For most of us, the pull of distraction is all too familiar. The main culprits of course are our overly busy lives and our always on devices. Neuroscientist and author Maryanne Wolf, examines this phenomenon in the context of reading. Her new book, Reader Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World, explores how we are getting worse at reading information slowly. We are becoming a world of scanners because words, or anything else for that matter, don't hold our attention for as long as they used to.
But I think this phenomenon goes well beyond reading. It impacts the way we work, the way we spend time together, and even day to day activities like driving or cooking. I wonder how we can expect to feel calm or to produce anything of quality, when our attention spans are rapidly shrinking? Wolf suggests that we can learn to focus better by developing what she calls cognitive patience. Here are a few ways to do just that. See full transcript here.
Photo credit: Steven Wright
