As the psychotherapist Micheal Hausauer notes, teens and other young adults have a "terrific interest in knowing what's going on in the lives of their peers, coupled with a terrific anxiety about being out of the loop." Could this describe more than just teens?
These excerpts are from The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr:
- "The Net seizes our attention only to scatter it."
- "When we're online, we're often oblivious to everything else going on around us. The real world recedes as we process the flood of symbols and stimuli coming through our devices."
- "When our brain is overtaxed, we find 'distractions more distracting'."
- "The Net is, by design, an interruption system, a machine geared for dividing attention."
- "The more complex the train of thought we're involved in, the greater the impairment the distractions cause. "
I'm finding the following activities are regularly or maybe constantly being interrupted:
- Driving - I took a pledge two years ago to not text and drive. Since I was almost hit in the crosswalk by a student of mine in front of our school, I'm very sensitive to this subject. Before sending a message to someone, I think whether they might be driving. If so, I wait to send the message. Daily, I see so many drivers appearing to be even slightly distracted from their driving due to some mobile device. Many appear to be clenching their device while attempting to drive.
- Reading - I greatly enjoy learning through reading. I'm often reading on my iPad. I'm now noticing how often notifications appear in the banner section of my device. My eyes are drawn to it as my ears hear a tone announcing the distraction's arrival. Sometimes I switch from reading on my iPad to reading on my Kindle where my focus cannot be broken by social media notifications.
- Learning - When our Learners are in a state of "flow" where engagement, attention and communication are rich and that dreaded announcement comes over the PA System beckoning some uninterested strolling learner to visit the main office, I wish we had the opportunity to disable more 'notifications'. I've read that schools in Germany and Japan see learning as sacred and would not disrupt learning unless it was an emergency.
- Listening - I've been in meaningful conversation countless times with people in and out of school only to be distracted by their mobile device. Virtually every individual chooses to yield to the distraction. After reading the above-mentioned book by Nicholas Carr, I understand why we change our focus even though I still see it as somewhat disrespectful and impolite.
- Reflecting - Just while I've been writing this reflective post, I've received about twenty notifications scrolling at the top of my iPad. None of them were worth the loss of my focus. I've realized this year just how important reflection is and am trying to spend more time each week in a state of distraction-free reflection.
As always, I appreciate you reading my reflection and welcome your thoughts. I wonder how many times you were distracted while reading this brief piece. If you were distracted, did you choose to yield to it and why? Was it worth it?
