Other people worry about the effect of technology on our ability to focus too. Thanks to Fabio for this. A US psychiatrist, Dr Edward Hallowell, who specialises in attention deficit disorder, reckons technology is reponsible for something he calls Attention Deficit Trait. It's like AAD, but unlike this not a condition you are born with. His theory is that the competing demands of digital communication (mobile call and text, e-mail, the web, Instant Messaging) encourage people in offices to "overload brain labor". Still with me?
I thought the most interesting distinction he makes is that this may seriously damage not only our ability to achieve (too busy "treading water" as the article puts it) but also to be creative - " you need to set limits and preserve time to think....if you're simply responding to bits of stimulation, you won't ever go deep".
I know there are sceptics who will contend his evidence is weak (and it is). But speaking personally, I don't need any of this proved to me with quantitive research - I struggle with it each and every day. And I can see other people doing the same.
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