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We have oceans of information at our disposal, yet we
increasingly seek knowledge in online headlines glimpsed on the run. We are networked as never before, but we connect with friends and family via e-mail and fleeting face-to-face moments that are rescheduled and
interrupted a dozen times. Despite our wondrous technologies and
scientific advances, we are nurturing a culture of diffusion,
fragmentation, and detachment.
In this new world, something crucial is missing: attention -- the
key to recapturing our ability to connect, reflect, and relax; the
secret to coping with a mobile, multitasking, virtual world. Distracted vividly shows how, day
by day, our hyper-mobile, cyber-centric, interrupt-driven lives erode our capacity for deep focus and awareness. The long-term implications
for a healthy society are stark.
Attention is the building block of intimacy, wisdom, and cultural
progress. 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, and
happiness. Maggie Jackson reveals the astonishing scientific
discoveries that can help us rekindle our powers of attention in a
world of speed and overload.
Distracted is an original
exposé of the multi-faceted nature of attention, an engaging and
often surprising portrait of postmodern life, and a compelling road map
for cultivating sustained focus and nurturing a more enriched and
literate society. Jackson offers us both a wake-up call -- and a reason
for hope.
pub date: 2008-06-10 | hardcover | 9781591026235 |
