“Distracted from distraction by distraction” ― T.S. Eliot
Let us celebrate independence day this year by disconnecting for a moment from the electronic gadgets and devices that consume so much of our lives. I know it’s hard--hard for me, hard for you, hard for everyone. It’s hard because clever designers and marketers deliberately built these devices to be irresistible. The truth is that multi-tasking is a myth--you can do more than one thing at once, but you can’t really focus on more than one thing at a time. Also, time and energy spent with your gadgets saps strength, willpower and effort that could be channeled toward something more productive than liking a cat video on youtube. Plus, it takes ramp-up time to start a new task or restart a task that we started before and left unfinished because of that adorable cat video we had to watch and share with our friends. Every person’s cognitive daily fuel is limited, so every decision you make drains some of that precious fuel, regardless of whether it’s an important decision or something trivial like what you’re going to eat for lunch. When you make a decision or resist temptation it depletes your limited cognitive fuel tank. The best way to unplug is to remove the temptation altogether--turn your damn smart phone off or better yet, leave it at home. Don’t be a digital crackhead-put the phone down...not only are you wasting time, but you are also wasting fuel. Onward and upward!
