It’s Their Fault

Distraction… did you ever notice how it is similar to death? And not just because it starts with a “D.” It also contains an “a”! Just like: danger, damnation, and danceaholic!

According to this article,

Attention is the golden key to the mystery of human consciousness; it might one day tell us how we make the world in our heads.

(side note: Attention has even become a commodity!)

and distraction is “as dangerous as cigarette smoking” (!)

Chronic distraction, from which we all now suffer, kills you…slowly. Meyer says there is evidence that people in chronically distracted jobs are, in early middle age, appearing with the same symptoms of burn-out as air traffic controllers. They might have stress-related diseases, even irreversible brain damage. But the damage is not caused by overwork, it’s caused by multiple distracted work.

The article is a bit over the top, but, okay, that brain damage stuff is scary. It’s one of the few pieces that has given me a bit of pause about the information flood.

But don’t rush to this ideal of “making the World in your head.” Unfettered attention can be scary too.