I found a very thought provoking article I wanted to share by a gal named Laura Miller at Salon this morning concerning our modern day difficulty with focused concentration:
Now before I get all the "hey old timer" / "get with the times pops" / "this is how the world will be, get used to it" lines....I want to say that I think this topic is very important for people to pause and consider for a number of different reasons. Which I will get to in a bit.
First though, I want to talk a little about the article. It is actually a review of a book entitled "Rapt" by Winifred Gallagher which details her awakening to her own scattered attentions as a result of a battle with cancer. Ms. Miller is not necessarily as exuberant about the book per se, as about the ideas the book addresses. At first, I thought possibly this might be just another bemoaning of our internet age and how we are all getting dumbed down. However, she does not go down this track at all. She instead points out that modern life is actually not making us dumber. IQ tests (if you happen to like them as a measure of intelligence, which I don't) have had to be regularly updated in difficulty or the average scores would have climbed by 3% per decade since the 1930's. And she asserts that a greater number of us 'know' more facts and information than our forebearers of 100 years ago.
What she finds more troubling, and I completely concur, is that this internet age in which shiny NEW information, emails, tweets, posts, shopping and on and on and on is just a quick click away will have a deleterious and lasting impact on our mental functioning. She brings in evolution to discuss how this alertness to what is new around us was a necessity for our ancestors who had to be constantly alert to both sudden dangers and eye-catching food sources. But more advanced civilization certainly requires less of this alertness to the new and shiny, but more of the ability to focus and concentrate for prolonged periods because this is the means whereby we are able to synthesize ideas toward better comprehension of complex ideas and toward formulation of creative solutions to complex problems.
Ms. Miller also refers to the fact that our brains are dynamic in that they improve in the activity in which they are predominantly engaged in, and atrophy in functions they less frequently engage in. This means that the more we use our brains in the way that most of us are becoming accustomed to today....5 seconds of this article, check email, peek at TPM, comment on Kos, answer a text, take a bite of lunch, catch a bit of news etc.....the less we are able to actually sit still for an extended period of time and concentrate, read a complex novel, meditate, learn the details of a complex societal problem, formulate thoughtful opinions and creative solutions....hell just sit still and breathe for a little while. I have a sense that this explains why our lives seem so very frantic all the time....harried and fragmented.
This also so obviously leads to the kind of politics we engage in and the politicians we vote for. Who among us is happy and satisfied with the kind of political debate we get in campaign season? Shallow 20 second sound bites instead of thoughtful deliberate debate. You can't completely blame the politicians or the "system" here.....this stuff works. People are elected based on the success of these sound bites. This is why more money can win an election....money = thousands of 30 second commercials = a quick stream of thoughtless talking points and a slogan = sticks in my scattered mind without really thinking about what I am hearing = name recognition = robotically punch the name on the ballot = Victory. Who among us is satisfied with the continuation of this campaign model into the realm of governing? Has it not all become one big nation of sound bite democracy? Please don't tell me we will EVER solve our most pressing problems in an effective, intelligent way as long as this silliness prevails. I don't care what party is in power.
I can only assert that I think the onus and solution to this predicament lies with us as individuals. We need to start literally training our brain to slow down, focus, breath, think. I greatly enjoy reading classical literature and I think it helps some with this....but I think I need to also carve out some time to meditate. I keep saying I want to but I always find I am simply too frazzled with distractions to do so!
I also feel like we need to teach our children to do the same. I know I feel fairly agitated after an hour of TV.....I have to imagine the breakneck speed at which their entertainment is thrown at them on the shows they watch is not fostering their contemplative side. Really just old fashioned sitting down with a book or meditating would have to do them a world of good as well. It seems as if we as individuals could start to disengage for just a short time during our day and find some quiet, and breath, and be.....we would be the better for it and, possibly, if it came to be more widespread it could improve our political discourse. I'm pretty much a pessimist at heart though, damn me. But a guy can dream.
Anyway, if you get time I would highly recommend the story I link to above....thought provoking at least.
P.S. After reading the story I tried turning off my radio on my way to work....very weird. I kept unconsciously reaching for the volume knob. I also think I actually drove more like a rational human being...instead of a hyped up ape.