Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age download epub

by Bill McKibben,Maggie Jackson

Bill_McKibben Maggie_Jackson Psychology_and_Counseling English

Epub Book: 1827 kb. | Fb2 Book: 1748 kb.

Foreword by Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and The Bill McKibben Reader Do you text during .

com, October 20, 2008 "Maggie Jackson's book Distracted will serve as a wonderful guide for us on this journey as we begin to recognize and confess the ways in which we daily are inattentive and distracted.

Distracted is a gripping exposé of this hyper-mobile, cyber-centric, attention-deficient life. Day by day, we are eroding our capacity for deep attention - the building block of intimacy, wisdom, and cultural progress. The implications for a healthy society are stark

Distracted is a gripping exposé of this hyper-mobile, cyber-centric, attention-deficient life. The implications for a healthy society are stark. And yet we can recover our powers of focus through a renaissance of attention. Neuroscience is just now decoding the workings of attention, with its three pillars of focus, awareness, and judgment, and revealing how these skills can be shaped and taught. This is exciting news for all of us living in an age of overload.

In her sweeping quest to unravel the nature of attention and detail its losses, Jackson introduces us to scientists, cartographers, marketers, educators, wired teens, and even roboticists

In her sweeping quest to unravel the nature of attention and detail its losses, Jackson introduces us to scientists, cartographers, marketers, educators, wired teens, and even roboticists. She offers us a compelling wake-up call, an adventure story, and reasons for hope. As the author shows, neuroscience is just now decoding the workings of attention, with its three pillars of focus, awareness, and judgment, and revealing how these skills can be shaped and taught.

Foreword by Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and The Bill McKibben Reader We have vast oceans of information at our disposal, yet increasingly we seek .

Foreword by Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and The Bill McKibben Reader We have vast oceans of information at our disposal, yet increasingly we seek knowledge with brief glimpses at online headlines while juggling other tasks.

Foreword by Bill McKibben. Includes a chapter by maggie jackson.

Jackson makes it clear that if we squander our powers of attention, our technological age could ultimately slip .

Jackson makes it clear that if we squander our powers of attention, our technological age could ultimately slip into cultural decline. And yet we are just as capable of igniting a renaissance of attention by strengthening our skills of focus and perception, the keys to judgment, memory, morality, and happiness. Jackson reveals the astonishing scientific discoveries that can help us rekindle our powers of attention in a world of speed and overload. The book presents a fascinating and frightening collection of evidence for our distracted lives; distracted by split focus, mobility that erodes our sense of space, involvement in the digital world.

Maggie Jackson is the author of Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Ag. MJ: Multitasking is sold to us as the ultimate in efficiency: supposedly, it allows us to perform several tasks simultaneously.

Maggie Jackson is the author of Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age. She recently sat down with HarvardBusiness. But multitasking is most oft en about task-switching, hopping back and forth among several tasks in quick succession, never giving deep, full attention to any of them.

Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age. Maggie Jackson. Foreword by Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and The Bill McKibben ReaderDo you text during family dinners or read e-mails during meetings? Does your spouse learn about your day fro. More).

Foreword by Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature and The Bill McKibben ReaderDo you text during family dinners or read e-mails during meetings? Does your spouse learn about your day from Facebook? Do you get news about the world by scanning online headlines while also doing something else?

Welcome to the land of distraction. Despite our wondrous technologies and scientific advances, we are nurturing a culture of diffusion, fragmentation, and detachment. Our attention is scattered among the beeps and pings of a push-button world. We are less and less able to pause, reflect, and deeply connect.

In Distracted, journalist Maggie Jackson ponders our increasingly cyber-centric world and fears we're entering a dark age of interruption that will render us unable to think critically, work creatively or cultivate meaningful relationships. Jackson warns of what can happen when we lose our ability to sustain focus and erode our capacity for deep attention the building block of intimacy, wisdom, and cultural progress. The implications for a healthy society are stark. Societal ADD will adversely affect parenting, marriages, personal safety, education and even democracy. And yet we can recover our powers of focus through a renaissance of attention. Neuroscience is just now decoding the workings of attention, with its three pillars of focus, awareness, and judgment, and revealing how these skills can be shaped and taught.

In her sweeping quest to unravel the nature of attention and detail its losses, Jackson offers us a compelling wake-up call, an adventure story, and reasons for hope. Put down your smart phone and prepare for an eye-opening journey. We can and must learn to focus attention in this Twitter culture.

Comments: (7)

Conjulhala

I began to research the topic of attention and its effects on our daily lives and came upon this book. I read it and found the beginning of my journey into this research spot on with what I wanted to find! Maggie Jackson's "Distracted" has opened my eyes and given me in-depth insight into the history and subtle ways our attention is slowly being eroded from our daily lives. Chapter's 6: Judgement and Chapter's 8: McThinking were the some of the best descriptions on use of judgement and being able to learn why "multi-tasking" was really not as useful as people come to know, and the use of our attention and how much "WillPower" plays an important role in keeping our focus and attention on even the smallest of tasks.

I could not put down this book, it truly inspired me to continue to pursue this type of research and the use of technology that is beginning to be used systematically in our schools, and how its affecting the youth today through hours of tv watching and cellphone usage. I cannot wait until the next book comes out.

Shaktiktilar

Excellent description of things I've been noticing for the past few years. I'd recommend getting this and "The Glass Cage"; together they cover exactly what happens to you when (with the best intentions) something tries to make your life too easy.

Shliffiana

"We're all air traffic controllers now." (p 77)

As an avid reader on the topic of the encroachment of informational and communications technologies on our lives, I was especially intrigued by the title of Maggie Jackson's book, "Distracted." And as an educator for nearly three decades, I was even more drawn to the subtitle, "The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age." Because modern technology--especially communications technology--has become a Hydra for those trying to understand it, I have developed a deep appreciation for those authors that not only introduce one or more new insights, but also set the trajectory for further personal thought and study. Jackson and "Distracted" met all my expectations using these criteria.

Her chapter on "McThinking And The Future of the Past" is worth the price of the book. As an educator, I was growing increasingly frustrated with the diminishing ability of my upper level students to retain basic information; simple fact mastery. Their semantic memories seemed to be atrophying. Jackson, in clear and concise language, explains the relationships between the various aspects of memory, and unpacks what is occurring in the process of "forgetting." In an age when outsourcing of American business is a hot topic, Jackson makes a heavy contribution to the dangers of outsourcing our memories. This was a very helpful "piece" for me, in my construction of the puzzle of learning deterioration I was witnessing. Jackson gave me a unique perspective with her focus on attention and its connection to so many areas of our lives, especially learning and retention.

I just returned from addressing students on the Vanderbilt University campus about the invasion of informational/communications technologies on our humanity; the transparent shift that is occurring in our understanding of who we are and how we relate. I quoted and referenced Jackson copiously. My comments were readily accepted and validated by the audience (some of the sharpest young people on our university campuses).

I also led a book group recently in a large local insurance company, using "Distracted" as the text. It was nearly humorous to watch the "dash lights" come on week after week, as the various people made real life connections to Jackson's ideas and their daily work world, their marriages, and their children. As a small group facilitator, when you witness that "aha" moment occurring, you know the content has made an intersection with life as people live it, not just as the author (or "reviewer") sees it.

Finally, I'm grateful that Jackson DOESN'T tell the reader what to do, or lay out a program for redirecting our "virtual, split-screen, and nomadic lives." Her goal was to get us to SEE the elephant in the room, so that we can begin thinking and talking about what to do with it. Isn't that what good books are supposed to do? Open up our own creativity and engender further investigation and dialogue?

I believe she is a key contributor to the conversation cooking in the public square that was properly revisited by the late Neil Postman (E.g., "Amusing Ourselves to Death," "Technopoly") twenty years ago. Namely, the peril we flirt with by the thoughtless embracing of technologies that foster speed and efficiency. Jackson provides a wonderful missing piece to this conversation by nature of her vocation: she is a journalist, not a university professor or reclusive writer. The beauty of her contribution lies in the multitude of personal interviews and subsequent anecdotes that populate the pages of "Distracted." Real people "teach" more effectively than statistics and data. The book is replete with real people.

"Distracted" is a great read. But, it's also a "voice crying in the wilderness" to pay attention to where we are, how we got here, and perhaps where we're headed if we DON'T pay attention to the fact that we're losing our ability to do so. Jackson is optimistic about change. But, I think she would agree if it happens, it WON'T be because of her book. It'll be because of you, the reader. So...read it!

Ahieones

It doesn't matter how one feels about the ways in which Jackson goes about exploring the nature of our distracted lives; the important thing is that she did it. Early in the book Jackson explains that she didn't set out to write about attention, but rather was " curious as to why so many Americans are deeply dissatisfied with life." It's a big and ornery question, and a very, very important one. When I began to read this book, I noticed distracted, disconnected behaviors around me everywhere I went: in the waiting room of the doctor's office, at weddings I was photographing, in restaurants. It's incredibly disheartening, and Jackson deserves credit, at the very least, for bringing these things to our attention, and for getting the conversation rolling. Hopefully, in time, we will, as a result, see a slowing down of these behaviors that threaten to tear at the fabric of our lives, of our society, and, with any luck at all, a return to some of the slower, deeper habits and ways of being. Maggie Jackson has written a very important book at a crucial time in history.

Musical Aura Island

The author did a wonderful job in the book in describing why a healthy attention span is so important and what we are losing in the deterioration in our ability to focus. I love her writing style and the imagery she uses in her sentences. She examines the work of a variety of psychologists studying the science of attention and she does a great job in describing why their work is important in helping us understand more about the workings of the brain. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the subject-matter. I bought the digital version and will probably get the paperback and audio versions as well.

Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age download epub

Psychology & Counseling

Author: Bill McKibben,Maggie Jackson
ISBN: 1591027489
Category: Health, Fitness & Dieting
Subcategory: Psychology & Counseling
Language: English
Publisher: Prometheus Books (October 20, 2009)
Pages: 327 pages

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