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Distraction Addiction (2013)

by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang(Favorite Author)

3.48 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1306764300 (ISBN13: 9781306764308)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Little Brown and Company

review 1: A good collection of thoughts about how we should be actively contemplating how we interact with technology on an ongoing basis. Unfortunately the author doesn't extrapolate far enough into the future to focus on ubiquitous communication technology that makes even a place like an airplane just another location one could be contacted. The idea that we need to control our use of technology is vital since there are fewer and fewer situations that prevent our use of it. The book covers topics such as memory, multi-tasking versus switch-tasking, meditation, goals, and relaxation, all of which build to an excellent final chapter that outlines eight steps for contemplative computing. This final chapter saves the book and is insightful without the need to read the rest of the ... morebook.
review 2: Confession: I routinely use the Internet to unwind. When I have a minute to myself, I'll hop online and peruse blogs or Pinterest or Facebook. I think that's okay to some extent (I mean, I don't watch TV or movies, so that frees up a lot of my time, right?), but sometimes I feel almost compelled to "check in" and "keep up" with those sites, even though rationally I know that I'm usually only missing a bunch of garbage.But while I want to conquer that compulsion, I don't want to have to give up the Internet altogether! I think technology can be so useful: I can keep in touch with extended family, and it's a great source of information and ideas and inspiration. And seriously -- what would I do without Goodreads??I could really identify with how the author put it: "Social media is like the stream you can't step in twice ... when you give up trying to follow all your friends all the time, you need to accept that you're just going to miss some fascinating things ... At best, staying on top of my Twitter and Facebook feeds is like trying to stay involved in a dozen fascinating conversations at a party. As stimulating as that can be, it's too much to keep track of if I ever want to have my own thoughts." (p. 165)But rather than abandoning it altogether, the author advocates using technology as a tool and not a time-waster. He called the idea "contemplative computing," meaning that we, as the humans, are the masters of our gadgets and not the other way around. We don't have to hold our breath while our email loads (he means it literally; apparently this is a very common response!) or answer every message immediately (with smartphones that alert us instantly, we equate the interruption with urgency -- it's not usually the case) or answer the siren song of social media when we should be working. He acknowledges occasional abstinence from technology (a "digital Sabbath"), but there are lots of other ideas, too.But this goes way, way beyond just being a self-help book for people with ringxiety (which is, apparently, a very real phenomenon to those who are addicted to their smartphones!). As the author addresses his points, he explores a multitude of related topics: the history of type and silent reading, how walking helped Darwin bring about scientific discovery, why humans should be multitaskers but not switchtaskers, how the brain reacts to virtual reality, the role of "flow" in creativity, how memory works, and more. There were a few topics I didn't care too much about (I felt like this book leaned heavily toward Buddhism, for example, and he kept coming back to it), but for the most part I was completely fascinated.I'm not sure who I would recommend this to; while I thought the extra information was extremely interesting, there are plenty of fellow Goodreads reviewers who seem bugged that there were so many "tangents." But as for me, I sure enjoyed this one -- I'll be thinking on it for a long time to come. I think if you enjoy pop-sci books -- like the ones Malcolm Gladwell or Jonah Lehrer write -- you might like this one, too. Very smart, deep writing while still being accessible.A note for my friends looking for clean reads: I was very disappointed to come across the f-word sometime after page 200 (really?!!); otherwise there's no profanity whatsoever. less

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