New! Distracted Featured in "Grace Notes" Exhibit at New York Society Library from January 19 to February 22 - New York City
Category Archives: Distracted

Excerpt from Distracted in Latest Issue of New Philosopher

I’m excited that the renowned global philosophy-design magazine New Philosopher is publishing an excerpt from the introduction to Distracted in its latest issue. In this excerpt, I argue that rising levels of inattention and splintered focus are indicative of a dark age. “It’s a darkening time when we think togetherness means keeping one eye, hand, or ear on our . . . read more

The Cognitive Upsides of Uncertainty

Today uncertainty is a keystone, a mantra, a lament of our times, yet few understand the critical role that epistemic or psychological uncertainty plays in our cognitive lives. Being unsure, ie not-knowing, is a gadfly to higher-order thinking, a stepping stone to resilience, and a lever to finding the tempo and space we need to . . . read more

An Honor and A Legacy…

Thrilled! I am honored the 2018 edition of Distracted is the winner of the Media Ecology Association’s 2020 Dorothy Lee Award, one of the most prestigious book awards for works exploring technology and culture. Past winners include New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and UCLA media theorist Peter Lunenfeld.

In these challenging times, it’s important . . . read more

Of Media as an Ecology and the Morals of It All…

It’s easy to ignore the drumroll of scientific findings that reveal our own guilt in instigating the increasingly plagues of extreme weather. It’s easy to think of rising floods, temperatures, and pollution as far removed from our daily habits of idling the car to keep it warm or cool; running the AC when not really . . . read more

What I’ve Learned: Three Tips for Reclaiming Focus that Might Surprise You

Here’s Part III of my recent interview with one of the UK’s leading environmentalists, Rob Hopkins, about the  fragmentation of attention in modern life. In this excerpt, I talk about the three ways that I personally guard and nurture my capacity for focus. Some of my best practices might surprise you!

Hopkins: I wondered, having done . . . read more

The Hidden Costs of Multitasking

Recently, I did an interview with one of the UK’s leading environmentalists, Rob Hopkins, about the  fragmentation of attention in modern life. Hopkins is part of a growing wave of green thinkers who rightly worry about how technology is affecting our ability to solve big-picture problems such as climate change. Here’s a second excerpt from our . . . read more

Just Hand-Wringing? Why the Excesses of Technology Need Watching

In 2018, I did an interview with one of the UK’s leading environmentalists, Rob Hopkins, about the  fragmentation of attention in modern life. At the time, Hopkins was exploring an overlooked hurdle to solving global warming – our waning ability to think well and even to muster the creativity needed to imagine and shape a . . . read more

My Appearance on Italy’s Top Investigative News Show

Presa-Diretta – Maggie Jackson Interview – from Iperconnessi – Oct. 15, 2018 Narrator: “Nine years ago, when we were full of enthusiasm about the arrival of smart phones, Maggie Jackson, working for the Boston Globe, the major newspaper in Boston, wrote a prophetic book, which has just been republished, about distraction and its impact on . . . read more

The Costs of Instantaneity

Are we using our technologies wisely?

That’s one of the points that I discussed recently in an interview for the intriguing new blog Human-Autonomy Sciences, curated by two leading psychology researchers on human-machine interaction, Clemson University’s Richard Pak and Microsoft Senior Design Research Manager Arathi Sethumadhavan.

Here is an excerpt from our e-conversation:

Pak — What does the future . . . read more

A New Vision of Balance: Tech-Life, Not Work-Life

A new vision of human flourishing is urgently needed, I call it “tech-life balance.”

That’s one of the points that I discussed recently in an interview for the intriguing new blog Human-Autonomy Sciences, curated by two leading psychology researchers on human-machine interaction, Clemson University’s Richard Pak and Microsoft Senior Design Research Manager Arathi Sethumadhavan.

In . . . read more