Feb

7

Information overloadDoes more information equal a diminished ability to process it and create? Seems to make sense from a hand-count point of view.

"Paying attention isn't a simple act of self-discipline, but a cognitive ability with deep neurobiological roots — and these roots, says Maggie Jackson, are in danger of dying.

"In Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age, Jackson explores the effects of "our high-speed, overloaded, split-focus and even cybercentric society" on attention. It's not a pretty picture: a never-ending stream of phone calls, e-mails, instant messages, text messages and tweets is part of an institutionalized culture of interruption, and makes it hard to concentrate and think creatively.

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  1. Dan Costin on February 7, 2009 6:45 pm

    The opposite, of course, is meditation. That increases the ability to focus, it has been reported. Unfortunately, in many cases (e.g. Zen) the goal is to do what most of us would consider to be “nothing.” So where is the happy medium of reflection with a purpose?

  2. George Parkanyi on February 7, 2009 10:30 pm

    Dan,

    I think it;s deep concentration. The most satisfying chess matches for me are the ones where I’ve concentrated for hours so deeply that I come away from the game physically and mentally exhausted. (It gives you a bit of a buzz.)

    I also get in that zone sometimes when I’m working in a complicated spreadsheet (I don’t do real programming any more). When I’m concentrating that deeply I find interruptions quite jarring, and when someone pops into the office to talk to me, it might take up to 30 seconds for me to snap out of it and re-focus on the interruptor. In that gap I’m sure I can be quite incoherent.

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