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My brain was always occupied, but my mind wasn’t doing anything with all the information coming in.
If our children are constantly engaged with bits and bytes of information, what is happening to their ability to imagine, concentrate deeply, reflect on past experiences, decide how to apply those lessons to future goals, and figure out what they want for themselves, their relationships, and life?
When we let ourselves space out and our minds wander, we do our most original thinking and problem solving; without distraction, your mind can go to some interesting and unexpected places. Creativity—no matter how you define or apply it—needs a push, and boredom, which allows new and different connections to form in our brain, is a most effective muse. It’s what the futurist Rita King calls “the tedium of creativity.”
studies suggest that to think original thoughts, we must put a stop to constant stimulation.
Despite the benefits of reading the old-fashioned way, as evidenced in Mangen’s study and many others like it, according to Wolf, the human brain is adapting almost too well to the particular attributes or characteristics of Internet reading. Basically, we are losing our ability to slow-read by giving up the practice of it.
I found more evidence that our ability to focus on our work or books wasn’t the only thing mutating; it was also growing harder to give our full attention to flesh-and-blood people.
researchers at Virginia Tech found that the mere presence of a mobile device, even just lying there, seemingly benign on the kitchen counter, can lower the empathy exchanged between two friends.
“It was found that conversations in the absence of mobile communication technologies were rated as significantly superior compared with those in the presence of a mobile device, above and beyond the effects of age, gender, ethnicity, and mood,” the study noted. “People who had conversations in the absence of mobile devices reported higher levels of empathetic concern. Participants conversing in the presence of a mobile device who also had a close relationship with each other reported lower levels of empathy compared with pairs who were less friendly with each other.”
But pictures aren’t going to help me cope with an existential crisis down the road. My goal is to be in the moment more often than photographing it.
I often hear people always say they could never go to a restaurant, movie, or vacation by themselves. It’s as if alone time is scary.
Many of us are concerned about the ways in which technology is affecting the future of our children’s relationships, their ability to creatively engage in society, and the very quality of their existence. Jason, a Note to Self listener with two children, summed up how a lot of us feel when he wrote, “My greatest fear is that my kids will become shut-ins and not learn how to connect with people.”
Words like “routine” get a bad rap, but there’s nothing inherently bad about a routine—unless your routine is filled with things you hate doing.
twenty-five minutes a day adds up to two years of your life.
“If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please.”
