolts. Every path but your own is the path of fate. Keep on your own track, then.
Too true and we end up wasting our Time - the most invaluable commodity for any human. This summer, for 1 week of vacation (for the year) I "unpinned" my email from my smartphone - so that the screen didn't tell me when a new message had arrived, or even report the absurd number of messages that'd arrived since my last viewing. It took 4 days, but I experienced an unusual feeling, which I finally identified as the absence of the state of constant anxiety.
Email and connectivity are wonderful tools, which we have utterly misused...and we're all the poorer for it.
Email and connectivity are wonderful tools, which we have utterly misused...and we're all the poorer for it.
1
I've slowly adjusted my communication habits to take into account the short modern attention span. I used to address multiple issues in one letter or email, expounding on each to convey my meaning.
Ten or 15 years ago I realized most people never read beyond the first issue I addressed, so I began using a separate letter or email for each issue, but I still strove to explain myself with examples and comparisons.
Five or so years ago I realized the explanations, examples and comparisons were going unread, too. Sometimes my readers interpreted my communications to express opinions nearly opposite to what I thought I had expressed.
But I don't know why I'm bothering to key this in, as it's most likely tl/dnr.
Ten or 15 years ago I realized most people never read beyond the first issue I addressed, so I began using a separate letter or email for each issue, but I still strove to explain myself with examples and comparisons.
Five or so years ago I realized the explanations, examples and comparisons were going unread, too. Sometimes my readers interpreted my communications to express opinions nearly opposite to what I thought I had expressed.
But I don't know why I'm bothering to key this in, as it's most likely tl/dnr.
3
It will be nice to have at least one like-minded humanoid in my neck of the woods, even if just for a brief period. But I know of many places nearby my home that you could go that have no digital connectivity whatsoever. It is for this reason that I purchased my 4x4 - when the madness and idiocy that is Las Vegas becomes too much for me, I'll head out to Desert Dry Lake, Buffington Pockets, Yucca Forest, Harris Springs, the Green Monster Mine, or any of perhaps 100 other unconnected locales to allow my mind and body to wander free.
Enjoy the desert, man. That solitude is quite beautiful.
There is another thing that the doing of requires the patient letting of time pass: fishing.
Oh, one more thing: meditation.
Some folks do them simultaneously.
There is another thing that the doing of requires the patient letting of time pass: fishing.
Oh, one more thing: meditation.
Some folks do them simultaneously.
4
i zen fish -
no bait, no hook
no bait, no hook
3
That's why I don't use Twitter, Facebook or other social media, refuse to allow the apps on my iPhone to send me banner ads and why I exclusively communicate by voice, email and snail mail.
Even email is often too much. Falling behind only a couple of days means at least an hour or two of just catching up with the most important ones while deleting about 90% after just scanning the subject line.
Rationale: With the senders craving for my attention, the important ones will surely be sent again.
It can be quite relaxing to sit back and watch others run on the hamster wheel, all the while waiting for the important issues to sort themselves out from all the others.
Even email is often too much. Falling behind only a couple of days means at least an hour or two of just catching up with the most important ones while deleting about 90% after just scanning the subject line.
Rationale: With the senders craving for my attention, the important ones will surely be sent again.
It can be quite relaxing to sit back and watch others run on the hamster wheel, all the while waiting for the important issues to sort themselves out from all the others.
4
Agreed. And I refuse to have work email on my phone. I rarely even talk on it. For me, it's basically a music player for when I'm at the gym, working out, or on the bus, on my way home. Afterwards, when I make it in, it's usually in the bedroom, and I'm in the living room. But what really irks me is those people who call, and if and or when I do get around to calling them back, you get this "I called you!" as if you're required to drop everything and dial them back. I've lost several so-called friends because I've had to put them in their place because of that statement. You can call, but I can decide not to answer or return your call. This didn't appear to be a problem with land lines, but now people get insulting, if they text you or call you on your cell, don't get you, and you don't call back. There is nothing and I mean NOTHING, more dangerous than distraction and you had better believe that this is by design, and sadly, it's working, but more un-nerving, is that it's dangerous.!
1
I am so old school, I would sooner give up my iPad than my Kindle... The books I read are far too long and large to gladly carry on the subway.
1
"Even “Downton Abbey,” supposedly an exemplar of popular taste for refined drama in the Digital Age, is in fact a very hyper-paced entertainment. The camera seldom holds a scene for long ..." This is exactly the experience of the HD broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera. 10 seconds is an eternity for the cameras to sustain a shot, as if an opera were a TV police show. Is this really what the audience wants?
3
The "Goldfish" can concentrate on a video game all day long!
They can also listen to music and text between pauses in the video mayhem.
These new skills will come in handy when a significanr percent of the population will be on some kind of government living wage as their economic utilty continues to devolve.
The last thing we can abide is millions of folks sitting around bored!
Look at the current GOP primary and multiply THAT dystopia by magnitudes.
They can also listen to music and text between pauses in the video mayhem.
These new skills will come in handy when a significanr percent of the population will be on some kind of government living wage as their economic utilty continues to devolve.
The last thing we can abide is millions of folks sitting around bored!
Look at the current GOP primary and multiply THAT dystopia by magnitudes.
3
As I sit with my husband, in the evenings, I watch him texting, surfing and "watching" tv. It's like living with an alien from another planet. We seldom speak, dinner must be eaten with all the ambiance of the light from the tv and the computer screen. I guess that the cyber "companionships" are just more interesting than actually looking at each other and talking. He doesn't even talk on the phone any more, you have to text him.
Clearly people are choosing this new, mind-numbing, life. I'm still looking for people that have more to say than a twitter response.
Clearly people are choosing this new, mind-numbing, life. I'm still looking for people that have more to say than a twitter response.
156
Not in my house. My 31 & 28 year old sons know to keep their machines in their pockets during their dinner hour visits. My husband never tried knowing my disdain for machine over human. Put some rules in place and enforce them.
2
I'd text him and tell him you'll cook dinner when he turns off the TV and puts down his smart phone or laptop.
5
Wow. I'm sorry. Just to know: there are plenty of us out there. Maybe he doesn't deserve you.
Well, offhand I would say that eight seconds is about all that is required to listen to any of the Republican Presidential contenders or Sarah Palin. It is about all I can handle. That aside, I enjoy reading the NY Times for way more than eight seconds. It is my indulgence, and while it may not keep me sane it keeps me informed. That along with the Berkeley Book Club (albeit it is online through Edx) bring me immense pleasure and both focus my attention for quite a while ( Right now I am enjoying "Jane Eyre", and am viewing it through much different eyes than I did as a young person. Charlotte Bronte was an extraordinarily gifted writer.}
Reading is purely escapist and a joy to be savored.
Reading is purely escapist and a joy to be savored.
12
Are you really saying that you don't have the willpower to leave your cellphone turned off when you go for a weekend of outdoor wandering? If so I pity you.
3
I don't own a smartphone and my attention span is several hours long. There is hope for humanity yet.
10
I read your comment because it is short.
3
In my 20s, I would spend weeks each summer just roaming around the west and southwest in my pickup truck. I camped under the stars, hiked, backpacked, climbed mountains...And never bothered to call my family. Never had email back then, either. I just lived.
I tell my young students that they should try to experience that kind of freedom, but I think it might scare them.
I tell my young students that they should try to experience that kind of freedom, but I think it might scare them.
19
Excellent column Mr. Egan. Since retiring I have begun to read real books again. From the library no less! I also have more time to tune in and drop out.
I am waiting for someone better informed than myself to make an analysis of the parallels between Hitler coming to power in democratic Germany devastated by incompetent decisions made by irresponsible politicians following WWI,
and the rise of an egomaniacal real estate deal maker to political significance in democratic America who is losing its sense of purpose in a complex world which does not lend itself to sound bite solutions.
The public needs to be educated at least with lessons from recent history
and the rise of an egomaniacal real estate deal maker to political significance in democratic America who is losing its sense of purpose in a complex world which does not lend itself to sound bite solutions.
The public needs to be educated at least with lessons from recent history
8
Mr. Egan -- and anyone or everyone else "suffering" from a short attention span syndrome -- usually only has themselves to blame. Who's fault is it that the couple on a dinner date spends the meal staring at their devices? It's their own choice, one based on their desire not to "miss" anything. What are they going to miss? The latest Kardashian family "crisis?" Sarah Palin's most recent incomprehensible comments? The point is that we make our own worlds, and if yours is being "ruled" by your devices you have only yourself to blame. Get a life! And the only way to experience that life is to find the darn off switch and utilize it as often as possible.
3
I tried to read this entire editorial, but ....
2
Me, too. I had to skip along.
3
I am always amazed when I travel by bus to see about half of the people on the bus constantly checking their emails or texting on their toys. Meanwhile the world is whizzing by with new scenery, people and experiences out of their attention.
Forget the Eight-Second Attention Span or what the media used to focus on the flavor-of-the-day. I estimate that the current attention span is measured in nanoseconds. With their shrinking attention span in this quick-flash digital age too many people are behaving like butterflies as they flit through the pick-and-choose items in the buffet line of their screens.
We live in a world where the ping-ponging of electronic contacts while using and handling the tool (the keyboard of the cellphone or the computer) are more important than the content or the pursuing of interesting questions for investigation into things that will add meaning to our lives. The focus is on satisfying the “me” and “my network of friends” rather than on learning new things.
Meanwhile new learning experiences and missed conversations are escaping as they are devotedly focused into their toys. Too many people have great difficulties even “deep reading’ a book or intelligently written articles.
Sometimes just being idle and thinking about something (anything, whether it is important or not), just observing the world or just listening to someone can be rewarding.
New learning experiences are always fun.
Forget the Eight-Second Attention Span or what the media used to focus on the flavor-of-the-day. I estimate that the current attention span is measured in nanoseconds. With their shrinking attention span in this quick-flash digital age too many people are behaving like butterflies as they flit through the pick-and-choose items in the buffet line of their screens.
We live in a world where the ping-ponging of electronic contacts while using and handling the tool (the keyboard of the cellphone or the computer) are more important than the content or the pursuing of interesting questions for investigation into things that will add meaning to our lives. The focus is on satisfying the “me” and “my network of friends” rather than on learning new things.
Meanwhile new learning experiences and missed conversations are escaping as they are devotedly focused into their toys. Too many people have great difficulties even “deep reading’ a book or intelligently written articles.
Sometimes just being idle and thinking about something (anything, whether it is important or not), just observing the world or just listening to someone can be rewarding.
New learning experiences are always fun.
4
For those of us who are unable to travel to exotic places as we can’t afford to or are no longer physically able, yes there is selective reading, watching & listening; marvelous things from the various media to enjoy & ponder. And our nightly dreams—I’ve recorded & posted more than 4,000 on my website (less expensive to maintain than cable!) bringing new ideas & relationships.
William Manchester was, and is, a national treasure. His 'A World Lit Only by Fire; and 'Goodbye, Darkness' are fine reads, whatever you read them on.
1
TL:DR No, jk
Tim, when you're out in the Mojave this weekend, try meditation. For me it's the antidote to "goldfish syndrome." Just 15 or 20 minutes, (or 112.5 to 150 eight second intervals) spent quietly focusing on your breath while you let everything else fall away will clear your mind and put the rest of your day in perspective. A Zen master I once studied with called this "Don't know mind" I call it a cure for distraction.
Tim, when you're out in the Mojave this weekend, try meditation. For me it's the antidote to "goldfish syndrome." Just 15 or 20 minutes, (or 112.5 to 150 eight second intervals) spent quietly focusing on your breath while you let everything else fall away will clear your mind and put the rest of your day in perspective. A Zen master I once studied with called this "Don't know mind" I call it a cure for distraction.
1
Mr. Egan,
I've been to the Mojave Desert many times. I envy you and your trip. But you won't be "deep into an arid wilderness..." if you have cell-phone service. Go deeper. Get the real experience.
I've been to the Mojave Desert many times. I envy you and your trip. But you won't be "deep into an arid wilderness..." if you have cell-phone service. Go deeper. Get the real experience.
3
I usually enjoy Timothy Egan's column, but, alas, today's wasn't engaging enough to hold my attention past four paragraphs. So, I don't know if got better. But - eight seconds. I think that was about right.
1
The article hits on something more significant than an 8 second attention span. The clever friend with emails of well thought out prose who no sends emojis extends to the coworker who tries to apply a critical thinking response to a text, and it ends up turning into a cyberspace feud. This occurred in my workplace this week, and luckily I didn't respond in hyper-cyber-neanderthal fashion, but instead, responded with "how about if we talk about this face to face." The next day, all the emotions that boiled up inside both of us were eleviated within two minutes of our conversation. I feel the issue is when the technological piece becomes more important than the person in our presence.
2
I think our shortened attention span fits right into empire demise. After about 200 years, things really start to fall apart. Although a shortened attention span is to a certain degree experienced by anyone with a cell phone, it is especially relevant to the decline of the USA as a super power.
1
Oh the good old times! New media seems to provoke such worries, as did the potential of the telephone to destroy public morals.
Fun aside, as any invention, media can be used for good or bad. I have hope that over the next generation the pendulum will swing back to a sensible use. My worries are not so much about attention spans but about misuse by demagogues and extremists of any kind.
Fun aside, as any invention, media can be used for good or bad. I have hope that over the next generation the pendulum will swing back to a sensible use. My worries are not so much about attention spans but about misuse by demagogues and extremists of any kind.
2
"The Eight Second Attention Span," the answer to the question, "How did Donald Trump happen?" Well done, Timothy.
1
Satya Nadella may say that human attention will be the true scarce commodity. I don't think he really cares about our ability to focus. He's just worried about his business model.
Correction: He never would have bought one!
'Mindful' is an incredibly stupid concept, and one of the buzzwords that should be forever banished from use.
When grandma said 'be mindful of where you walk so you don't step in the dog poo' she was being normal. The new use of being mindful is just silliness and self centeredness, while actually suggesting to others that their lack of mindfulness is self absorption.
'Mindfulness' my eye! It's finger pointing and blame, that's all.
When grandma said 'be mindful of where you walk so you don't step in the dog poo' she was being normal. The new use of being mindful is just silliness and self centeredness, while actually suggesting to others that their lack of mindfulness is self absorption.
'Mindfulness' my eye! It's finger pointing and blame, that's all.
#3. Letters, real letters. I recently started writing someone with no email and a rarely working phone. I write, mail it off, and wait. Seven days later, his hand-written response arrives. There's no hurrying it, and that's OK. Very zen.
2
A shorter attention span than a goldfish? I beg to differ. Why just the other day I was
3
Yes, our attention span seems too short to entertain any worthwhile thought...beyond the banal and vulgar basement chatter 'a la Palin', or the demagoguery of Trump's opportunism; and all the ads, political and otherwise, know that, exploiting our reflexive need to be entertained in the 'here and now'. And yet, far from the worldly traffic of our addiction to be connected, there is still room for reflection, and a way to transcend our ego; one way is to divorce yourself from your phone-mate long enough to regain sanity and become one with your surroundings. So, soon after this comment, am returning to the good old days, and finish reading an actual book, "The invention of Nature, Alexander von Humboldt's new world"; pure joy, while disconnected from the rest. And no regrets.
Reading William Manchester? That's your problem, Mr. Egan, with focusing. That faux historian isn't worth more than 8 seconds of your attention.
The significance of the news being reported doesn't warrant 8 seconds.
1
I am really surprised that attention spans are that long, but I imagine it is an average running from milliseconds (Wall Street) to 20-30 seconds (politicians, who take that long to formulate a simple idea-I am being generous). I am not sure where Donald Trump fits in this continuum since he has shown no ability to consider anything.
1
Both my boyfriend and I are tech nerds. He, being in network security, has generally shunned social networking, while I, having worked in ecommerce and commercial web development have embraced Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Facebook I think is the biggest provider of access to anti-intellectual junk food. Recently I realized that my Facebook use was looking more and more like mindless addiction and I deleted the app off of my phone. It has been liberating. Texts, taking pictures, finding directions, talking to people, reading restaurant reviews - that's what my phone does now. I don't even get Twitter alerts on it. In fact, the only push notifications I allow are news about the Boston Bruins and any emergency alerts from NOAA or our neighborhood watch.
I do find my brain works best when it gets to indulge in a little ADD before it settles into a task. I do the NYT crossword online and watch a few trailers on IMDB and then I'm usually good to get some actual work done.
Facebook I think is the biggest provider of access to anti-intellectual junk food. Recently I realized that my Facebook use was looking more and more like mindless addiction and I deleted the app off of my phone. It has been liberating. Texts, taking pictures, finding directions, talking to people, reading restaurant reviews - that's what my phone does now. I don't even get Twitter alerts on it. In fact, the only push notifications I allow are news about the Boston Bruins and any emergency alerts from NOAA or our neighborhood watch.
I do find my brain works best when it gets to indulge in a little ADD before it settles into a task. I do the NYT crossword online and watch a few trailers on IMDB and then I'm usually good to get some actual work done.
Oh, yawn. Yet another article about how the pace of "modern life" is killing our brains. It would be interesting and might even be true, except that people have been complaining about the pace of modern life since Plato! Deep thinkers are and continue to be deep thinkers, and shallow butterflies are still butterflies, except now the butterflies can blame smart phones instead of television.
Or for a well-documented and funnier take on the issue:
http://xkcd.com/1227/
And yes, I read every word of the article in a single attempt and didn't even leave the page to find the XKCD cartoon until after I finished it.
Or for a well-documented and funnier take on the issue:
http://xkcd.com/1227/
And yes, I read every word of the article in a single attempt and didn't even leave the page to find the XKCD cartoon until after I finished it.
1
Thank you. VERY weary of these "The sky is falling and it's because of technology" pieces, and the predictable stream of "Not me, I'm better than anyone who uses Facebook" comments (particularly funny since everyone replying is by definition online). It's idiotic.
1
It took me half an hour to read this article, between checking my phone, my inbox, and doing some not-very-deep-thinking related to work. I am utterly unsurprised by the revelation that attention spans are dropping....
I'm back. And I'll just note that the only thing that separates me from my need for novelty is mowing the lawn, shoveling the snow, and going for a walk or bike ride. Physical, outdoor activity. Alas, I no longer read long books but digest them through my phone/car speakers on my commute. I often have to skip back 30 seconds because I get distracted...
I'm back. And I'll just note that the only thing that separates me from my need for novelty is mowing the lawn, shoveling the snow, and going for a walk or bike ride. Physical, outdoor activity. Alas, I no longer read long books but digest them through my phone/car speakers on my commute. I often have to skip back 30 seconds because I get distracted...
1
the joys of golf and skiing (as well as a million other outdoor activities I assume) are comforting for the period of time spent away from distractions. The answer to almost all of the rewiring can be found in looking outdoors. (reading is good too, but only on a non electronic book).
5
Thank you for a good column.
By contrast, I clearly remember the first time I watched television, as a small child, many years ago. We were at friends' home for dinner and we all sat down quietly to watch their new TV, a blurry, black and white screen, with forced pleasure. I immediately missed all the previous dinners, us kids running wild, lightly supervised, while the grownups drank, smoked, laughed, danced, cooked, and joked. My thought: This is as boring as church.
Times have changed...
By contrast, I clearly remember the first time I watched television, as a small child, many years ago. We were at friends' home for dinner and we all sat down quietly to watch their new TV, a blurry, black and white screen, with forced pleasure. I immediately missed all the previous dinners, us kids running wild, lightly supervised, while the grownups drank, smoked, laughed, danced, cooked, and joked. My thought: This is as boring as church.
Times have changed...
2
A writer myself, I know you must add that other mind-absorbing activity, as, deep in flow, you bring forth characters and ideas on the illuminated screen of your computer.
I want to read that history of Rome - who's the author? thanks!
1
SPQR? (That's Senatus Populusque Romanus)
Irony Alert? Another invitation to follow on Twitter.
This time I laughed heartily ... and am still chuckling.
800-Page-Tomes? No. But I re-read "Lord of the Flies" recently.
And every morning, there's a certain Home-Town newspaper on my SC-Driveway from my birthplace. Instant-Gratification, Ja, I can dig it. But, weaving my way through Mr. Golding's story of Ralph, and Jack, and "Piggy". and even "Sam 'n Eric" can hold me transfixed.
So, I'm going to decline the Twitter invitation. But, you can follow me ... if you can find me.
This time I laughed heartily ... and am still chuckling.
800-Page-Tomes? No. But I re-read "Lord of the Flies" recently.
And every morning, there's a certain Home-Town newspaper on my SC-Driveway from my birthplace. Instant-Gratification, Ja, I can dig it. But, weaving my way through Mr. Golding's story of Ralph, and Jack, and "Piggy". and even "Sam 'n Eric" can hold me transfixed.
So, I'm going to decline the Twitter invitation. But, you can follow me ... if you can find me.
1
Who doesn't read? Can't imagine. I'm as riveted to my iPad and iphone as the next person...we have breakfast and lunch together, but never dinner...dinner is for family and conversation. A friend stopped in the other day and said "all I hear when I walk in is politics, do you guys talk about anything else?" And that's the answer, we talk, discuss, argue, and it's fun. Whether it's books, politics or just plain gossip, interaction is the key, long attention spans required.
2
No you can turn it off. I spent a week unplugged, no phone no media no clocks, good thoughtful human company and the beauty and the ugliness of nature. This was last summer and was stunned how beneficial it was to my mind & spirit.
After all the only moment we have is the one we are in. the past is a memory, the future a promise not certain. Now is it. Don't let the world's pointless noise rule you.
After all the only moment we have is the one we are in. the past is a memory, the future a promise not certain. Now is it. Don't let the world's pointless noise rule you.
3
You have the perfect chance to see the five planets aligned shortly before sunrise. Hope you get to see it. Enjoy!
2
Read, in the first part of Fahrenheit 451, Captain Beatty's explanation and Mildred Montag's "life". It is happening now.
1
Proud. I read the whole editorial without stopping. It was hard for me. so he is saying with have an 8 second attention span but we still have to wait for seeds to grow and we are still reading long books. ok.
5
Yes, I really notice it in television shows. Back in the day, a television show would have one major plot line (yes, really) which would resolve clearly by the end of the show.
Now we either have shows, like Downton Abbey, with 20 plot lines compressed into chains of 30-second mini-scenes, or shows (like most mysteries) with so many twists, turns, trackbacks, and false trails that at the end, I realize I don't actually know what happened.
Now we either have shows, like Downton Abbey, with 20 plot lines compressed into chains of 30-second mini-scenes, or shows (like most mysteries) with so many twists, turns, trackbacks, and false trails that at the end, I realize I don't actually know what happened.
2
I spent ten days taking a group of Boy Scouts down the Missouri River in Montana last summer. They all brought their "smart" phones. Every time we stopped to camp several of them would produce their phones and see if they had reception. As far as I could tell they never did. I have no idea what they thought they were going to do if they had gotten a signal. It was obviously just compulsive behavior, a need for some weird form of reassurance. Kind of like opening the refrigerator every fifteen minutes to make sure there's still food in there. Very strange.
Mine was back in the car at the put-in. Never occurred to me to bring it along. You should leave yours behind, too.
Mine was back in the car at the put-in. Never occurred to me to bring it along. You should leave yours behind, too.
20
One day I was doing laps in the pool, outdoors at the Y, and saw a little toddler circling his mother - she was sitting in a chair using her phone. The toddler failed to get her attention. I guess the next chapter in this little tyke's life was to be given a smart phone of his own.
As for me, I like to joke with those who urge me to get a "smart" phone to replace my old fashioned flip version by saying that I'm not smart enough for one.
As for me, I like to joke with those who urge me to get a "smart" phone to replace my old fashioned flip version by saying that I'm not smart enough for one.
5
Do you know how many times a day a toddler tries to get his mother's attention? Maybe don't judge. She may be normally attentive, but had to make a call. Smart phones have not changed this.
I'm skeptical of findings of this sort. What was the age group of Do the researchers present their subjects with a boring task and then see how long they'll endure it?
I both garden and read books printed on paper. The only site I read regularly and thoroughly on a screen is the New York times. This must have something to do with my upcoming 70th birthday!
I both garden and read books printed on paper. The only site I read regularly and thoroughly on a screen is the New York times. This must have something to do with my upcoming 70th birthday!
3
I agree and I'll be 73 this year. The fact that those of us who do not obsess on our Iphones are the generation on the way out tells you all you need to know. Actually, I do know quite a few people older than me who love their Iphones and can't be without them. I use mine only when I'm away from home and have no other option and then the battery is usually dead.
1
The NYT online contributes to this problem, along with everything else we read online these days. I get very exasperated trying to navigate around all the flashing ads demanding attention on the sidelines, the ones interrupting my reading as I scroll down the page, and the worst offenders of all, those that actually kick me out of the article I just selected. I want to be able to focus, but it's impossible!
5
I agree with you jeito. It has become much more difficult to navigate the NYT digital edition. I have to keep reclosing certain ads every time I shift to a new article or section. Very annoying. Given the fact that I have an "older" , computer that will soon be replaced, it makes reading the NYT even more difficult. I sometimes just give up. Everyone is trying to get our attention. I do my best to ignore the ads. Also very annoying to visit a commercial website and then have their ads follow me online everywhere.
Recently, while waiting in a long line for a single restroom, I decided to not pull out my phone to "kill time". Out of 12 people in line, I was the only outlier--and yes it was momentarily uncomfortable but I felt good about breaking that compulsive behavior.
Try it sometime--who knows, maybe you'll actually experience this thing called conversation, engaging with the world or observing the world around you. I highly recommend it.
Try it sometime--who knows, maybe you'll actually experience this thing called conversation, engaging with the world or observing the world around you. I highly recommend it.
7
You are also placing blame, do you see that?
We native or naturalized Seattlelites always look for Tim Egan's writings in that they always follow our way of thinking about important life issues and/or experiences. JG-
6
Technology isn't going to save humanity, and isn't going to destroy it either. All of these gadgets are just tools. I just read "Hamlet" on my smartphone. Does that make me dumb? It's not the phones; it's what you do with them. Before you judge someone for "staring at their phone," as people often do, take the trouble to find out exactly what it is they are "staring" at. (I used to "stare" at pieces of paper. Now I "stare" at my screen. I'm still reading. What's the difference?) Have more faith in your fellow humans' persistent and eternal quest for meaning. Technology isn't going to make that quest disappear. It's all good. Relax.
9
people are becoming more focused, not less. More well-read and informed, not less. Old people look at this new connected world and judge the younger person who goes on a nature hike with a cellphone, posting Facebook shots of that hike. Maybe this is not a bad thing, just a new thing. Old people don't like new things. They feel threatened by them, and want to compete with the new generation by saying it was better in the old days. In truth, it wasn't better in the old days. We have evolved. The internet equalizes information--to a degree. Third world countries getting the net is an awesome thing. Watching the Seahawk game on a mobile device at a new age "mindful' camp is an excellent thing.
6
It has nothing to do with age. What a stereotype you espouse. ANYBODY who looks at a cellphone while walking through anyplace is a menace to those, young or old, he/she does not see and hits and maybe knocks down and even sometimes kills,; or in your case walks off the side of a cliff or into Walden's pond. Don't be so judgmental; it's not becoming as my grandmother would have said.
(I've actually known several people who backed off a cliff while preparing to take a picture.)
(I've actually known several people who backed off a cliff while preparing to take a picture.)
1
Don't forget music. I regularly listen to my favorite classical pieces--not while performing other tasks, but sitting alone, paying close attention. I find that even though I have heard these works many times, I am always discovering something new.
3
Just say no. And remember that every device can be powered off.
A Zen master advised "Do one thing at a time". Simple, effective.
2
Simple, yes. Easy, no.
1
That is also finger pointing and blame.
I bet Henry David Thoreau would have thrown his cell-phone into Walden Pond.
10
Better yet, he never old have bought one!
I do not have that problem as I keep on task, uh, what was that?
3
It's not just short attention span. We don't get the chance to reflect and feel. Compare the new Star Wars movie with the original movie. The new one doesn't give you the chance to experience any emotion: galaxies are blown up, then we are on to the next scene.
4
It's perfectly possible to work "fast" and "slow" modes in one mind. I never have fewer than five tabs open while I surf--sometimes as many as ten. I often spend only ten or fifteen seconds on a tab, then click to another. But I finish everything I deem worth finishing, often diverting to look up words or check out links. Somehow, it all hangs together. On the slow side, the last book I read, which took me two weeks, was Hermann Broch's The Death of Virgil. Those familiar with it would agree it's not for literary sissies. Sometimes I could read only a couple of pages at a time, then had to put it down to think. Other times, I read for hours without stopping.
Here's another antidote: Go backpacking. Go for 100 miles or more; 10 days or more. Put your phone in airplane mode. (When I go backpacking, I do take my iPhone. It is, afterall, a multi-function device, serving as as my camera, my journal, and my book.) There is something about walking in the wilderness that is so conducive to reverie. It's amazing how hauling a pack for miles in mountainous terrain can actually be relaxing. This special quality of non-mechanized wilderness is one of the reasons we need to protect it.
3
I didn't read this to the end. What happened?
Timothy - I remember the recent loss of letter writing albeit via e-mail, which caused me to lose a few writing buddies who prefer their IPAD to a laptop or desktop, i.e. keyboard, GONE with treasured words. Empty space now my inbox, sigh. Worse, those who try to jam into a text what may have been a many paragraphed letter, missing details, nuance, even humor. I suffer.
1
You need not suffer. All those same words can be written on an iPad or any other keyboard and screen of your choice.
May I add another antidote (it helps to be retired)? I just pick a country and hike it. Just finished hiking from the Swiss border to Rome. The only rule: no technology while hiking. It works!
2
This seems like an interesting article, but it is too long. I lost focus and couldn't finish it. Could you reduce it to one paragraph?
Although it's a great idea, sorry I can't Twitter-pal you, Mr Egan 'cause I'm incapable of writing in bursts of 140 characters or less. I'm too verbo
www.endthemadnessnow.org
www.endthemadnessnow.org
2
Vinyl is back too! Long live analog. Some of us don't like the sound of sixty-cycle noise.
1
It's nice to see Timothy Egan again in NYT. I was just raving about him to some friends about his new book The Shadow Catcher.
He's one of the best voices for Seattle and Pacific NW. Yes New Yorkers, there are some important voices west of the Hudson.
He's one of the best voices for Seattle and Pacific NW. Yes New Yorkers, there are some important voices west of the Hudson.
3
Can only agree with the preceding comment. I'm long married to a NY native. JG-
Sorry. No time to comment. My 8 seconds are up...
So Tim, you want to tune out? Good idea. I have an additional idea. What is that? Commit to not voting, ever. You see that way you can tune out off this political stuff. You will be surprised how worry free you can be when you never need to 'know'. Believe me, you life will become so much more simpler.
He didn't say he wanted to tune out.
Dumber , fatter, slower, more opinionated, less likely to try new things or talk with people who don't look like you or agree with you. Oh the irony of the internet "enlightenment". Didn't turn out the way the salespeople said it would? The problem is that you actually believed that it would, or even could make things "better". We all got suckered and now Tim Cook and M. Zuckerburg are nailing the coffin shut. But I guess as long as you have your phone you'll never be alone.
3
"Irony alert: I invite you to follow me on Twitter, @nytegan."
Funniest thing I've read all day. Well said.
Funniest thing I've read all day. Well said.
5
Best column ever. Thank you Mr. Egan for sharing the thoughts emanating from your incredibly bright mind.
2
I have the solution to all of this!
But, alas, I see that my 8 seconds is up...
But, alas, I see that my 8 seconds is up...
2
Hey did you know that the people who screen these comments for approval are blithering idiots? Oh did you get offended by a difference of opinion? Boo Hoo
Mr. Egan -- In addition to waiting for Friday to start the weekend, I look forward to your column -- this one was particularly enlightening -- and i notice Sarah Palin is back [ why why]
1
While I do most of my reading using Kindle with an iPad (when you get to be my age and like to read before bed...and your spouse is asleep next to you...it's easier!), there are things which should be done on paper.
I became a good photographer by looking at good photographs even since childhood, when I would peruse my parents' magazines (Life, Look, McCall's, Ladies' Home Journal, and National Geographic) even before I could read fluently. The really good images stayed in my brain's visual cortex, where they remain until I see something in front of me (and my camera) and there's a fast interplay between my eyes and my visual memory to answer Question #1: will this work as a photograph?
This...and the wonderful, lavish, "coffee-table" books...are key to art appreciation.
I became a good photographer by looking at good photographs even since childhood, when I would peruse my parents' magazines (Life, Look, McCall's, Ladies' Home Journal, and National Geographic) even before I could read fluently. The really good images stayed in my brain's visual cortex, where they remain until I see something in front of me (and my camera) and there's a fast interplay between my eyes and my visual memory to answer Question #1: will this work as a photograph?
This...and the wonderful, lavish, "coffee-table" books...are key to art appreciation.
2
Sir! On behalf of goldfish everywhere I take your comments quite personally and I want to point out...wait a sec. let me get back to you.
2
Eight seconds? I'm not surprised by the study results, but I am very skeptical.
The idea that we have ever diminishing attention spans long pre-dates the digital revolution. Sesame Street's format was designed with the idea that children couldn't pay attention to anything longer than a TV commercial. That was in 1969. It's been conventional wisdom for a very long time, but is it true? How many times did people in that study click on something and then immediately decided to pass on reading or viewing the content? A great many times, I'm sure. Internet sales are determined by hits. A site doesn't really need readers or viewers in order to get sales. Only hits. And every hit brings down the average time, the .average attention span,' a person spends on a webpage.
The idea that we have ever diminishing attention spans long pre-dates the digital revolution. Sesame Street's format was designed with the idea that children couldn't pay attention to anything longer than a TV commercial. That was in 1969. It's been conventional wisdom for a very long time, but is it true? How many times did people in that study click on something and then immediately decided to pass on reading or viewing the content? A great many times, I'm sure. Internet sales are determined by hits. A site doesn't really need readers or viewers in order to get sales. Only hits. And every hit brings down the average time, the .average attention span,' a person spends on a webpage.
18
It's amazing how much our attention span has shrunk.
I recently tried to watch President Obama's State of the Union address, but I finally had to look away from the TV screen because I was so distracted by the constant cutting away from Obama to focus on audience reaction.
I counted an average of only 8 seconds of focus on Obama's face before the camera would cut away again to show a picture of the audience. There was simply no way to concentrate on the speech with all of the constant camera motion.
Finally, I agree with Mr. Egan that the best revenge on our instant information culture is to curl up on the couch with a good book and let your imagination wander. I find the Patrick O'Brian/Captain Jack Aubrey naval adventure series especially well suited for this purpose.
I recently tried to watch President Obama's State of the Union address, but I finally had to look away from the TV screen because I was so distracted by the constant cutting away from Obama to focus on audience reaction.
I counted an average of only 8 seconds of focus on Obama's face before the camera would cut away again to show a picture of the audience. There was simply no way to concentrate on the speech with all of the constant camera motion.
Finally, I agree with Mr. Egan that the best revenge on our instant information culture is to curl up on the couch with a good book and let your imagination wander. I find the Patrick O'Brian/Captain Jack Aubrey naval adventure series especially well suited for this purpose.
2
In that particular case, though, cutting away from Obama's face was a bit of a blessing, becuz it meant they also cut away from Paul Ryan's impudent smirking.
Go Hawks!
I read (somewhere) that the human brain does not multi-task, that we really can only focus on one thing at a time. Therefore, our modern practice of attending to many things at once is really a practice of switching from one thing to another--and back--very rapidly, and is not a particularly efficient method of getting things done. And, multi-tasking certainly keeps the mind from mining a depth of understanding in any one area.
Re Hawks: Wait til next year.
I read (somewhere) that the human brain does not multi-task, that we really can only focus on one thing at a time. Therefore, our modern practice of attending to many things at once is really a practice of switching from one thing to another--and back--very rapidly, and is not a particularly efficient method of getting things done. And, multi-tasking certainly keeps the mind from mining a depth of understanding in any one area.
Re Hawks: Wait til next year.
4
Go into the canyons of southeastern Utah. No cellphone service down in the deep, lovely canyons. You can communicate with the ancient Anasazi by looking at rock art that somebody with an attention span peck into the desert varnish a thousand years ago.
Hopefully, no armed occupiers will take these places away from us.
Hopefully, no armed occupiers will take these places away from us.
17
It is a nicely balanced article that refuses to succumb to mindless technophobia but I'd go even further and claim that what has changed is not so much the shrinking of the attention span as our growing capacity to process several information streams at once by "cutting" them into smaller chunks. I know I can read several books at once and have done it for years but now with my iPad it is so much easier and more convenient to switch from text, to visuals, to spoken word, to live communication. This said, I'm with Mr.Egan on the advantages of being in Cinque Terre when the West Coast is asleep :)
1
Timothy, I was aghast to read about your smart phone addiction. Your columns are so well-written and thoughtful, it's difficult to imagine you've fallen prey to digital dependence. But travail befalls the best of us. My only advice to you, as a psychiatrist and concerned human being (about the future of our specie) is the turn the thing off, set it aside, fill your mind with those good books, and will yourself to only go online or look at your cell phone twice each day, for one half-hour at a time. The rest of your days should be spent as they were 10 years ago. And you'll see--you won't suffer at all.
3
I hear you, Timothy Egan, and I'm glad you sat down long enough to write this rather than tweeted, something I've resisted, along with a smart phone, not because I'm virtuous or old school, but because I've already been diagnosed with ADHD and need no more encouragement. I once had a boyfriend who vowed to leave flour all over the apartment so he could come back and see my "mouse prints" all over the floor when he got back.
I do like your suggestions, although I lack a green thumb, but reading, ah, reading. Reading for me is meditation, it's a prolonged sigh or pause defying the chatter that surrounds us, it's hiking through a strange, still world with all senses on alert.
Ah, technology, you double-edged sword. Irony alert, after the snowstorm when time allows, I will gritting my teeth and trading in my Fred Flinstone phone for a smarter version.
I do like your suggestions, although I lack a green thumb, but reading, ah, reading. Reading for me is meditation, it's a prolonged sigh or pause defying the chatter that surrounds us, it's hiking through a strange, still world with all senses on alert.
Ah, technology, you double-edged sword. Irony alert, after the snowstorm when time allows, I will gritting my teeth and trading in my Fred Flinstone phone for a smarter version.
Nice article! It took me a long time to get through it, though. I had to keep checking my email.
Do we really need to be getting advice about achieving "sustained concentration" from someone who takes his iPhone into the desert so he won't miss Sarah Palin's latest remarks? Someone who can't wait for his bagel to pop up without checking a screen? I think there might be other people who are doing better with this..
3
Mindless Listicles? What a wonderfully turned phrase.
Closely coupled, one observes, with Endless Babbles.
Judging from the comments, Egan has resonated with a group which is comfortable disconnecting from electrons, and more comfortable connecting with nature and fellow man.
Even the tech-savvy from Cambridge MA observed, "...a fool with a tool is still a fool."
Closely coupled, one observes, with Endless Babbles.
Judging from the comments, Egan has resonated with a group which is comfortable disconnecting from electrons, and more comfortable connecting with nature and fellow man.
Even the tech-savvy from Cambridge MA observed, "...a fool with a tool is still a fool."
5
reading is indeed important and comforting, but so sad for you. existence demands action
1
So you choose merely to exist?
And third: getting out in nature? Or are you not immune from multi-tasking there either?
In any case, there's a stunningly beautiful new rest stop on US 15 in the Mohave. At least it seemed so that night, in that dark, hot, windy desert. Two big beautiful ravens were perched in the rafters, I called to them and they didn't fly away. It was surreal. Of course then my boyfriend walked up and spoiled it. Maybe you will see them, take the time to say hello.
In any case, there's a stunningly beautiful new rest stop on US 15 in the Mohave. At least it seemed so that night, in that dark, hot, windy desert. Two big beautiful ravens were perched in the rafters, I called to them and they didn't fly away. It was surreal. Of course then my boyfriend walked up and spoiled it. Maybe you will see them, take the time to say hello.
2
Sadly, I also couldn't read the whole article, but I am enjoying the shorter comments to catch me up between tasks. And almost every time I click back in to look, there is new layout on the front page. We no longer even share the same news cycle. I fear I will not be able to finish a thought or develop a deeper understanding of anything.
I hope your stay in the Mojave provides you time with nature, rest away from most of the distractions, and time to think. In other words, a luxury vacation.
I hope your stay in the Mojave provides you time with nature, rest away from most of the distractions, and time to think. In other words, a luxury vacation.
3
Sorry, Tim, I won't be at the feeder. Please extend my regrets to all the twits who flit in, scatter the seeds of thoughts onto the ground to see if anything pops up, then impatiently disappear faster than they arrived, searching for what?... they have no clue. The strewn seeds left behind --and untended-- seldom sprout. The few that do find the soil beneath them shallow and woefully lacking in nutrients.
And this counts as communication in the 21st century. Thin to the point of transparency, shallower than a molecule of water in 5-gallon bucket, pointless as a pillow.
Yet you bury yourself in a book that weighs more than a laptop, and indulge the masochism of gardening for the much delayed pleasure of sadistically roasting alive another life form before shredding its flesh between your teeth and dissolving the fragments in an acid pool.
What sort of monster are you? And when is supper? Should I bring a red or a white?
And this counts as communication in the 21st century. Thin to the point of transparency, shallower than a molecule of water in 5-gallon bucket, pointless as a pillow.
Yet you bury yourself in a book that weighs more than a laptop, and indulge the masochism of gardening for the much delayed pleasure of sadistically roasting alive another life form before shredding its flesh between your teeth and dissolving the fragments in an acid pool.
What sort of monster are you? And when is supper? Should I bring a red or a white?
6
One thing I noticed in our Mensa lunch group is that a short attention span can be confused with "not interested" or "yeah, yeah...duh". If one wants to keep the floor one better have something to say that is interesting and not already well known to several of the group.
There is also the "not interested in that stuff" issue. I positively hated the subject matter of the English literature of high school English...a bunch of crummy chick lit assigned by schoolmarms. At home I devoured the books about the explorers and hunters in Africa ca. 1875-1939; and the Arctic explorers; and Kipling's stories and poems; and some of the most accurate historical novels like Michener's 'Hawaii".
There is also the "not interested in that stuff" issue. I positively hated the subject matter of the English literature of high school English...a bunch of crummy chick lit assigned by schoolmarms. At home I devoured the books about the explorers and hunters in Africa ca. 1875-1939; and the Arctic explorers; and Kipling's stories and poems; and some of the most accurate historical novels like Michener's 'Hawaii".
Eight seconds is a long time.
1
And then there is long form journalism, what happened to that.
1
I'm sorry but I couldn't get through this entire op-ed. :(
2
Smart phones are not just destroying attention spans, they're destroying literacy. You could read the newspaper, a long form magazine article, or even a book on a smart phone, but hardly anyone does. When I wait in court, I see my well-educated colleagues who probably once enjoyed reading looking and Pinterest or shopping for useless junk or finding chicken recipes. I bring a book instead.
I'm not a luddite: I read the newspaper online on my computer in the morning, and sometimes a bit more in the evening. I get a little more news from the radio and sometimes the News Hour on PBS. I don't feel the need to read about every asinine thing Sara Palin has to say, especially if I'm doing something as awesome as stargazing.
If you really care about this, kill your smart phone. I still use a flip phone I bought 12 years ago--the only cell phone I've ever owned. It costs me about $100 a year on a pay-as-you-go plan. I don't always leave it on--especially if I'm not on the clock. Occasionally a friend complains that they can't reach me--either because the phone is off or because I don't get reception in my rural town. My reply is usually, "if you can't reach me on my home phone or my work phone, I'm probably at the river."
As for kids' attention spans, try bringing them to the river, swimming though an underwater rock hole, shooting a rapid, and scooping up a handful of sand and gold flakes. Set an example and leave your phone behind.
I'm not a luddite: I read the newspaper online on my computer in the morning, and sometimes a bit more in the evening. I get a little more news from the radio and sometimes the News Hour on PBS. I don't feel the need to read about every asinine thing Sara Palin has to say, especially if I'm doing something as awesome as stargazing.
If you really care about this, kill your smart phone. I still use a flip phone I bought 12 years ago--the only cell phone I've ever owned. It costs me about $100 a year on a pay-as-you-go plan. I don't always leave it on--especially if I'm not on the clock. Occasionally a friend complains that they can't reach me--either because the phone is off or because I don't get reception in my rural town. My reply is usually, "if you can't reach me on my home phone or my work phone, I'm probably at the river."
As for kids' attention spans, try bringing them to the river, swimming though an underwater rock hole, shooting a rapid, and scooping up a handful of sand and gold flakes. Set an example and leave your phone behind.
7
The new history of Rone is worth the attention span.
2
At last I understand why people support Sarah Palin! It doesn't matter that her utterings are incomprehensible since people have forgotten the beginning of her "sentences" before she gets to the end.
(BTW I clock the above at five seconds to read.)
(BTW I clock the above at five seconds to read.)
34
Read 27 books last year that I held in my hands and listed to six with the interminable Vermont driving. I have upped the ante this year to the chagrin of my wife.
2
Here's a link to a May 2015 discussion of that Microsoft study: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11607315/Humans-hav... . There is speculation that our attention span is now one second shorter than goldfish--not sure if it's the live variety or the crackers.
97
Try teaching middle schoolers with less than an eight-second attention span.
57
Great column - one of your best. It recalls for this septuagenarian our minister's reading in the early '60's the following:
This is the age of the half read page
And the quick hash
And the mad dash
The bright night
With the nerves tight
The plane hop
With the brief stop
The lamp tan
In a short span
The big shot
In a good spot
And the brain strain
The heart pain
And the cat naps
Till the spring snaps
And the fun's done
Some things never change - they just morph!
This is the age of the half read page
And the quick hash
And the mad dash
The bright night
With the nerves tight
The plane hop
With the brief stop
The lamp tan
In a short span
The big shot
In a good spot
And the brain strain
The heart pain
And the cat naps
Till the spring snaps
And the fun's done
Some things never change - they just morph!
61
Years ago, I traveled my summers in a VW camper, hiked in the high country and lived for months without a TV. The only sound was the wind when I was driving or the cacophony of nature when I was on foot. I didn't take a camera, believing that, if you take pictures, you aren't really in the moment, and when you look at them, you aren't in that moment either. Over the years though, I gradually accumulated "things", started looking for comfort in my ride and my nights, carried 10,000 songs on my iPod and a digital camera everywhere I went. I take hundreds of photos, many I only look at once. I still read, just downloaded Ardennes 1944 and SPQR, but I just gave myself away a bit, didn't I? "Downloaded" . . Perhaps I need to go back to a metaphorical Walden, listen to a babbling brook (as long as I can get there without falling on a slippery rock), and see how long I can keep the devices and the internal talk turned off. Ohm. Uh, what was I saying. . .
37
I recall an episode in Tracy Kidder's wonderful book "The Soul of a New Machine", in which one of the engineers was charged daily with trying to strip billionths of a second in operating speed from the software. One morning, the rest of the engineers arrived to find him not there, with a message on his screen: "I have gone to live in a commune in Vermont and henceforth will consider no interval of time shorter than a season." The bitter irony is that six months later he was back.....
41
I glue my 8-second attention spans together in a DNA-ish sort of link for tasks or pleasures that I consider important. Like reading. [For instance, I'm currently re-reading Ovid's Metamorphoses.] And cooking. [For example, there's no rushing risotto.] And many other things that I think are worth more than 8 seconds. Maybe the reason our attention spans have shrunk is because there's so much clutter and junk that simply isn't worth spending more than 8 seconds on.
73
This is huge! It is about more than short attention spans. It is about huge changes in our individual relating to other humans, to the natural world and to our abilities to contemplate and hold ideas and values. It shows up in huge changes in sexual relations of youth, in the deterioration of institutions that David Brooks talks about, in materialism, and in family dynamics. We are in the midst of a huge and penetratingly deep, unregulated experiment. Get into the wilderness and the dirt, get into groups of good people, meditate and sing to save yourself.
3
The very idea that we can have instant access to information, ideas, and people on the other side of the world would have been unheard of just 50 years ago. The internet is amazing. No wonder we’re glued to it all the time, but the increasing complexity of our technology and its addictive nature are troubling and for good reason. It’s almost as if internet “tools” were specifically designed to keep our attention focused on them rather than the rest of the world in front of us. Just yesterday, I had to call out to a man in a parking lot who was about to walk into a car backing into him. His eyes were glued to his smartphone, of course. It's as if we've been taken over by an alien life form. (Thanks, Bowie)
It's our nature to be drawn to the new shiny things the internet brings but it's also human to be reflective and questioning. Our inclination to be suspicious of new technology is a healthy one, and identifying activities to counteract our proclivity toward small screens should become part of a healthy mental regimen. Things like gardening and reading long books are great examples. Personally, I prefer drawing, my husband makes models. Our time together is often quiet, but the mood is comforting. We’re the only ones in the room for a while and we’re not sharing each other with the rest of the world.
It's our nature to be drawn to the new shiny things the internet brings but it's also human to be reflective and questioning. Our inclination to be suspicious of new technology is a healthy one, and identifying activities to counteract our proclivity toward small screens should become part of a healthy mental regimen. Things like gardening and reading long books are great examples. Personally, I prefer drawing, my husband makes models. Our time together is often quiet, but the mood is comforting. We’re the only ones in the room for a while and we’re not sharing each other with the rest of the world.
1
I'm in research. The internet can be a blessing for retrieving information but my best and most innovative thoughts have arisen on long walks with my dog.
1
As an antidote to our shrinking attention spans, along with gardening and sports activities I would add cooking. Maybe it's because all three activities occupy our hands. Thank you, Jacques Pepin, for enriching my life nine years ago when I first watched you on TV and was inspired to cook. With all the ingredients before me the unexpected pleasure I've found is the sustained focus and concentration that's required, giving me relief from screen and tablets.
2
I have a rather intimidating book regarding Napoleon in Russia next to my favorite easy chair. I'm not sure how long it's been there. I use it as a place to rest my laptop when I'm not using it to browse the web.
I dumped my cell phone - I refer to them as "idiot leashes.". I never did have time for television. I do not participate in the electronic Potemkin village we call Facebook or any other so-called "social media." I communicate with my children in essay format via email. Our conversations are topical and there is no chit-chat. We talk about our lives and what we are doing and the issues of the day (as often as not prompted by something we saw in the New York Times), but we do it in paragraphs that require thought in their composition. For instance, I highly recommend The Stone column in this morning's paper - it describes the intellectual's conundrum when faced with what some call justifiable violence. And oh yes, I read voraciously - history, philosophy, theology. I cannot imagine a world without such rich information to be savored.
I grieve for those who have fallen into the media trap. Remember, folks, you aren't using technology, it's using you.
I grieve for those who have fallen into the media trap. Remember, folks, you aren't using technology, it's using you.
work the ground
the time factor rendering it automatically profound
so balance these ephemeral lives
against the nonsense of the ether's electronic high fives.
the time factor rendering it automatically profound
so balance these ephemeral lives
against the nonsense of the ether's electronic high fives.
1
The eight-second attention span is actually protective device of both mind and time where most of what Egan would call 'news' is not really newsworthy merely blather of little consequence and even at that usually reported incorrectly.
Jeremiads like this one always fail to separate books from the medium through which they are delivered. As an e-book reader I can carry a hundred books on my travels. I can get the definition of an unfamiliar phrase or find earlier references to an unremembered character. I can see annotations made by other readers. I can read in the dark.
Is my iPad-based book any less a "book" than your paper-based book? Yes, I miss out on the evocative smell (outgassing glue and mold) and the tactile pleasure. Those things matter to some people, and that's fine with me. Enjoy your little book shop. Have some tea and play with the cat. But please don't put me down for enjoying my books on a different medium.
Is my iPad-based book any less a "book" than your paper-based book? Yes, I miss out on the evocative smell (outgassing glue and mold) and the tactile pleasure. Those things matter to some people, and that's fine with me. Enjoy your little book shop. Have some tea and play with the cat. But please don't put me down for enjoying my books on a different medium.
3
I'm with you on this one, Mr. Egan. I don't use any social media on my phone because I don't like the interruptions - and the tracking. I'm on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere only on my PC, which helps me ignore it all much of the time. And right now I have a stack of about 20 excellent books that I'm slowly working my way through. It's glorious, especially since the ground is so cold I couldn't work on any gardening or yardwork even if I wanted to.
I garden, (I also planted tulips). I go to the gym, and I play golf. All are good for the body and, all allow you to escape. In addition, long term projects are great. We have planted over 1,000 trees at our cabin. It has been a joy, the planting, the caring, and the watching them grow. I have not missed any vital messages during these endeavors, and I am healthier to boot.
2
There is research that suggests that those of us who were once avid readers are losing our ability to devote sustained attention to printed matter the more we use devices and screens to access print. I find that it is easier to bypass long articles in newspapers when you don't see how long they are as you would when looking right at a paper edition of, for instance, The NY Times. We lose nuance when we read headlines only.
The attention we devote to hand held devices is time away from conversation, thought and attention to the environment. Drivers used to be warned that quick acceleration and jackrabbit when traffic lights turn green burns more gasoline and saves little time. I wonder now how much gasoline and time is wasted when drivers spend time sitting at a red light to read devices or worse, text. I know that much of my time is wasted waiting behind these people. Drivers who use devices in traffic complicate life for others. The drivers behind them must assess how long to wait before trying to grab signalling with the horn that the light has changed at which point the texter generally decides whether they feel the person behind them is being aggressive or not but of course the texter doesn't know because they don't know when the light change. Miscommunication triggers aggression. What is a Luddite to do?
The attention we devote to hand held devices is time away from conversation, thought and attention to the environment. Drivers used to be warned that quick acceleration and jackrabbit when traffic lights turn green burns more gasoline and saves little time. I wonder now how much gasoline and time is wasted when drivers spend time sitting at a red light to read devices or worse, text. I know that much of my time is wasted waiting behind these people. Drivers who use devices in traffic complicate life for others. The drivers behind them must assess how long to wait before trying to grab signalling with the horn that the light has changed at which point the texter generally decides whether they feel the person behind them is being aggressive or not but of course the texter doesn't know because they don't know when the light change. Miscommunication triggers aggression. What is a Luddite to do?
1
Reading books, especially long ones, is the antidote to what you are railing against.
In the present political environment, escape is vital to one's sanity.
In the present political environment, escape is vital to one's sanity.
1
Mr. Egan's essay brings to mind, oddly enough, the Robert Bly poem "Some Men Find It Hard To Finish Their Sentences," although the problem he is describing is surely not contained to males.
My own fight against the temptations and distractions of the internet includes reading, and also, I've started watching baseball again, which I had abandoned for precisely the reasons Mr. Egan provides. On most nice summer days, I go fishing, which is the best of all because it simultaneously requires you to muster all your powers of concentration but also allows a kind of return to that sense of wonder and excitement you had as a child.
My own fight against the temptations and distractions of the internet includes reading, and also, I've started watching baseball again, which I had abandoned for precisely the reasons Mr. Egan provides. On most nice summer days, I go fishing, which is the best of all because it simultaneously requires you to muster all your powers of concentration but also allows a kind of return to that sense of wonder and excitement you had as a child.
As an enthusiastic gardener and snuggle-down reader, I can't agree more with your suggestions for circumventing screen time. But we must still take tech breaks when not doing anything at all. Those times on vacation, in line at the grocery store, or waiting in your car to pick someone up must be enlisted, too. We must let our minds drift. We must look around us without intent. We must experience the unplanned moment.
2
"Mindfulness" is trending now. But mindfulness is a practice where one sits quietly, aware of breathing, and letting thoughts arise and fall without grabbing them (or letting them grab you). Sitting for ten minutes or sitting for hours, depending on the day. It's thousands of years old, passed on from person to person, and thus tried and true, as well as clearly needed by human beings no matter the era. It's the perfect antidote to shattered attention span, lack of patience, and belief in one's constant stream of thought. Its focus, developed from the deliberate doing of nothing but breathing, can begin to apply to your day when not just sitting, but when doing anything, such as driving, doing the dishes, weeding the garden. It's the simple bringing the mind back to here, over and over. And it slices through the anxiety, the aggression, the mad dash of our minds quite gently, allowing them to subside. So yes, gardening, walking in nature, and any focused craft or art, such as woodworking, sewing or knitting helps cut through the speed, but it is the conscious decision to gently be with what you're doing in the moment, instead of in your head and your screen, that brings the relief. No wonder mindfulness is trending now. We've amped up the distraction level to warp speed!
6
I made a choice not to own any phone that can be carried outside my home. I don't need to be available 24 hours a day. Manchester's bio of Churchill is brilliant. it really gives you a feel for what it was like to both be him and be a privileged citizen of that country during Churchill's incredible life. unfortunately, Manchester's illness and death mean he wasn't solely responsible for volume 3. as for the night sky, i'll be making my fourth trip to new Zealand in march. the sole purpose is to see the milky way on the south island. best night sky I've ever seen.....
1
I strongly urge people to return to listening to record albums, (Vinyl not CDs' or streaming). It requires patience and dedicated time. Yes you have to get up after 20 minutes or so but that is the exercise portion of the endeavor. What you discover is that long ago gem that never made it to your top ten but is still a delight to listen to. If you want to increase your attention span to about 35 to 40 minutes this is a wonderful exercise.
1
I resort to the second antidote,the deep reading-including Mr. Egan's "Big Burn." Which does keep the attention span more vigorous.Palin's moronic remarks were mentioned here .She's turned herself into a product of the digital age,subjecting her audiences to nonsensical verbal equivalents to tweets.Rather than suffer through her verbal tweets when they get aired ,that's one of the occasions I turn off the boob tube and open up a book.
My general impression of Mr. Egan's pieces is vitriolic rants against conservatives in general and Republicans specifically. Nice to read an offering with real information. Please continue in this vein.
Or perhaps this is a measure of our ability to process visual information, a skill that, like most others, improves with training?
Great essay.
Deep thinking, meaningful thinking, figuring things out beyond the superficial level (especially figuring out yourself and your relationships) is generally hard work.
The world is full of people that really seem to want other people to do their thinking for them. Tablets and smart phones often just facilitate the process.
And if something can't be explained in 2 minutes, then people stop learning and listening, not enough focus of course, and more time would require some work on their part. Heaven forbid.
Yes read worthy books, walk in a park, have interesting conversations with strangers, listen to music...and enjoy and ponder. And of course make up your own mind about what is right for you. As Egan reminds us, don't let the mind rot that fills the airwaves every second decide for you.
Deep thinking, meaningful thinking, figuring things out beyond the superficial level (especially figuring out yourself and your relationships) is generally hard work.
The world is full of people that really seem to want other people to do their thinking for them. Tablets and smart phones often just facilitate the process.
And if something can't be explained in 2 minutes, then people stop learning and listening, not enough focus of course, and more time would require some work on their part. Heaven forbid.
Yes read worthy books, walk in a park, have interesting conversations with strangers, listen to music...and enjoy and ponder. And of course make up your own mind about what is right for you. As Egan reminds us, don't let the mind rot that fills the airwaves every second decide for you.
2
Ten years ago I left the fast lane of high tech for a simpler life and to recover the attention span I had lost to ridiculous work hours, travel and stress. I tried meditation to calm my mind but couldn't sit still long enough. And then I began practicing yoga, going on to teach it at the University of Idaho. What a difference!!!
I'm sleeping like a baby without drugs, writing the first of a trilogy of movie scripts. At 56 years of age, my blood pressure is as low as 90 over 58 after teaching 3 yoga classes. My students report improvements in their studies, relief from depression, greater kindness toward themselves and others, confidence outside of practice due to the handstands and one-handed backbends they learn inside Power Yoga classes.
To improve concentration and attention span, I include lots of balancing poses in my own practice and in all of the classes I teach. When you are standing on one foot with your other 3 limbs in challenging positions you can't be thinking about anything but the present moment.
In addition to the yoga and the deep reading like Mr. Egan suggests, I find drawing and sketching a huge help in calming my mind.
I'm sleeping like a baby without drugs, writing the first of a trilogy of movie scripts. At 56 years of age, my blood pressure is as low as 90 over 58 after teaching 3 yoga classes. My students report improvements in their studies, relief from depression, greater kindness toward themselves and others, confidence outside of practice due to the handstands and one-handed backbends they learn inside Power Yoga classes.
To improve concentration and attention span, I include lots of balancing poses in my own practice and in all of the classes I teach. When you are standing on one foot with your other 3 limbs in challenging positions you can't be thinking about anything but the present moment.
In addition to the yoga and the deep reading like Mr. Egan suggests, I find drawing and sketching a huge help in calming my mind.
5
I think that there is a safe space between a phone obsessed teenager and a Franciscan monk, but it is hard to find it sometimes.
94
Attention spans have shrunk because we repeatedly hear the same thing over and over so we tune out or the subject matter does not interest the person.
32
When I was a little girl I had a maternal grandmother who was constantly reading mysteries. She all but "ate" them, my mother said.
Now that I'm old I've found the joy of reading mysteries myself. Finding writers from other countries whose characters and places and have unpronounceable names is a pleasure that takes up hours of concentration and gives me the opportunity while vacuuming or cleaning the kitchen to try and figure out who the murderer is.
I learned how to text only because I have two great-grandkids who do nothing else and believe phone conversations should consist of monosyllabic answers whereas texting seems to bring out the writer in them.
What is Twitter??
Now that I'm old I've found the joy of reading mysteries myself. Finding writers from other countries whose characters and places and have unpronounceable names is a pleasure that takes up hours of concentration and gives me the opportunity while vacuuming or cleaning the kitchen to try and figure out who the murderer is.
I learned how to text only because I have two great-grandkids who do nothing else and believe phone conversations should consist of monosyllabic answers whereas texting seems to bring out the writer in them.
What is Twitter??
1
Tim, I lived in the Mojave for years, and wrote this two years ago. It was published in Pachauri's Energy Future, too hot to handle for US magazines:
http://climatechangepsychology.blogspot.com/2014/07/mike-roddy-solar-sab...
I'll drive down from Northern California this weekend to discuss if you want. There are some great secret places, and be sure to go to Pappy and Harrietts in Yucca Valley on Sunday night.
http://climatechangepsychology.blogspot.com/2014/07/mike-roddy-solar-sab...
I'll drive down from Northern California this weekend to discuss if you want. There are some great secret places, and be sure to go to Pappy and Harrietts in Yucca Valley on Sunday night.
I thought this was a joke, as it provides a link, proposes a meeting and supplies a little Yelp-style tourist advice, thus distracting from these comments within the 8 seconds required to read it. That the link engages one in irritable response to the climate change argument only made it funnier. I think I'll go procrastinate about having a long, quiet walk.
Your name fits your content, Confetti.
Only eight seconds? These short-lived eight seconds of attention span just proves further how primed we have become to get distracted by immediate people and objects around us; cellphone, T.V., radio, etc. Institutions have further perpetuated this ideology of checking your phone once they consider there is downtime. Growing up in the early 90's you wouldn't see a teacher in a classroom take out their phone and scroll through it, now it would be weird for these intellectuals not to. As young kids see their teachers pull out their phones in class, they're inevitably and sub-consciously giving these kids the green light to do the same. Whether it's with or without the teachers consent they are creating an ever-lasting distraction not just in the classroom but in every scenario they find that there is "downtime". These devices have served not just as distractions but objects of temporary gratification. I got my very first cellphone when I went to High School, that's right 15 years old! It was my first time away from home, and taking public transportation had my parents panicked! Kids nowadays are receiving technology at ages that are not needed. My cousin Sara just turned 12 November of last year and she has 3 apple products; i-Phone, i-Pad, and MacBook Air. I'm going to be 23 and I have an i-Phone, and MacBook Pro. This just goes to show you how our ideologies of technology has shifted over time and how these objects that were once wants have become needs for some people.
1
And yet however one deplores it, it's hard to resist. I've often wished for an add-on to my browser that could lock me offline, so I could still use my word processor to write that poem or story. If research were needed, I could do as I did in the pre-Internet days - simply compile a list, 'Things to look up during my next trip to the library,' half of which queries would have metamorphosed or just dropped off, or miraculously effloresced unsuspected new topics.
If there is such a 'lock out' add-on, I could use it.
If there is such a 'lock out' add-on, I could use it.
1
The new skill we have to teach our children is monotasking. It is going to be really difficult to do, not least because most of us have lost that ability ourselves.
140
Will contend that a majority of Americans do not carry and stare at a phone 24/7 or even X/5. Only a self-involved media perpetuates it's own myth of who is looking when and how much. Most people have real things to do.
50
hey jill, go outside in any city and watch people walking by, drive down a country road and watch people running or walking by, i will bet you real money that at the very least 50% are engaged in some sort of interactive device, the other 50 have that ability and will most likely explore it shortly. i am giving 50% as a low number.
i contend that the majority of americans - and others - are so uncomfortable with just being - walking their dog, pushing a childls stroller, just sitting in a cafe or diner
that they need this constant interaction.
i contend that the majority of americans - and others - are so uncomfortable with just being - walking their dog, pushing a childls stroller, just sitting in a cafe or diner
that they need this constant interaction.
5
You may contend, but you have to prove. You don't.
I've seen countless individuals crossing streets looking at their phones instead of watching for cars and--most importantly--bicycle traffic. As a motorist, I yield for pedestrians--even idiots who don't keep a lookout. It's the law.
What also should be the law is prohibiting allegations without proof. But that's the propaganda business!
I've seen countless individuals crossing streets looking at their phones instead of watching for cars and--most importantly--bicycle traffic. As a motorist, I yield for pedestrians--even idiots who don't keep a lookout. It's the law.
What also should be the law is prohibiting allegations without proof. But that's the propaganda business!
3
I'm glad NH has held on to the 20th century, and I don't mean that ironically. I rode home on BART the other day and of the 34 people I was able to see from where I was standing at least 30 were texting. I nearly hit a cyclist in the Mission because he was on his phone and didn't notice he was passing through a controlled intersection. At Davies Symphony Hall (where the regular audience are not millenials) not only were the 2 of the four seniors in front of me on their cell phones before Itzhak Perlman started playing, they also had turned their phones back on within moments of intermission beginning. I am as bad as the rest...oh wait, my wife just sent me a text...
I wanted to grow up and be an essayist or the modern day equivalent, a columnist. But after working construction in the Third World realized the world was illiterate so I switched to mass media studies back in the early 70's. During my decades working at a university I watched the first PC come out, and was angry when my college refused to fund a project developed by reference librarians to develop the first internet as a non-commercial entity. The tech ended up going commercial and the most valuable thing sold on the internet is your eyes. We, the consumers of the web, are the product sold, not the gadgets and devices and resort trips and shoes and magic pills, You and I are the product sold. Our 8 second attention span is valuable so they can switch to another paying ad quicker and make more money.
2
I like the solution you've found for yourself, the deep reading or gardening.
Since digital addiction is similar to substance addiction in that dopamine pleasure centers demand more and more of the stimuli to stay in a comfort zone, perhaps the "cure" or arrestment at least of the addictive tendency is to periodically stash the device in a far away place to quell the desire.
When I have my phone in hand, surfing begets surfing, even if I'm totally bored, because the process itself--certainly not the trivia I encounter--that keeps me glued to the screen. But for me, I find I can still maintain laser focus when I'm up against a writing deadline and I'm immersed in composing a piece of copy. That has worked for me ever since I got my first writing job, when once I sat hand-writing a direct mail letter while my significant other was in the ER, with a life-threatening condition. Talk about concentration.
Digital holidays are good provided we take them. As is forgetting one's phone when going out. It's much more fun to reconnect when there's real news to explore, rather than rehashing the same old same old.
The only other thing that diverts me from digital is classical music, and I can't wait to enter Symphony Hall this afternoon where I'll be phone free for 3+ hours. The Boston Symphony did us all a big favor awhile back when it stopped free access to wifi (I'm cheap).
Getting unplugged does require discipline. I think there's even an app for that.
Since digital addiction is similar to substance addiction in that dopamine pleasure centers demand more and more of the stimuli to stay in a comfort zone, perhaps the "cure" or arrestment at least of the addictive tendency is to periodically stash the device in a far away place to quell the desire.
When I have my phone in hand, surfing begets surfing, even if I'm totally bored, because the process itself--certainly not the trivia I encounter--that keeps me glued to the screen. But for me, I find I can still maintain laser focus when I'm up against a writing deadline and I'm immersed in composing a piece of copy. That has worked for me ever since I got my first writing job, when once I sat hand-writing a direct mail letter while my significant other was in the ER, with a life-threatening condition. Talk about concentration.
Digital holidays are good provided we take them. As is forgetting one's phone when going out. It's much more fun to reconnect when there's real news to explore, rather than rehashing the same old same old.
The only other thing that diverts me from digital is classical music, and I can't wait to enter Symphony Hall this afternoon where I'll be phone free for 3+ hours. The Boston Symphony did us all a big favor awhile back when it stopped free access to wifi (I'm cheap).
Getting unplugged does require discipline. I think there's even an app for that.
5
"Barrow's latest plotting" on 'Downton Abbey'? Isn't that, like, sooo 2 years ago?
nope, new season, barrows in fine form, 3rd episode coming up.
Timothy,
Here is what you do. Take your turn-you-in-to-a-moronic-zombie phone, lay it on the floor and stamp firmly on it until it is crushed completely. Then, get yourself a flip-phone in case you need to TALK to other human beings.
Then, periodically, whenever you happen to be sitting in front of a TV or a computer, catch up on what is going on the world. Why? Because, if you stay connected all of the time, wherever your body is physically, you are not there. So, as long as you are "connected", you basically do not exist.
It is an amazing world wherever you are -- if you are actually there.
Here is what you do. Take your turn-you-in-to-a-moronic-zombie phone, lay it on the floor and stamp firmly on it until it is crushed completely. Then, get yourself a flip-phone in case you need to TALK to other human beings.
Then, periodically, whenever you happen to be sitting in front of a TV or a computer, catch up on what is going on the world. Why? Because, if you stay connected all of the time, wherever your body is physically, you are not there. So, as long as you are "connected", you basically do not exist.
It is an amazing world wherever you are -- if you are actually there.
6
Oh, so you're the guy who makes me miss the left turn signal since you aren't paying attention.
How do you know what's REALLY going on in the world if you don't use that time in the checkout line to see what the Kardashians are up to?
How do you know what's REALLY going on in the world if you don't use that time in the checkout line to see what the Kardashians are up to?
1
I am on Bus4You en route from Göteborg to Linköping. The upper deck (Prime, best seats in the world, single file seating on my side) is packed and everyone in sight is on line, including me. But after reading comments at the Magazine article on the Syrian refugee family- Americans hate refugees, cannot accept the fact that the USA has taken in almost 2500 in all of 2015 (Sweden takes more than that each week)...and on an on, I realize that responding is futile.
So I am turning off this laptop off, taking out a real hard cover book and reading it with concentration.
Try it.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen-USA-SE
So I am turning off this laptop off, taking out a real hard cover book and reading it with concentration.
Try it.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Dual citizen-USA-SE
1
You are so self-absorbed, Larry, you think that people in the USA know the name of the local bus service in LINKOPING SWEDEN -- or care what it is -- or need to know what kind of seat you like to take, if it is single or double file, and how many Swedes are waiting in line for the bus.
You are a perfect example of total self-absorption. I'll bet you use your smartphone to take pictures of everything you eat, and post it to your "friends".
BTW: your precious Sweden will be destroyed by Muslim immigration and it will be YOUR fault for enabling it.
You are a perfect example of total self-absorption. I'll bet you use your smartphone to take pictures of everything you eat, and post it to your "friends".
BTW: your precious Sweden will be destroyed by Muslim immigration and it will be YOUR fault for enabling it.
1
Stargazing, especially before dawn at the quietest time of the night, will slow your pace and focus your attention, if you're lucky enough to live somewhere where stars are visible. When a meteor streaks across the sky, you may reflect on how that one second, or less, imprints itself on your brain . So different from the constant bombardment of flash ads, tweets, and the rest. Anyway, look at the bright side, Mr. Egan, you don't have to worry about watching a Seahawks game this weekend ;)
3
I live on a Rez in NM and choose to disconnect by looking at the sky (and planets sometimes)....beautiful and relaxing. We all need some kind of disconnect.
"Next up is a new history of the Roman Empire." Author? Title? I can give it 8+ seconds, at least.
1
SPQR by Mary Beard.
1
Outstanding! Outstanding! Enjoy your trip to the Mojave and I hope the
Seahawks O-line improves. Good luck with getting a column this good
down to 150 characters for your Twitter feed bro. Ain't happenin...
Seahawks O-line improves. Good luck with getting a column this good
down to 150 characters for your Twitter feed bro. Ain't happenin...
1
So many long comments...
1
So, you have a personal quality that you find irksome, you went and found one study, and then you apply this to make a blanket diagnosis of the whole country? Did David Brooks farm this column out to you?
I'd like to meet up for some bouldering. Where you gonna be?
2
Look in the mirror. Where are the multi-page news analysis of yesteryear? The NYT has not gone all the way to the USA Today (pretty pictures, sort articles, small words), but it is on the path.
A suggestion or two - Throw your TV out the window. Go for a walk, leave your cell phone at home.
A suggestion or two - Throw your TV out the window. Go for a walk, leave your cell phone at home.
4
I believe William Manchester also wrote A World Lit by Fire, another excellent winter read.
1
This native Californian finds the idea of a New Yoahker who works in NYC urban hell wandering the high desert of CA vastly amusing. A bit of advice: whether flying into Bakersfield or Ontario, don't tell the locals where you're from. CA's demographic interior is much redder than you think - only the coast is blue - and you might as well be from Mars to the locals.
1
I think Mr. Egan is from Washington state, and he has spent much of his career covering the West - I think he can handle himself in the high desert.
2
why? are they going to beat him? spit on him? refuse to interact in any way with him? see, thats the problem - divisiveness based on personal beliefs. you would think there would be just a hair more tolerance......
For the past fifteen years, I have spent a week every summer attending a workshop with a small group of people who share a common interest.
Deep in the Adirondack Park, in upstate New York - we assemble at a private enclave situated across a small lake, which is accessible only by boat...
The enclave has no televisions, radios or telephones on-site. It also happens to be in one of those convenient "dead zones" for cellular and Wifi connectivity -- which means no internet, texts, or even cellphone voice calls -
The only option is across the lake, at the main house, where there is a landline...
We remain happily cut off from such important events as bon mots from the mouth of Sarah Palin -- or whatever may be "trending" on social media -
Sure - over the years a few important events have occurred during that time -- Famous people have died - Supreme Court justices have announced their retirement - and we didn't learn about it until days later...
For those of us who return to this place every year - generally well-educated and successful people - some with advanced degrees and published content...as well as families back home - we consider this to be our real "vacation"
While there, we can spend all our attention devoted to our shared passion -- as well as to each other -- fact to face, in real time...
I highly recommend it --
Deep in the Adirondack Park, in upstate New York - we assemble at a private enclave situated across a small lake, which is accessible only by boat...
The enclave has no televisions, radios or telephones on-site. It also happens to be in one of those convenient "dead zones" for cellular and Wifi connectivity -- which means no internet, texts, or even cellphone voice calls -
The only option is across the lake, at the main house, where there is a landline...
We remain happily cut off from such important events as bon mots from the mouth of Sarah Palin -- or whatever may be "trending" on social media -
Sure - over the years a few important events have occurred during that time -- Famous people have died - Supreme Court justices have announced their retirement - and we didn't learn about it until days later...
For those of us who return to this place every year - generally well-educated and successful people - some with advanced degrees and published content...as well as families back home - we consider this to be our real "vacation"
While there, we can spend all our attention devoted to our shared passion -- as well as to each other -- fact to face, in real time...
I highly recommend it --
3
The new, fancy coloring books with their pencils in a 100 shades were supposed to help people unplug, chill out and be creative with minimal concentration.
I have asked a few friends who have these books how their coloring is coming along. None completed even one drawing as it became as tedious as working a jig saw puzzle. People of all ages have become terrified of being bored.
I have asked a few friends who have these books how their coloring is coming along. None completed even one drawing as it became as tedious as working a jig saw puzzle. People of all ages have become terrified of being bored.
4
Attention span may attention span may be 8 seconds but presentation length is down to 1/2 to one second and has been ever since MTV was invented with singer/dancers jumping from a studio to the barren desert without skip in a beat in one second intervals. Even if I had liked the music which , being a 40s big band lover, I didn't, I couldn't have stood the constant jumping around. The coming attractions at movie houses do the same thing and being old I have no time to even know what I'm seeing. It's all pretty stupid but the quick violent action relieves many new movies of the requirement for either a real story or any dialog.
4
Yes! Technology has done severe damage to human interaction. Direct phone lines and Voice Mail, and the pager, got it started. One no longer got the voice of a friendly corporate operator - we got and get impersonal recordings or beeps. The public seemed to be horrified when they read an article about early Microsoft workers who e-mailed each other in the next cubicle instead of getting up and talking face-to-face. And we let these unsocial "geeks" take over our world. Thank heavens many people are like Mr. Egan and finally starting to take back their lives. I do not and will not have a "smart" phone so everyone with a computer can follow my every move and hear my every thought - seems smart to me.
4
but you do have a computer wherein everyone with a computer can follow my every move and hear my every thought - seems smart to me.
1
But the cats! You're missing out on the cats.
Truth be told, I really prefer to read newspapers the old-fashioned way, laid out in front of me on the kitchen table with a cup of coffee nearby, so that I can devote real time and attention to what is printed under my nose. That said, I've been known to take the printed copy of The Times back to the computer in order to post comments. It takes time, and sometimes quite a bit, and most generally, I get through the news and opinion pages, and about half of the business news.
But that time and effort devoted to understanding what I'm actually reading is so far superior to reading the same material on a smart phone or on a larger computer screen, that it's well worth the effort. The only real use I have for the computer is to dictate comments using speech recognition software, which speeds things up quite a bit.
Computers waste huge amounts of time, especially when there are embedded videos on screen. Avoiding distractions is kind of like rush hour driving in that it takes concentrated effort not to allow my mind and eyes to wander.
Back when I was an undergraduate half a century ago, I took a well-known speed reading course would serve me well over the years, including four decades of law practice. But it is harder nowadays when everything is online making reading, and thinking, and proofreading much more physically demanding. When I have something really important to work on, I need to print it out, and to read and edit it the old-fashioned way.
But that time and effort devoted to understanding what I'm actually reading is so far superior to reading the same material on a smart phone or on a larger computer screen, that it's well worth the effort. The only real use I have for the computer is to dictate comments using speech recognition software, which speeds things up quite a bit.
Computers waste huge amounts of time, especially when there are embedded videos on screen. Avoiding distractions is kind of like rush hour driving in that it takes concentrated effort not to allow my mind and eyes to wander.
Back when I was an undergraduate half a century ago, I took a well-known speed reading course would serve me well over the years, including four decades of law practice. But it is harder nowadays when everything is online making reading, and thinking, and proofreading much more physically demanding. When I have something really important to work on, I need to print it out, and to read and edit it the old-fashioned way.
5
I'd love to be reading the Times on paper, but I travel and even when I'm home delivery in my neighborhood is poor. So I'm writing this on an iPad, but I don't own a smartphone and even my flipphone is turned off a lot of the time. Everything in its place and time, especially information.
2
"Thank you brain science and the Internet" so saith the entrepreneurs of the Internet and electronic devices.
We all thought in the tech industry in the 80s and 90s the Internet was going to bring us a new and explosive golden age of information and intellect.
But the expansion of brain science in the service of advertising and the Internet has been feeding the very thing that we all had hoped expanded science and information would save us from... ourselves....our inner subconscious urges and the "eight-second attention span".
And now we are in a vicious cycle of news, images and information in the form of 8 second brain hits... in the case of liberals, the next stupid thing Sarah Palin says.
And has anyone noticed that Sarah Palin's media personality is just a series of 8 second hits? I wonder why?
We all thought in the tech industry in the 80s and 90s the Internet was going to bring us a new and explosive golden age of information and intellect.
But the expansion of brain science in the service of advertising and the Internet has been feeding the very thing that we all had hoped expanded science and information would save us from... ourselves....our inner subconscious urges and the "eight-second attention span".
And now we are in a vicious cycle of news, images and information in the form of 8 second brain hits... in the case of liberals, the next stupid thing Sarah Palin says.
And has anyone noticed that Sarah Palin's media personality is just a series of 8 second hits? I wonder why?
2
It brought a tidal wave of information but certainly not intellect.
1
The intellect has to come from within.
I taught high school English for a few years and I saw, first hand, the effects on students raised, from birth, with the wonders of intellectual immediate gratification.
It seems that the human species has a natural evolutionary tendency toward "laziness" - call it efficiency or conservation of energy - which has led to many amazing inventions: the wheel, tools, agriculture, automobiles, increasingly sophisticated "labor saving devices" etc.
But these inventions were meant to replace physical effort, not mental, and their invention required the application of the very mental processes we now seek to replace - and that Mr. Egan so eloquently writes about - studying, deep thinking; critical thought and debate; the ability to apply acquired knowledge to novel situations; the effort needed to acquire a broad "liberal" education in fields not directly related to your main field or "major"; perseverance, often - no usually - in the face of great obstacles and much ridicule. The willingness to be bored, and to "spend concentrated time on a task without becoming distracted."
I read someplace that it is ironic that those who most use the internet would be least capable of inventing it.
As Arthur Schopenhaur said, long before the digital age, "Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see."
Only the human mind can see the unseeable target.
It seems that the human species has a natural evolutionary tendency toward "laziness" - call it efficiency or conservation of energy - which has led to many amazing inventions: the wheel, tools, agriculture, automobiles, increasingly sophisticated "labor saving devices" etc.
But these inventions were meant to replace physical effort, not mental, and their invention required the application of the very mental processes we now seek to replace - and that Mr. Egan so eloquently writes about - studying, deep thinking; critical thought and debate; the ability to apply acquired knowledge to novel situations; the effort needed to acquire a broad "liberal" education in fields not directly related to your main field or "major"; perseverance, often - no usually - in the face of great obstacles and much ridicule. The willingness to be bored, and to "spend concentrated time on a task without becoming distracted."
I read someplace that it is ironic that those who most use the internet would be least capable of inventing it.
As Arthur Schopenhaur said, long before the digital age, "Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see."
Only the human mind can see the unseeable target.
10
Thanks for the thoughtful essay, which I read on my iPad while laying in bed before jumping up to take my morning shower at my home in the rural intermountain West. This has become a new routine for me -- checking emails and news and today's calendar while not yet dressed for "work." Good thing? Bad thing? Hard to say. But, I do enjoy feeling a connection with the world through technology that allows me to chose my sources of information, whether these be print, electronic, or social media. My wind wanders, yes, but I do a lot of thinking and exploring while caressing my tablet still in my pajamas.
5
Thanks for a vox clamatis desierto--as Abbey would say. These luddites are all off base. At least I read the NYT these days, largely because it comes inexpensively and conveniently to my iPhone each morning before I get out of bed. Bully for texhnology & the internet!
I would add a third antidote to short attention spans: playing a musical instrument. It requires intense concentration and fires up multiple parts of the human brain in a way that few other activities can match. And it makes me happy.
173
YES!! I've retooled myself as a clarinetist after 30+ years on the tuba, and enjoy playing jazz standards and improvising and lose track of time during every session.
I also teach music in a K-8 charter school. Attention and concentration is what I love about my classes. My kids' attention flits from one shiny object to another in band class, until I say "1-2-Ready-Go" and then they are immersed in the black dots on the white paper.
I also teach music in a K-8 charter school. Attention and concentration is what I love about my classes. My kids' attention flits from one shiny object to another in band class, until I say "1-2-Ready-Go" and then they are immersed in the black dots on the white paper.
50
you are happy playing a musical instrument bc you are temporarily distracted from th meaninglessness of existence and th futility of all endeavors
but it always returns and usually quite soon
but it always returns and usually quite soon
12
Until, of course, one gets distracted by the pretty girls dancing in front of your bandstand. The the bass player has to yell in your ear so you get back to the right spot in the song. And by then the drummer has sped things up.....
Oh, well
Oh, well
3
"A survey of Canadian media consumption by Microsoft concluded that the average attention span had fallen to eight seconds, down from 12 in the year 2000. We now have a shorter attention span than goldfish, the study found."
Good heavens, then how much lower is the attention span in the U.S.? I listen to "As It Happens" on Canadian radio while cooking dinner and can testify that the interviews, questions, and humor are longer and more nuanced than Americans are conditioned to.
Teaching in the college classroom for more than 35 years, I certainly don't dispute this information about our declining attention spans, or Egan's comments about our growing addiction to digital de-vices.
With the digital age has come so many missed people opportunities. It is so sad to see parents in the grocery store with some adorable toddler in the cart eager for people contact while the parent blabs away on the cell phone not even making eye contact with the child. Families climb into the car for a long trip and in goes the DVD movie for the young children, while the teenagers hunch over their smart phones and i-pads typing away. We can only hope the driver has sufficient self-discipline to focus on the road, ever wary of the road racers going 80-90 mph and other digitally distracted drivers.
But I am sure there are still families that use long car ride to play games, sing silly songs, and deal with sibling rivalry--quaintly known as social interaction.
Take walks, unplug & tune "in"
Good heavens, then how much lower is the attention span in the U.S.? I listen to "As It Happens" on Canadian radio while cooking dinner and can testify that the interviews, questions, and humor are longer and more nuanced than Americans are conditioned to.
Teaching in the college classroom for more than 35 years, I certainly don't dispute this information about our declining attention spans, or Egan's comments about our growing addiction to digital de-vices.
With the digital age has come so many missed people opportunities. It is so sad to see parents in the grocery store with some adorable toddler in the cart eager for people contact while the parent blabs away on the cell phone not even making eye contact with the child. Families climb into the car for a long trip and in goes the DVD movie for the young children, while the teenagers hunch over their smart phones and i-pads typing away. We can only hope the driver has sufficient self-discipline to focus on the road, ever wary of the road racers going 80-90 mph and other digitally distracted drivers.
But I am sure there are still families that use long car ride to play games, sing silly songs, and deal with sibling rivalry--quaintly known as social interaction.
Take walks, unplug & tune "in"
37
The pre-Christian Celts left only inscriptions, but were opposed to writing because they believed it made the mind lazy. A story telling culture flourished. Memory, imagination, curiosity and illumination were the outgrowth. When writing was adopted, it was done so as art as much as it was for the conveyance of knowledge. Ink, paper and typeset extended the mind and enlarged the culture. The smart phone and other tech gadgets enlarge the reward centers of the brain, but shrink memory by outsourcing it; increase the repository of knowledge, less its wise application; and, spur instant self gratification over the savoring of deep understanding won of persistent inquiry. No doubt they are convenient, may be used to enhance culture and are here to stay. Shall we use them as an unnecessary emotional prosthetic that atrophies the mind and the social sphere or as an intellectual force multiplier as did the Celtic descendants with the written word.
10
Tim has greater confidence in the reception available in the midst of the Mojave than I do; but good luck at keeping abreast of Palin wisdoms on the advisability of a Trump candidacy.
It may be that the trash flows, unfiltered, along with the relevant stuff, in an eternal stream; but the tools, as predicted, are becoming more and more effective at tagging what a specific individual regards as relevant and delivering it while masking the spam; and we can even automate the prioritization of what gets through and ignore the items that don’t make the highest priority cuts. In other words, the sheer quantity of information available to us needn’t become a distraction that reduces our current eight-second attention span yet further. My own recipe for a diminishing attention span is Tolstoy.
Everything does change, though, perhaps too rapidly. I will miss Carson as butler on “Downton Abbey”. But Tim may not have heard that Twitter is considering a more expansive, less ironical presentation format.
I’m losing sufficient focus to dedicate sustained thought to this series of complaints about the distractions an ever-more-complex reality presents to hikers of the Cinque Terre or scorpion-avoiders in the Mojave. I have emails to attend to.
It may be that the trash flows, unfiltered, along with the relevant stuff, in an eternal stream; but the tools, as predicted, are becoming more and more effective at tagging what a specific individual regards as relevant and delivering it while masking the spam; and we can even automate the prioritization of what gets through and ignore the items that don’t make the highest priority cuts. In other words, the sheer quantity of information available to us needn’t become a distraction that reduces our current eight-second attention span yet further. My own recipe for a diminishing attention span is Tolstoy.
Everything does change, though, perhaps too rapidly. I will miss Carson as butler on “Downton Abbey”. But Tim may not have heard that Twitter is considering a more expansive, less ironical presentation format.
I’m losing sufficient focus to dedicate sustained thought to this series of complaints about the distractions an ever-more-complex reality presents to hikers of the Cinque Terre or scorpion-avoiders in the Mojave. I have emails to attend to.
7
Now you're on to something. Reading is definitely back. Which is why it's so much more productive to watch TV with the sound off and closed captioning on. That way, you can simultaneously keep up with the visionsphere and the Twittersphere. It used to be called "multitasking" in ancient times when nuns were doing it on IBM computers. Now there are almost no nuns and IBM has long since sold its computer business to the Chinese, but we've been rescued by societal affinity for the deaf that has also accommodated those of us with the attention span of a nanosecond.
2
Studying a new language (French), I have found that with certain DVD formats, you can change the captioning from English to other languages. Has helped me become more fluent.
Consuming Canadian media in eight seconds sounds like watching "Coach's Corner" on Hockey Night in Canada just to see what bizarre new suit Don Cherry is wearing this week, then looking away from the TV and back to your phone.
4
Along with global climate change, this is the greatest threat to the human species. Both problems are a far greater threat than terrorism. Along with attention span goes secure attachment. Every time I see an infant who's with a parent on a device, I cringe inside. That parent is not present, and that baby is being shaped by that. Even when walking a baby in a stroller there's a qualitative difference between being there and not being there, and the baby experiences that and its ego is formed on that basis. There are many books on the topic, but "A Theory of Love" is a terrific little book about how secure attachment and emotional maturity happen on a neurobiological basis, and how the brain learns. If you understand the mechanisms of attachment, and the results of not having enough of it (addiction, schizoid splitting, anxiety among them), it's difficult to ignore the signs that we are losing the best of our humanity to mindless distraction. I've been biking to work for decades... I have to be vigilant to stay safe and have always seen people oblivious to what's around them. But what used to be maybe one event per ride of some disembodied person doing something stupid has turned into dozens. Even when people aren't on their devices, you can see the level of attention that has disappeared in the way they walk, cross the street and so forth. I recommend taking an aim - turn the thing off 10 minutes a day and increase time as you can do it. That or give up your humanity.
69
The possibility of calculating average attention span of a group of people, nation? Notions of an eight second average attention span?
I neither know clearly what is meant by attention span here not to mention how to arrive at an average of such or even calculate the attention span of a single individual. I only know myself. When I become interested in something I can go up to an hour or two being interested in it, and when I stop being interested I am often still thinking about it and plan to return to it later (holding a thought in mind or progress of a novel or thinking about a song on guitar I was working on).
What I have always hated, feel spoils attention, is television. When a television is on the noise of it commands an area, spreads throughout an entire house--I actually have to wear earplugs so as not to hear sirens of cops wailing on television, the idiotic professional voices, commercials, etc. But I have found no apparent correlation between being able to concentrate and having success in life. I read quite a bit and have obviously written this but I have had no success in life. And I can go for a drive and see that apparently thousands of people own homes, have obviously more success than I do whether a television is on or not or whether they are glued to a computer device. Maybe I would do better in life with an eight second attention span. I would go so far as to say my life would be drastically improved--I would be offered a job--if not thinking at all.
I neither know clearly what is meant by attention span here not to mention how to arrive at an average of such or even calculate the attention span of a single individual. I only know myself. When I become interested in something I can go up to an hour or two being interested in it, and when I stop being interested I am often still thinking about it and plan to return to it later (holding a thought in mind or progress of a novel or thinking about a song on guitar I was working on).
What I have always hated, feel spoils attention, is television. When a television is on the noise of it commands an area, spreads throughout an entire house--I actually have to wear earplugs so as not to hear sirens of cops wailing on television, the idiotic professional voices, commercials, etc. But I have found no apparent correlation between being able to concentrate and having success in life. I read quite a bit and have obviously written this but I have had no success in life. And I can go for a drive and see that apparently thousands of people own homes, have obviously more success than I do whether a television is on or not or whether they are glued to a computer device. Maybe I would do better in life with an eight second attention span. I would go so far as to say my life would be drastically improved--I would be offered a job--if not thinking at all.
7
Human beings like to tell themselves, they invent technology, so therefore they are in control of it, and in the broad scheme of things, technological evolution follows the needs and discoveries of human evolution.
I strongly suspect it is actually the reverse. Human evolution follows technological evolution, for better or for worse, and much like dogs have evolved alongside humans.
I for one welcome our approaching mechanical overlords.
I strongly suspect it is actually the reverse. Human evolution follows technological evolution, for better or for worse, and much like dogs have evolved alongside humans.
I for one welcome our approaching mechanical overlords.
2
right thinking will be rewarded
wrong thinking will be punished
wrong thinking will be punished
It's like all new technological advances or social innovations: each individual has to learn to deal with it and to integrate it into his/her lifestyle in a healthy way. I do know friends/acquaintances who have a serious smartphone-tied deficit disorder, they are simply incapable of holding a conversation for more than a couple of minutes without pulling out their phones.
This behavior is absolutely parallel with being an alcoholic, drug addict, or TV obsessive. I've never owned a television in my life, for the very reasons Mr. Egan gives here: I always found it to be a dictatorial assault on the senses.
But I love my iPhone, and I bring it everywhere, including into the woods. I have little problem controlling my use of it, though, and it has found a healthy place in my lifestyle. It has become a valued and essential part of my life, just like having my car (or cah, as we say in this part of the country
This behavior is absolutely parallel with being an alcoholic, drug addict, or TV obsessive. I've never owned a television in my life, for the very reasons Mr. Egan gives here: I always found it to be a dictatorial assault on the senses.
But I love my iPhone, and I bring it everywhere, including into the woods. I have little problem controlling my use of it, though, and it has found a healthy place in my lifestyle. It has become a valued and essential part of my life, just like having my car (or cah, as we say in this part of the country
4
I am committed to making good use of my communication devices: Reading the NY Times online, keeping in email communication with my clients, and exchanging texts with my grandchildren. But I am determined that my computer, laptop, tablet, smart phone, etc. are no more than tools to be used when necessary and appropriate. It takes some discipline. One of the frustrations of having friends who are technophiles at the mercy of their devices is withstanding the evangelism that seems to come with the addiction. It makes some of my colleagues furious that I do not always answer my phone or texts, that my smart phone is often turned off for hours at a time (certainly all night) and that I have the nerve to prohibit phones at the dinner table in my home. Some of my most addicted colleagues insist on trying to convert me with the zeal of the most enraptured religious missionaries.
Over Christmas, a two-and-a-half year old in the family showed me the "new tablet" Santa had brought him (an obvious implication that there had been an "old tablet"). He spent hours playing games on it, and his mom told me that temper tantrums ensue when he cannot access the Internet, especially in the car. But she explained to him that sometimes there is no wi fi, which has become a catch phrase that placates him. For me, there was something ominous - and a bit creepy - about a tiny kid running around mumbling, "No wi fi, no wi fi."
Over Christmas, a two-and-a-half year old in the family showed me the "new tablet" Santa had brought him (an obvious implication that there had been an "old tablet"). He spent hours playing games on it, and his mom told me that temper tantrums ensue when he cannot access the Internet, especially in the car. But she explained to him that sometimes there is no wi fi, which has become a catch phrase that placates him. For me, there was something ominous - and a bit creepy - about a tiny kid running around mumbling, "No wi fi, no wi fi."
2
Ha. Until 6 months ago, we did not have cell phone service or more than one television channel at either of our homes and our internet and television now comes over fiber optic provided by our rural telephone cooperative installed just two years ago. The reaction of visitors being out of touch over the past three decades has been priceless. For our friends who work in the upper echelons, their relief at being able to truthfully tell their home base that they would really really be out of touch was palpable when we left town and almost all of them want to return whenever they can get away. To our children and grandchildren hard wired to their iphone, their bewilderment lasted from 24 to 48 hours, after which they realized they had to create their own fun and interact with real people. After a week, the kids were changed individuals. Try it some time. The best places are out of doors away from people.
30
Where do you live? Please give exact directions. I am packing my suitcase right now.
I'd love to live somewhere with no digital anything.
I'd love to live somewhere with no digital anything.
1
I am 73, retired, an avid reader, I don't own a smartphone because the last thing I need is another diversion. Attention spans have shrunk because we are overwhelmed by a sea of baubles. Too many toys, too many choices are eating our imaginations for breakfast. We think less than is necessary to survive much longer. I prefer, now, the company of dead authors, whom I interrupt with a bookmark, only when I walk the country lanes. To think. To enjoy breathing, the sight and sound of birds, the life without escape.
213
Owning a smartphone, which is about all you can get now for a cell phone anyway, doesn't have to be so terrible. Sometimes they come in really handy. I suggest a low end Android, which aren't so slick they are addictive but can hold a lot of handy information or find a phone number and call it or find some store when you are already on your way etc.
What I see on the subway, where thank god there isn't cell service when underground YET, is half the people playing some stupid game on their phone instead of reading or watching a movie or something with actual content.
And yes, as commented here already, phones and tablets can quickly be understood by toddlers and who knows where that is going to go.
What I see on the subway, where thank god there isn't cell service when underground YET, is half the people playing some stupid game on their phone instead of reading or watching a movie or something with actual content.
And yes, as commented here already, phones and tablets can quickly be understood by toddlers and who knows where that is going to go.
The new technology is just a set of tools. New and rapidly developing tools that we are learning what to do with as we go. It is inevitable that at times they will be used for frivolous, self-destructive, or even dangerous purposes, as the wielders of these tools are variously frivolous, self-destructive, or dangerous. We're like 7-year-olds who have found a Swiss army knife and are playing around with it unsupervised, discovering by trial and error what the possibilities and dangers are.
I love my tablet. I have a whole library of books that I can carry with me in something that weighs a few ounces. I have been on a mailing list that unites several thousand professionals from all over the world and enables us to share information, ideas, and experiences on a daily basis. I have put together a database that enables me to save hours of time each week in my work. And, yes, also Al Qaeda and drug cartels now have ways of coordinating their activities that were unimaginable 25 years ago, and millions of people can waste hours getting instant updates to the lives of celebrities, and some sad folks can spend 10 hours a day playing multi-user action games and never have an actual life.
They're just tools. We tend to focus on the tools, rather than who uses them and how. A fool with a tool is still a fool.
I love my tablet. I have a whole library of books that I can carry with me in something that weighs a few ounces. I have been on a mailing list that unites several thousand professionals from all over the world and enables us to share information, ideas, and experiences on a daily basis. I have put together a database that enables me to save hours of time each week in my work. And, yes, also Al Qaeda and drug cartels now have ways of coordinating their activities that were unimaginable 25 years ago, and millions of people can waste hours getting instant updates to the lives of celebrities, and some sad folks can spend 10 hours a day playing multi-user action games and never have an actual life.
They're just tools. We tend to focus on the tools, rather than who uses them and how. A fool with a tool is still a fool.
23
If this is what the digital age is doing to the attention spans of grown adults, people in their 50's, let's say, just imagine the effects on the current generation of children, who have grown up on smartphones and iPads. I taught middle and high school social studies for 30 years, and watched this unfold through the 90's as AOL came out, and then after the millennium with Smartphones, et al. My theory is that the brains of small children are being permanently altered in terms of neurology. The circuitry of their brains are different. Who knows where this will be in 30 years.
13
I already see it in my grandchildren. They are young enough to have grown up with cellphones and smart phones. They are not like their parents, or any other kids I have raised, nurtured, baby sat for over my lifetime. They have no attention span -- cannot read a book, even a child's primer -- get bored with ANYTHING in 10 seconds -- can't even ride in the car on a short trip without a phone -- have to play games on the phone or Xbox or Playstation ALL THE TIME, or get very bored and restless. They only read for school, and only on the threat of bad grades -- they dislike books, have no favorite books, won't go to the library (or if forced, sit there on their phones). They sleep with their phones. They eat with the phone next to their plates.
It is terrifying. I fear the future.
It is terrifying. I fear the future.
2
As one of the ten articles per month freeloaders of the NYT I have to ration my reading much beyond what I can skim of the headlines each day. But as a reader of Egan's books I rarely skip his weekly column. His wisdom is simple yet deep in the ways of living on earth that can save individual lives, civilization and the earth. Gardening, walking, silently being in wild places, reading, writing. Beta ways in a world selecting for too much alpha, in your face, conflicting and loud behavior. Powering down in a juiced up and maddening world. This is what will save us. Time to contemplate our precarious state of edge. Taking alternate paths which still do exist if you give yourself time to imagine them with some artistry of thought, hands on the hoe, feet on the trail. Thanks for sharing your time, Tim.
23
Your choice of reading is symbolic of a short attention span. Biography, based on anecdotes and People Magazine content is not deep history. Try real historical works by professional historians. It requires more concentration. But it is worth it.
5
Geez. Have you read the Manchester books?
BTW. The Roman history, "SPQR," is written by a professional historian.
BTW. The Roman history, "SPQR," is written by a professional historian.
1
I'm not buying it Mr. Egan. Yes, you'll have a smart phone in the Mojave and will surely check in. But you'll surely spend hours just looking at knife edge ridge lines in twilight and the starry night sky after dark.
Too bad about the Seahawks.
Too bad about the Seahawks.
3
Enjoy the stargazing. Mind yourself on the boulders.
BTW, you've just repeated the humanist version of the Third Commandment (third in my childhood bible): keep holy the Sabbath.
I doubt God is bothered one way or other if I put on clean clothes and polished shoes, and go to a big building to sing, shout, or moan "God, God, God." The commandment tells us to be gardeners of our lives, our families, and our friends. Life is surely not a 24/7 rush for wealth.
BTW, you've just repeated the humanist version of the Third Commandment (third in my childhood bible): keep holy the Sabbath.
I doubt God is bothered one way or other if I put on clean clothes and polished shoes, and go to a big building to sing, shout, or moan "God, God, God." The commandment tells us to be gardeners of our lives, our families, and our friends. Life is surely not a 24/7 rush for wealth.
28
There is no humanist version of the Sabbath.
Reject God and all religion, and all religious tomes, and all religious laws, and all 10 Commandments ... and you're on your own buddy.
Good luck.
Reject God and all religion, and all religious tomes, and all religious laws, and all 10 Commandments ... and you're on your own buddy.
Good luck.
1
When the first electronic devise stealthily crept into our homes to kill family meal time discussions the handwriting was on the wall. The boob tube had arrived and that blue light would make us all zombies to its whims. So how many stations does the average cable subscriber have today? There was a time that you even had the arduous task of getting out of your seat to change the channel. Now your fingers can satisfy the whirlwind desires of your brain by touching a button your remote. It was a wonderfully quaint to hear that the large Kennedy family would together at the dinner table with the old man picking an important topic of discussion and all the siblings bouncing off their ideas and interacting. Today when you go to a restaurant or cafe study the number of people ignoring their company, mindlessly scrolling their tablets in search of something or other.
13
Just TRY to engage a young person or child today in conversation -- about any subject, even THEMSELVES -- when they have a cell phone near. Their eyes never leave the phone. Who is calling? Who might be calling? When will someone call (or text or send an emoji or post on Facebok)? What ELSE is happening besides what is going on right around me? What am I missing out on? What? What? What?
1
ADD and ADHD are the bane of the 21st century. Children's access to technology and instant gratification pave the way to attention deficit in adulthood. This results in a general 'dumbing down' of the population and its vulnerability to brainwashing through soundbites and targeted bombardment by political and financial elites.
The world becomes more 'Orwellian' with each passing day, with the proletariat seeking refuge in instant, easy to understand but misleading solutions, while a highly educated elite undertakes the deep thinking required to strengthen its grip on intellectual serfs: The success of the pharma lobby, the easy justification of Wars of Choice, the broad acceptance of programmes like CNN that appear to use news items to fill the brief periods between advertisements ........ These are but a few examples of the ways in which elites, very often running corporations with market capitals larger than the GDPs of most developed countries, use their proprietary and financial muscle to "fool all of the people virtually all of the time."
The disheartening reality is the unlikelihood of a solution: One can stop neither the advance of technology nor the expanding power of political and financial elites.
The world becomes more 'Orwellian' with each passing day, with the proletariat seeking refuge in instant, easy to understand but misleading solutions, while a highly educated elite undertakes the deep thinking required to strengthen its grip on intellectual serfs: The success of the pharma lobby, the easy justification of Wars of Choice, the broad acceptance of programmes like CNN that appear to use news items to fill the brief periods between advertisements ........ These are but a few examples of the ways in which elites, very often running corporations with market capitals larger than the GDPs of most developed countries, use their proprietary and financial muscle to "fool all of the people virtually all of the time."
The disheartening reality is the unlikelihood of a solution: One can stop neither the advance of technology nor the expanding power of political and financial elites.
9
One nice thing about being low-income in Canada (a country with one of the highest cellphone-plan fees in the world) is that I do without that time-suck and money-suck known as the smartphone. So, except for a glimpse of the local cable news channel in the break room, I go a full 10 hours without knowing what's happening in the world. However, people now assume you always have access. When I need some piece of data on-the-job, I have to go find a spare computer that's connected to the Internet, while employees with smartphones can just whip it out and look it up right there. So, just-in-time knowledge can be useful. Anyway, I think self-discipline and organization matter with any activity, online or offline.
2
Interesting factoid -- I was under the impression that every other nation but the USA had very low cost and ultra fast internet and cellphone service.
1
Since your Seahawks are gone from the playoffs and Seattle could have another four months of cloudy, rainy weather, your focus should be stronger to get those books read and the seeds ordered for the incomparable PACNW late Spring and Summer weather.
3
Well said, Mr. Egan!
We started down this road long ago. Nicholas Carr's book, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains," contains an excellent explanation of how this came about over time. It has changed the way we think, read, interact, and find information that simply confirms our beliefs, leading to the creation of the "reality bubbles" that has affected our political process so adversely. "Truthiness" reigns because we can search for and find any number of questionable statements (or even lies) to back up ingrained belief systems. On-line reading is reduced to an "F" shape (apparently in 8 seconds or less). Taking the time to read slowly and deeply for fuller comprehension has gone the way of the dodo bird for many of us. It's unfortunately become normal to see parents and children, or couples, or office mates sitting together but with eyes glued to their devices instead of interacting with each other. Yes, technology has been and can be a wonderful tool for any number of tasks, but when it takes center stage in our daily existence, it's quite worrying to think what it is ultimately doing to shatter our social relations and to society as a whole. I am no Luddite, as obviously reading the NYT on-line every morning attests. Yet one must consciously make an effort on a daily basis to avoid being totally absorbed by the seductiveness of the wired environment in which we are living.
We started down this road long ago. Nicholas Carr's book, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains," contains an excellent explanation of how this came about over time. It has changed the way we think, read, interact, and find information that simply confirms our beliefs, leading to the creation of the "reality bubbles" that has affected our political process so adversely. "Truthiness" reigns because we can search for and find any number of questionable statements (or even lies) to back up ingrained belief systems. On-line reading is reduced to an "F" shape (apparently in 8 seconds or less). Taking the time to read slowly and deeply for fuller comprehension has gone the way of the dodo bird for many of us. It's unfortunately become normal to see parents and children, or couples, or office mates sitting together but with eyes glued to their devices instead of interacting with each other. Yes, technology has been and can be a wonderful tool for any number of tasks, but when it takes center stage in our daily existence, it's quite worrying to think what it is ultimately doing to shatter our social relations and to society as a whole. I am no Luddite, as obviously reading the NYT on-line every morning attests. Yet one must consciously make an effort on a daily basis to avoid being totally absorbed by the seductiveness of the wired environment in which we are living.
14
Perhaps there is almost nothing in the modern media worth paying attention to. Fortunately, Tim, I can't say that of your interesting commentaries.
3
I garden. I knit. I sew and quilt. There is a reason why hand crafts will never go away. They slow you down and give you time to think in a very crazy world. When you slow down, you can think; you can focus. And you take that skill with you back in the crazy world.
69
So you can still garden and read. But you didn't mention if you think the current state of your AD disorder will prevent you from writing any more books worth reading.
1
Another irritation that demonstrates the antipathy to reading: when trying to read the news on a computer, an unwanted narrator comes up to summarize the story with an ad included. Allowing me to read is allowing me to take time to think about what I am reading, not just to hear it and go on to something else.
1
Tim, your memorable piece on our "eight second attention span" is required reading for all Americans who are able to read. Of course the 99% of Americans who are low-info folks believing in the screeching horrific messages of Sarah Palin and her demagogic endorsee, Donald Trump, won't "get it". Your advice - to shun Panglossian cyber widgets that have give us the attention span of a goldfish in this "best of all possible worlds" - is sterling and wonderful and easily followed. As Voltaire put forth in "Candide" in 1759, in his masterpiece "Candide, ou l'Optimisme" - we have only to cultivate our gardens, working the very ground we live on (and fertilizing our minds by reading great books from the Year Dot, which have given us the way to a more fruitful way of life than 24/7 texting nothings (emojis!) back and forth to our cyber-communicants in "social media" (sic). The Age of Ephemera and Great Anxiety that we're living through can be ameliorated by following the age-old advice and wisdom of our forbears who are now on the wrong side of the daisies., but their wise words live on.
1
Seriously, Nan? You believe that 99% of Americans are "low information" (compared to YOU, of course!) or that they support Sarah Palin?
You are unaware then that she and McCain LOST the 2008 election -- almost 8 years ago? And that she has been a private citizen holding no public office for six years?
If she was in the hearts & minds of 99% of Americans, she would be POTUS herself by now. And she isn't -- she is a washed up, reality-TV star.
Lefty liberals are really obsessed with Palin. She was only on the GOP ticket for about 9 weeks! get over it! She didn't run against Obama -- MCCAIN did!
You are unaware then that she and McCain LOST the 2008 election -- almost 8 years ago? And that she has been a private citizen holding no public office for six years?
If she was in the hearts & minds of 99% of Americans, she would be POTUS herself by now. And she isn't -- she is a washed up, reality-TV star.
Lefty liberals are really obsessed with Palin. She was only on the GOP ticket for about 9 weeks! get over it! She didn't run against Obama -- MCCAIN did!
1
Gardening and Deep Reading -- good advice. However, dare I hope that the editors of the NYT take note of this article. ? As a British subscriber to the internet version I happily read the paper, selectively and in my own time. But I am regularly bombarded with "news flashes" on my phone, bringing me the latest American Football scores and other matters, never requiring my immediate attention and often beyond my needs or understanding. Please may I be left alone ?
12
I agr--wait, hold on a second...
5
You are just too funny Tim :), thank you.
2
Just read you all the way through, with pleasure. But then, I don't own a smartphone.
4
My totally modern high school son is attached to his phone as completely as he was attached to his umbilical cord. The call of the text and the instagram is always there to lure his attention.
But he likes slow motion unconnected time too. He loves to drive the long way to get places, to find a back road and enjoy the drive. Living on the north side of the Hudson Highlands, we have some really good backroads to lose yourself on. I want to get on the road, and just get there, and he likes to take the time to see where he has been. I am unconnected, and impatient. He ids the one paying attention.
Our attention span is short when we are not doing something we want to do or need to do, but if my son is a representative of the technology generation, we are still perfectly capable of immersing ourselves in something worthwhile.
But he likes slow motion unconnected time too. He loves to drive the long way to get places, to find a back road and enjoy the drive. Living on the north side of the Hudson Highlands, we have some really good backroads to lose yourself on. I want to get on the road, and just get there, and he likes to take the time to see where he has been. I am unconnected, and impatient. He ids the one paying attention.
Our attention span is short when we are not doing something we want to do or need to do, but if my son is a representative of the technology generation, we are still perfectly capable of immersing ourselves in something worthwhile.
3
Your son sounds like a nice, intelligent young man.
He is the exception, however.
He is the exception, however.
1
Right on about gardening -- and I "play" tennis -- only once did someone's phone ring and our looks were enough to put a stop to that. And while I consider myself somewhat erudite, I do not have a smart phone -- merely a track phone for emergencies. Usually derided for this, there have been some hints of grudging admiration recently. I don't text, I'm always on time without the luxury of instant communication and have something to read if someone is late. No twitter etc. and I find I am less anxious than most and sleep well.I may be missing the latest bon mot or argument and still have many opinions on things but do not feel out of touch at all. Even if I am. And people seem to like receiving my e-mails. Carpe diem!
18
I'm currently reading SPQR -- if that is the new history of the Roman Empire, great choice. Easily readable in a couple hundred 8 second breaks.
Seriously, I suspect those of us who still read physical books do not lack for attention span. To read even a 200 page book requires a commitment of more than 8 seconds, or 8 minutes. But I'll tell you what frustrates me -- losing time. It's similar to attention span, but sitting for 120 seconds staring at the back of a car in front of me waiting for a stop light to change just feels like life ebbing away.
Seriously, I suspect those of us who still read physical books do not lack for attention span. To read even a 200 page book requires a commitment of more than 8 seconds, or 8 minutes. But I'll tell you what frustrates me -- losing time. It's similar to attention span, but sitting for 120 seconds staring at the back of a car in front of me waiting for a stop light to change just feels like life ebbing away.
4
It is, to some extent, where we find ourselves. Yet many substantive things cannot be done in 140 characters or in 30 second sound bites. It reminds me of a movement in education a few years back which decried rote memorization as boring and, therefore, passe in the new hip world of education - yet some things, like a foreign language, sooner or later require some rote memorization if they are to be mastered.
In some ways, life itself resists the 30 second culture. Many callings, including parenting, do not offer instant results, but rather are slow, long term endeavors. Relationships which exist only in text, tweet, and emoticons will not stand the test of time as true relating (which humans will always crave) takes in depth knowledge of the other.
We are, indeed, in a time of short attention span and much superficial communication, but I think that there will be a backlash. So much of the 30 second world is empty prattle. The human spirit craves depth.
In some ways, life itself resists the 30 second culture. Many callings, including parenting, do not offer instant results, but rather are slow, long term endeavors. Relationships which exist only in text, tweet, and emoticons will not stand the test of time as true relating (which humans will always crave) takes in depth knowledge of the other.
We are, indeed, in a time of short attention span and much superficial communication, but I think that there will be a backlash. So much of the 30 second world is empty prattle. The human spirit craves depth.
50
Alas! I have seen many, many parents who are so absorbed in their electronic gadgets that their children go completely unnoticed unless, and until, they act out in a negative way.
The job of parenting does indeed require long-term attention, but the sadness is that many parents are themselves too focused on the electronic, virtual world that's about 10 inches in front of their eyes.
The job of parenting does indeed require long-term attention, but the sadness is that many parents are themselves too focused on the electronic, virtual world that's about 10 inches in front of their eyes.
4
Parents ignore and brush off children, so the parent can concentrate on the phone -- on the games like Candy Crush, or gossip and latest headlines and Facebook nonsense.
Very soon the child learns to want THEIR OWN phone, so they can play games constantly.
Ever look at a kid with a phone? They are not laughing in delight. They look hypnotized or drugged.
Very soon the child learns to want THEIR OWN phone, so they can play games constantly.
Ever look at a kid with a phone? They are not laughing in delight. They look hypnotized or drugged.
3
I agree Interestingly enough. I participate in both of your suggestion. Planted 80 bulbs (tulips, crocus and lilies) last fall/ Will begin to see how many are coming up in another month or so.
I'm also working on what has urned out o be long term project on understanding the medieval (and later) history of Hungary. So far, it's led me through about 20 linear feet of books, with another 4 feet (so far) to go. Currently on Vol; IV. of a series called 'History of East Central Europe. -'The Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795,'
I'm also working on what has urned out o be long term project on understanding the medieval (and later) history of Hungary. So far, it's led me through about 20 linear feet of books, with another 4 feet (so far) to go. Currently on Vol; IV. of a series called 'History of East Central Europe. -'The Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795,'
23
The Polish-Lithuanian state must be worth reading about. It has always puzzled me greatly. Our basic history courses, intent upon England (not Britain) and France, less so to Italy and Germany, even less to Spain except for the conquest of the Americas, hardly mention most of central and eastern Europe.
2
Excellent reflections, young man. Being constantly in touch with the world is the best way to lose all touch with self.
I'm ahead of you, though, and have already moved to the countryside with a sizable collection of science textbooks and other reading. As for smart phones, the first non-dummy phone I've ever had I got this Christmas. Yuck. There it sits, bleeping and buzzing madly with alerts, yet ignored, as I continue on my PC, preferring email and in-depth discussion forums to today's inane whatsups and tweets.
I'm ahead of you, though, and have already moved to the countryside with a sizable collection of science textbooks and other reading. As for smart phones, the first non-dummy phone I've ever had I got this Christmas. Yuck. There it sits, bleeping and buzzing madly with alerts, yet ignored, as I continue on my PC, preferring email and in-depth discussion forums to today's inane whatsups and tweets.
79
My "smart" phone is smarter than I am, apparently. It changes settings and preferences I've made on a regular basis. It reminds me of things on my calendar I don't necessarily want to remember, and frequently offers me chances to buy stuff I don't want or need. It does help me remember stuff I'd otherwise forget, of which there's a lot. I've even texted a couple of times, though I'd rather walk on hot coals and broken glass than use an emoji. After a lifetime of physical labor, my fingers are either too old and/or calloused to function properly on many apps, but I still get a tingle up my spine when my phone rings and it plays the opening bars of "El Paso" by Marty Robbins. So what if it tells Google and the NSA where I am at any given moment? Somebody ought to know, especially if I'm driving for hours through the desert listening to Beethoven and Mozart, courtesy of the phone plugged into my car radio.
8
Attention span is way down. So's our memory. Imagine how it is for folks who start out with abbreviated mental focus and diminished recall. Once 60 second TV commercials ruled the airwaves. Then 30 second spots. Now 10 and 15 second TV spots are ubiquitous -- because focus groups indicate 30 seconds is too long and they switch or zone away after 10 seconds. Marketers now sell by implanting the product idea or brand in your head -- mindshare -- and 10 second TV spots or web banners or net ads need only to jolt the pre-planted ad message to remind us.
Trump knows this. Repeat catchy visual phrases, word pictures, three or four times. Avoid ideas or words that are conceptual. Concrete, visual, emotive. Short sentences, peak and valley cadence. A few code words are implanted and later activated by a media hit.
Long ago it was Smokey the Bear pointing and warning "Only you can prevent a forest fire." Last time I looked it was "Only you... ."
Seems Smokey and Donald both know something about burning down things. No one sees the forest from the trees in 8 seconds or less.
Trump knows this. Repeat catchy visual phrases, word pictures, three or four times. Avoid ideas or words that are conceptual. Concrete, visual, emotive. Short sentences, peak and valley cadence. A few code words are implanted and later activated by a media hit.
Long ago it was Smokey the Bear pointing and warning "Only you can prevent a forest fire." Last time I looked it was "Only you... ."
Seems Smokey and Donald both know something about burning down things. No one sees the forest from the trees in 8 seconds or less.
35
"But put the thing aside, and kneel next to fresh-tilled earth, or curl up with an 800-page tome, and you find that the desire for sustained concentration is not lost." Or go watch a current popular movie - all which appear to be getting longer. "The Revenant" at 2hrs. 36 min. and "The Hateful Eight" at an even longer 2hrs. 47 min. Can't watch that long then opt for "Star Wars" at only - only! - 2hrs. 15 min.
1
I can take about 10 minutes of the dark vision of Quentin Tarantino , so I am on going to pan the. hateful eight. I enjoyed the longer new Star Wars movie referenced and also hope to see the revenant soon.
1
Have you been to a theater lately? The audience is lit up by the light from the CELLPHONES where the audience is texting, making calls, playing games WHILE THE MOVIE IS ON.
That's how short their attention spans are. They cannot even sit still to watch a movie.
That's how short their attention spans are. They cannot even sit still to watch a movie.
2
Overly sentimental and self-congratulating. There are plenty of evils that modern technology has brought, and I certainly worry about how many fewer books I read these days. But columns like this always treat all technology as the same. I would not give up texting for the world. My friendships are deeper for being always a click away, rather than a week long letter away. And when I need a break, I stop responding, or checking my phone. I don't find value in most social media platforms, but I suspect many of the people who use them do. Meaningful connections aren't always about long pieces of prose carefully considered. Sometimes they're about sharing passing, unfiltered, and raw emotions with those close to you.
Attention spans shortening seems like a bad thing. Cyber bullying trapping young people by allowing them to be harassed at all hours of the day seems likely to be far more damaging than occasional spurts of physical violence. There are plenty of ills of technology. But when we take a stance against the modern world as a whole, we have little chance of making improvements where it matters.
Attention spans shortening seems like a bad thing. Cyber bullying trapping young people by allowing them to be harassed at all hours of the day seems likely to be far more damaging than occasional spurts of physical violence. There are plenty of ills of technology. But when we take a stance against the modern world as a whole, we have little chance of making improvements where it matters.
10
As usual, Tim Egan has written a clever, witty article on a serious subject. Nevertheless, the damage hand-held tech is doing to the "wiring" of young brains, the upending of basic human interaction, let alone the building of close relationships, appears IMO to be staggering, the long-term results of which can only be imagined, and deeply feared. While waiting for a plane, I watched a toddler at the airport gestering and screaming at his mom and dad to give him his little tablet; once they relented, he went into an immediate state of nirvana, as his big sister, herself no more than 6 or 7, sat with him and scrolled through whatever screens and games were there. Instant tranquility, if not sedation. Imagine that state multiplied by an order of magnitude among millions of kids, and the stuff on the screens far more foreboding. As a society based on relationships and human understanding, forging the "common good", we're cooked; put a fork in us. Don't look forward to "2084"; perhaps a century late, but the same result.
208
Interesting handle, Stonecutter. I had two granduncles who were actual stonecutters, and I know where to go to touch the actual stones they chipped and shaped.
2
Never fear, Stonecutter. As Mr. Egan said, book stores are once gain thriving - even my daughter who was one of the first to get a Kindle reader has gone back to real books. When the first simple computer games came around the "experts" said board games would be a thing of the past but more and more people are playing board games as a family and/or social activity. People are smart and technology will soon take it's place as a complement to one's life - not life itself.
2
As opposed to toddlers of 50 years ago, who were known for their sedateness and quiet?
1
As a software developer, I shudder to think at what our impact has been on the world. I have recently been attempting to read the books of Edward Bernays through coding breaks, and yet the lure of the phone is so much more a siren's song, And then, when I am done distracting myself, I go back to developing apps with the maximum attention hook I can muster. I can feel the rewiring in my brain in real time, even while I contribute to the culture of distraction. And I often ask myself: "Is this the necessary path of human evolution?"
71
Bad enough for you and me. How about for a 6 year old child, who has always grown up with this? who has had a succession of phones themselves, and now cannot imagine life without being tethered to a phone -- not to play, not to dream, not to read, not to make art -- just playing games, texting and yakking on a PHONE.
Don't tell me that this child's mind is not "rewired" from toddlerhood -- and that now he/she is incapable of normal child's play and development.
I fear for the future.
Don't tell me that this child's mind is not "rewired" from toddlerhood -- and that now he/she is incapable of normal child's play and development.
I fear for the future.
3
My life is far better, and attention span supported, by things like GPS and instant access to information.
However, long before electronics, I had to learn those lessons even for old technology.
I remember looking at some pictures I'd taken, and I did not remember seeing those things. I'd been so involved in my camera that I didn't experience what was in front of it.
I remember looking at my incoherent notes, and not remembering what went on while I was scribbling them.
I had to learn to be there, and to let technology support me, not consume me. That has not changed.
I see my kids making the same mistake I made. I point it out. I get blank looks and some resentment. Daddy can tell them, but they must realize it themselves in their own heads. Maybe I can help the realization, but they must realize it for themselves.
The temptations are the same, to get involved in the tool instead of the world. The mistake is the same. The lesson is the same too. And the need to learn it. It isn't the phone any more than it was my camera or notes.
However, long before electronics, I had to learn those lessons even for old technology.
I remember looking at some pictures I'd taken, and I did not remember seeing those things. I'd been so involved in my camera that I didn't experience what was in front of it.
I remember looking at my incoherent notes, and not remembering what went on while I was scribbling them.
I had to learn to be there, and to let technology support me, not consume me. That has not changed.
I see my kids making the same mistake I made. I point it out. I get blank looks and some resentment. Daddy can tell them, but they must realize it themselves in their own heads. Maybe I can help the realization, but they must realize it for themselves.
The temptations are the same, to get involved in the tool instead of the world. The mistake is the same. The lesson is the same too. And the need to learn it. It isn't the phone any more than it was my camera or notes.
281
Many years ago, I did the same thing with cameras (old style film cameras). I had very high quality Japanese cameras, and fancy lenses and camera kits -- a whole battery of stuff to lug around with me. I would take hundreds of photos on each trip. Today, I am lucky if I have the foggiest idea about what I photographed, where or why.
At some point, I decided I wanted to EXPERIENCE LIFE -- not just record it. Oh we take a handful of photos here and there. But we don't lug major photo equipment anywhere. A half dozen pix of any particular trip is usually enough. We have a tiny digital camera for this.
Yes, we could use a phone too. But how many people have 1000 photos on their phones? too many to scroll through? Where d'ya think those photos are going if you lose your phone or it breaks -- or after you die?
My aunt passed away last year. She had been a world traveler, and avid photographer. There were literally thousands of photos of her tours & cruises -- to Europe, Asia, Caribbean, Alaska. They filled over 8 HUGE photo albums -- thousands of dull, touristy photos -- pix of her rooms on the cruise ships or in hotels. My cousins and I looked at them, and decided we were all OK with....throwing the lot of them in the trash.
Of course we saved family photos. But vacation photos? right into the dumpster. How much of your last trip was spent recording what you did, rather than enjoying it? Cellphones are even worse, with people photographing what they are EATING!
At some point, I decided I wanted to EXPERIENCE LIFE -- not just record it. Oh we take a handful of photos here and there. But we don't lug major photo equipment anywhere. A half dozen pix of any particular trip is usually enough. We have a tiny digital camera for this.
Yes, we could use a phone too. But how many people have 1000 photos on their phones? too many to scroll through? Where d'ya think those photos are going if you lose your phone or it breaks -- or after you die?
My aunt passed away last year. She had been a world traveler, and avid photographer. There were literally thousands of photos of her tours & cruises -- to Europe, Asia, Caribbean, Alaska. They filled over 8 HUGE photo albums -- thousands of dull, touristy photos -- pix of her rooms on the cruise ships or in hotels. My cousins and I looked at them, and decided we were all OK with....throwing the lot of them in the trash.
Of course we saved family photos. But vacation photos? right into the dumpster. How much of your last trip was spent recording what you did, rather than enjoying it? Cellphones are even worse, with people photographing what they are EATING!
5
"To get involved in the tool instead of the world". You hit the nail right on the head. Great Post!!!
3
Dear Mr. Egan,
Welcome to the 21st Century, the Century of "Self".
Back in the arcane 20th Century, I can remember a conversation with friends at a ski area out West about the "worst" inventions of that century. The A-bomb was pointed out by one friend and another thought "spike heels" to be the worst (A wife of one of my companions), etc. I said the "cell phone" was the worst invention as it meant one could be bothered all the time (the expression 24/7/365 had yet to be invented), anywhere, even in the bathroom!
Now, the "hand held device" is everywhere along with self absorbed people flooding the micro waves with every little thing they are doing in every little bit of their lives.
So, of course, 8 seconds is about all these folks have before they move onto the next thing going on in their lives ("had breakfast, now looking for lunch"...about 8 seconds).
As for actually "reading" something, you, and myself, and some others, are the "anachronisms" of the 21st Century. Most people I know read but I would tend to choose acquaintances who have similar tastes to mine. Whenever I stop at Starbucks for a coffee, the number of "book readers" is overwhelmed by the number of "device readers" with thumbs clicking madly away.
Only time will tell if this ultra communication is a good or bad thing but, for certain, it's not going away anytime soon.
Welcome to the 21st Century, the Century of "Self".
Back in the arcane 20th Century, I can remember a conversation with friends at a ski area out West about the "worst" inventions of that century. The A-bomb was pointed out by one friend and another thought "spike heels" to be the worst (A wife of one of my companions), etc. I said the "cell phone" was the worst invention as it meant one could be bothered all the time (the expression 24/7/365 had yet to be invented), anywhere, even in the bathroom!
Now, the "hand held device" is everywhere along with self absorbed people flooding the micro waves with every little thing they are doing in every little bit of their lives.
So, of course, 8 seconds is about all these folks have before they move onto the next thing going on in their lives ("had breakfast, now looking for lunch"...about 8 seconds).
As for actually "reading" something, you, and myself, and some others, are the "anachronisms" of the 21st Century. Most people I know read but I would tend to choose acquaintances who have similar tastes to mine. Whenever I stop at Starbucks for a coffee, the number of "book readers" is overwhelmed by the number of "device readers" with thumbs clicking madly away.
Only time will tell if this ultra communication is a good or bad thing but, for certain, it's not going away anytime soon.
20
You do realize that some people read books online? The people clicking madly away may be turning pages.
3
DW: you CAN read a book on a phone but it is miserable stuff. Tiny screen, tiny type -- blow the type up, now you can read only 1-2 lines at a time.
I make it a point to look at what people are doing on their phones (aside from obviously speaking to another person), if I can get a look without being obvious or nosy. I don't care about the details, I am curious about "what the heck is so fascinating". 9 times out of 10, it is a game like Candy Crush. Occasionally Facebook. It is almost never reading anything (unless you count "reading emojis on facebook" as reading).
I make it a point to look at what people are doing on their phones (aside from obviously speaking to another person), if I can get a look without being obvious or nosy. I don't care about the details, I am curious about "what the heck is so fascinating". 9 times out of 10, it is a game like Candy Crush. Occasionally Facebook. It is almost never reading anything (unless you count "reading emojis on facebook" as reading).
2
Concerned: I appreciate your comment. But to counter one point, I have students who are reading the tiny print of textbooks on their smartphones with no difficulty. I can't do it, but after all, they are a lot younger. So, I accept that they really are reading, though I find it hardly believable they don't get eyestrain.
1
Manual labor is the savior of the mind. It is like a think blanket of snow that muffles the cacophony of the city. Raking leaves. Mowing the lawn. Monotonous and/or intense sport is also mind cleansing. The steady thumping of feet hitting the ground in time with my breathing. Concentration on form while pushing out that last rep in the weight room. Following my pre-shot routine and taking a relaxed swing to reach the green.
I realize all of those are first world activities. Those of us who have the opportunity to seek out ways to rest our minds are the richest people on the planet. Let's *try* to ignore the latest word salad from Ms. Palin and concentrate instead on the words of Mr. Sanders, who wants to bring back a US economy where all of us have time to search for ways to rest our minds.
I realize all of those are first world activities. Those of us who have the opportunity to seek out ways to rest our minds are the richest people on the planet. Let's *try* to ignore the latest word salad from Ms. Palin and concentrate instead on the words of Mr. Sanders, who wants to bring back a US economy where all of us have time to search for ways to rest our minds.
167
I like 'think blanket.' Probably a typo, but evokes a something I would like to wrap my brain in for a long, cozy think time.
4
The reason manual labor is so gratifying is that you identify a task, there's a beginning, a middle and an end, and voila! you've actually accomplished something.
3
LOL. I write my comments mostly at work and count on spell check to help me. "Think" and "thick" are both OK, so it slipped through, but I also thought that a "think blanket" doesn't sound so bad. We finally got some more snow in Vienna yesterday, so my original comment reflected my current thoughts.
Apropos lack of snow: Bernie is spot on listing climate change as our #1 problem. 2015 was the hottest year ever. We see less snow (on average) every year in Vienna.
Apropos lack of snow: Bernie is spot on listing climate change as our #1 problem. 2015 was the hottest year ever. We see less snow (on average) every year in Vienna.
1
This is bad news for rodeo fans. If attention spans drop below eight seconds, it could mean the end of bull riding.
(The Olympics were already under threat -- Who has the focus to watch an entire 100-meter dash anymore? And NFL kickoff or punt returns of more than 60 or 70 yards? Forget about it!)
(The Olympics were already under threat -- Who has the focus to watch an entire 100-meter dash anymore? And NFL kickoff or punt returns of more than 60 or 70 yards? Forget about it!)
76
great column
10
One of the great things about having a job that requires a lot of
car travel is you can spend hours listening to books on tape
or music. Amazing how chamber music can renew the soul.
We live in a microwave society. One of the reasons Life in Pieces
is such a hit is that there are there or four short segments of comedy
with the same families.
Smartphones make you dumb.
It's good to remember one of the attacks on Obamacare was
the bill was thousands of pages long. In a sane world, that
would be passed off as idiocy.
What is a "squirmish" anyway. Aren;'t you glad ot know
that when Track Palin punched his girl friend out it was
Obama's fault. Seriiously, Palina actualy said it and our
bloviators actually talked about it.
Roll over Beethoven
car travel is you can spend hours listening to books on tape
or music. Amazing how chamber music can renew the soul.
We live in a microwave society. One of the reasons Life in Pieces
is such a hit is that there are there or four short segments of comedy
with the same families.
Smartphones make you dumb.
It's good to remember one of the attacks on Obamacare was
the bill was thousands of pages long. In a sane world, that
would be passed off as idiocy.
What is a "squirmish" anyway. Aren;'t you glad ot know
that when Track Palin punched his girl friend out it was
Obama's fault. Seriiously, Palina actualy said it and our
bloviators actually talked about it.
Roll over Beethoven
93
Smartphones don't make you dumb any more than television - you have to be selective to use these tools to enhance your life. But they are indeed powerful tools for education and enlightenment, unlike guns.
5
If Track Palin had bad breath, his mother would blame it on President Obama.
6
@Wes: had to LOL over your comment. Whatever the flaws of TV, it uses the media to tell stories -- so you have to attention, usually for at least 30 minutes, often longer. On the other hand, phones present quick bits of information, in tiny bursts -- 140 characters, or today, just an emoji or two.
I am afraid that does make people dumb. Maybe not us old folks who grew up in ancient times with corded wall phones and SOME time during the day when we were not "hyper-connected" -- but to young people who grew up with this....who can't imagine life without a phone, who never look up from that phone, who can't sleep without the phone by them and can't concentrate on a book or film or TV show without commenting on their phone, or photographing everything they EAT with the phone.
It's horrifying, frankly. And yes, I worry about it.
BTW: "powerful tools for education and enlightenment" -- my posterior it is! show me ONE example of a phone used for education & enlightenment!
I am afraid that does make people dumb. Maybe not us old folks who grew up in ancient times with corded wall phones and SOME time during the day when we were not "hyper-connected" -- but to young people who grew up with this....who can't imagine life without a phone, who never look up from that phone, who can't sleep without the phone by them and can't concentrate on a book or film or TV show without commenting on their phone, or photographing everything they EAT with the phone.
It's horrifying, frankly. And yes, I worry about it.
BTW: "powerful tools for education and enlightenment" -- my posterior it is! show me ONE example of a phone used for education & enlightenment!
4
Ironically, Mr. Egan, if newspapers and other forms of digital media were to remove "comment" ,"talk-backs", "discussion" options etc., then one might read slower and with more care.
But then perhaps such columns or articles are not worthy of deep reading in any case. They are constructed for the 8 second attention span.
How long do you think it takes to read your article?
But then perhaps such columns or articles are not worthy of deep reading in any case. They are constructed for the 8 second attention span.
How long do you think it takes to read your article?
3
I tried to read this column but midway thru the definition of 'attention span' I got impatient and
clicked off.
clicked off.
10
It worries me that I am reading far less - books, I mean, not screens. Then a yera ago I spent two weeks on a Scottish island, where there was no TV, no radio, no telephone and certainly no internet. And it rained. And I curled up in front of the fire and read and read and read.
Recovery is possible.
Recovery is possible.
319
Some twenty-five years ago I opened Anna Karenina. The forty-odd page critical essay that preceded the massive book claimed the story was "a stop-and-start" exercise that "regrettably brings the magnificent story to a lumbering halt." What if I had taken the editor's advice and closed the book? I would have deprived myself of a treasured and unforgettable masterpiece. Patience is not an admired component in modern life; technology's bounty has made us lazy and self-absorbed to an extent that few could have predicted a quarter century ago. Our sense of community and shared interests have been replaced by the blinders on either side of us created by our screen and smartphone culture. Attention spans of eight seconds? That much?
47
That was terrible advice by the editor and smacks of jealousy more than anything else.
1
In the 1950's I went back to college a week early just so I would have the time to read Anna Karina, and I did, and later went on to read all the other classic and long Russian novels.
3