Why we’re living in a dark age of technological distraction

Are you reading this during a work meeting? While you’re having dinner with a group of friends? Are you driving? Or is there a movie playing in the background? Even in the off chance you’re focusing exclusively on a digital device, this probably isn’t the only tab you had open. You’re getting other notifications as you read this sentence, and you’re thinking about jumping to the next article in sequence, or switching to another of your heavily-frequented apps. That’s because we’re living in a “dark age” of technological distraction. The technologies that have granted us such productivity, communicative potential, and information access are also chronically distracting us, in multiple ways, and we’re only starting to learn the devastating mental and physical consequences of this. The impact of distractions Distraction doesn’t seem like a big deal on the surface, but no matter what we’re getting distracted from, or what’s distracting us, there’s a significant cost to pay. The flashing lights and practically limitless access to information and entertainment are too much for the average person to withstand or prevent, and even a handful of distractions in the course of a normal day can be problematic. For example, a distraction while working seems relatively innocent; if you glance at your email in the middle of a project or quickly check social media to break up a meeting, it seems like you’ve only wasted a few seconds. However, research shows that after your attention is paused or pulled away from a central task, it takes the average person more than 23 minutes to fully recover from a distraction. This means every notification, every article, and every social media check could be costing you almost a half-hour of reduced focus, attention, and productivity. But distractions are responsible for more than just limiting our […]

Click here to view full article