Is Technology Driving Us all to Distraction?
I was taking notes from a Sunday Times article I’d snipped a while back with the above title. It was by Dominic Rushe and explored a book by Edward Hallowell called ‘Crazybusy – Overstretched, Overbooked and about to Snap’
One sentence in particular struck me: ‘if you are driving and you are lost, the first thing you do is turn down the radio because you need to concentrate. Why do we think it’s different at work?’
And then: ‘the harder work is thinking, not the collecting of information’
It resonated a lot with things that have struck me about the way my mind works when I’m trying to focus. The siren call of ‘interesting’ distractions is vast. The peripheral noise of quick-hit, but ultimately lower return work is material compared to the clarity of, but endurance required to achieve, the longer term focused goal or objective.
I was even struck while running that because physically we’re more used to moving towards a destination, it may be hard work, but we cover a lot of ground. We don’t run round in small circles or from point to point, stopping and starting (unless we’re just starting running……..!)
It’s probably a questionable analogy, but it works for me. I want my work life to all be about the 90 minute runs to my pre-determined destination (with the radio turned down…)
