Fighting the War Against Distraction
A recent NYT Shifting Careers blog post (Subscription required) is guest-written by Maggie Jackson, the author of a new book ominously titled, Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age.
The reason for the implied and impending doom can be found in the publisher’s description of the book; “our near-religious allegiance to a constant state of motion and addiction to multitasking are eroding our capacity for deep, sustained, perceptive attention—the building block of intimacy, wisdom and cultural progress and stunting society’s ability to comprehend what’s relevant and permanent” and clearly, we are surround by examples of this. (CR readers have read about this issue here and here and here.)
Moving away from the gloom and doom, how do we combat distraction in our own lives and encourage our staffs to do likewise?
The issue is largely a cultural one. Jackson says, “What’s needed is a renaissance of attention — a revaluing and cultivating of the art of attention, to help us achieve depth of thought and relations in this complex, high-tech time”. According to the research she’s read, attention is “a trio of skills: focus, awareness and so-called executive attention”, which she explains this way: “You can be aware that you’re in a beautiful garden and then you can focus on an individual flower… executive attention is the ability to plan and make decisions.” For this last state to occur, we must consciously disconnect from the distractions; phone & cell phone ringers off, IM off, E-Mail Off, and if necessary, some sort of “do not disturb” sign.
Jackson continues, “to combat overload, we also need to look to our environments. That’s why a few pioneering companies are creating places or times for uninterrupted, focused creative thought. IBM employees practice “Think Fridays” worldwide, avoiding or cutting back on e-mail, meetings and interruptions. Other firms are setting aside unwired, quiet rooms.”
She ends with a quote that is bound to become another favorite of mine, “‘Wisdom is the art of knowing what to overlook,’ wrote William James, the father of American psychology research. Long ago, he identified the foremost challenge of our time: how to allocate our attention. And now, we’re beginning to discover what he foretold: that living distracted just isn’t smart.”
There’s plenty to contemplate here. Do we have work environments that enable focus and creativity? If not, what can we do differently?
