The lost art of concentration: being distracted in a digital world
It seems like nowadays, we wring our hands about the effects of constant access to the internet on a near-daily basis. And isn&#x27;t it kind of odd that the people working on these products in an &#x27;individual contributor&#x27; capacity are often the same ones encouraging others to stay away from their platforms?<p>Maybe that should tell us something. Anecdotally, most of the things that this article recommends are things that I wholeheartedly enjoyed several years ago, but tellingly no longer have time for despite a similar schedule.<p>Reading for pleasure took the biggest hit - I can just listen to an audiobook or podcast during the commute, right? But it does also feel like I&#x27;ve gotten worse at persisting in tedious tasks after being interrupted, exercise feels more like wasted time, and even my breathing exercises are getting shallow and rapid these days.<p>What is going on? It&#x27;s not that thumbing through the news feels like an accomplishment, and I know that I&#x27;ll look back on these years and shake my head at how terribly I&#x27;m wasting my time - it&#x27;s already happening - but this is a comfortable lifestyle and I just keep on doing it. That does sound like an addiction, right?<p>I don&#x27;t know. But I do know that I&#x27;ve had enough, and I&#x27;m coping with it by planning to spend a couple of years on the road in the hopes that things blow over and the people of 202x will have this all figured out. And hey, maybe I&#x27;ll feel better after forcing myself to be bored for several months.<p>Because these issues seem so massive and unapproachable that I can&#x27;t think of anything to do besides throwing up my hands and leaving. I can&#x27;t even talk to other people about it because everybody&#x27;s noses are in their phones everywhere. Is that weird?