The Age of Distraction

This New York Magazine article by Sam Anderson is filled with wonderful and heady speculation on the long-term effects of the information age. In addition to the interesting mix of opinion and expertise Anderson weaves together here (multi-tasking and attention experts, Buddhist monks, neuroscientists), it's refreshing to see a positive view towards the digital distractions of our life, rather than the typical dread of a "cognitive plague" that will wipe out this generation's basic communication skills and creative thought:

There’s been lots of hand-wringing about all the skills they might lack, mainly the ability to concentrate on a complex task from beginning to end, but surely they can already do things their elders can’t—like conduct 34 conversations simultaneously across six different media, or pay attention to switching between attentional targets in a way that’s been considered impossible. More than any other organ, the brain is designed to change based on experience, a feature called neuroplasticity.

As someone who works in neuroscience, I'm glad that the biological basis for learning is being thrown into the mix. Too many times, I think, we look at the information age in terms of intimidation of the unknown. People see all this information coming at them from so many directions, and are too scared to realize that what is happening is simply a shift in the way things are done. The information age is not a monster that is coming to get us; it's a new set of tools. What we perceive as "fear" is nothing more than learning, our neurons slowly becoming acclimated to a new social climate. As humans, we've adapted our thought processes for thousands of years to make way for new technologies and ideas, and the information age is no different. We just need to learn to harness our new way of thinking into modern, digital contexts.