The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World (The MIT Press)

by Adam Gazzaley

In her 2011 book titled Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other, Dr. Sherry Turkle, an MIT professor and one of the pioneers of the study of our relationship with technology, argues that our Distracted Mind is removing us from “real connections” and offering only “sips of connection.”44 Turkle sums up her view of the negative impact that technology has on our attention and our important relationships, saying, “As we distribute ourselves, we may abandon ourselves.” She further talks about the negative impact that she sees in parenting: “Young people must contend with distracted parents who with their BlackBerries and cell phones may be physically present but ‘mentally elsewhere.’”