Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life

by Nir Eyal

In the future, there will be two kinds of people in the world: those who let their attention and lives be controlled and coerced by others and those who proudly call themselves “indistractable.”

The antidote to impulsiveness is forethought. Planning ahead ensures you will follow through.

Tantalus’s punishment was to yearn for things he desired but could never grasp.

What is the cost of all that distraction? In 1971 the psychologist Herbert A. Simon presciently wrote, “The wealth of information means a dearth of something else . . . a poverty of attention.”

Let’s think back to the tale of Tantalus. What was his curse exactly? Was it never-ending hunger and thirst? Not really. What would have happened to Tantalus if he had just stopped reaching? He was already in hell, after all, and dead people don’t need food and water, last time I checked.

WOW! He is chasing after a desire he doesn't actually need to fulfill. How often do we do the same?!?!

Most people don’t want to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that distraction is always an unhealthy escape from reality.

distraction is just another way our brains attempt to deal with pain. If we accept this fact, it makes sense that the only way to handle distraction is by learning to handle discomfort.

if we don’t control our impulse to escape uncomfortable feelings, we’ll always look for quick fixes to soothe our pain.

By having your phone in your field of view, your brain must work hard to ignore it, but if your phone isn’t easily accessible or visually present, your brain is able to focus on the task at hand.