Some Thoughts About Distraction

So humor me a bit here and try this little experiment. This will only take five minutes--300 measly seconds. For the next five minutes, set aside any and every possible distraction that you can think of, and observe what it’s like to live five minutes with zero distractions. So obviously that means no phone, no internet, no books or magazines, no TV, no music, no computer, no food or beverage, no interaction, no games, no exercise, no planning, no prayer or meditation or reminiscing. Just be alone with your thoughts for 300 seconds. You don’t have to turn your phone off or shut down your computer. In fact, try this experiment in a room where those potential distractions are available to you, but try not to engage. This is probably going to be pretty difficult. I know it was for me. Try it now before reading the next paragraph. (I’m watching you. Ew, not really. But try it anyway)

Welcome back! Are you a changed human being now? No, I didn’t think so. But after doing that little experiment, ask yourself some of these questions: What was that like for you? How many times did you urge for some form of distraction during those 300 seconds? Did you notice the inclination to reach for the iPhone or the remote control? How many times did you unwittingly slip into being distracted? Daydreaming. Reminiscing. Re-playing that funny YouTube cat compilation video in your head that you watched this morning. Where did your thoughts go? What did you start thinking about? What were the thoughts you actively rejected or passively pushed way? What were the thoughts or feelings that seemed to precede a yearning to distract yourself? If that wasn’t enough of a challenge for you, try stretching it out to 10 minutes or even a  half hour. If you’re one of those brave souls that actually did this for 30 minutes or longer, please e-mail me (I probably won’t believe you, but e-mail me anyway).
Over the summer I thought a lot about distraction and the ways that it completely pervades my life. I also noticed how I appear to be far from alone in this regard. You don’t need me to tell you how everyone is constantly looking at some sort of digital screen--I’m sure you’ve seen it for yourself. I attempted the experiment above on myself to see if: a.) I could actually complete the task, and b.) what I would learn as a result. Perhaps predictably, there weren’t any climactic epiphanies or great philosophical insights. But it did spur me on to continue thinking about distraction more in depth, asking more questions, trying to devise explanations, and then coming up with more questions.
I blended this new-found interest in distraction with a goal I set for myself over the summer to start writing. What resulted was a rather long “essay” (I hate that word but I don’t know what else to call it) that comprised some of my thoughts and observations about distraction. The length of what I wrote is both surprising and unsurprising. Surprising because I have historically loathed writing with a passion and am usually all too eager to get to the point where I can finally stop writing. And unsurprising because I can be somewhat verbose at times.
Anyway, rather than just post the whole damn thing at once and then practically guarantee that absolutely no one will read it, I’ve decided to try to break it up into more digestible chunks that people might look at, consider reading, ultimately decide against it, and commence doing something better with their time. But I’ll continue to post the “chunks” every couple of days until the conclusion so you can continue deciding against reading them. So before you or I get (more) distracted…..
I just want to make the following disclaimer: I realize that a large amount of personal bias is present here as I endeavor to share my thoughts about distraction. I am not claiming to be objective (or really attempting to achieve objectivity) or to be anywhere close to authoritative on the subject. I know that there are likely a multitude of blind spots and irrationalities about what I am saying and the particular perspectives that I have taken. But my aim here is to simply share my thoughts about the subject. Perhaps borrowing a quote from someone fathoms smarter than I am would help here: “All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed” (Michel de Montaigne).
With that being said, we seem to crave ever increasing levels of distraction. The rapid pace is rivaled by the similarly ever-increasing technologies and gadgets that can support our distraction. With each new technological advancement there comes an accompanying increase in distraction possibilities and realities. Not surprisingly, there are always those who are outraged by new technologies that alter our lives in ways we never before imagined. Whether it is the smart phone or the printing press, there are always those who will rail against the new technology for how it is not only changing life as we know it, but damaging it. This is not so different from the “back in my day” diatribes that take place within every generation. Each generation is born and raised with certain technologies being the norm. As they get older, new technologies are introduced and replace the old ones and this changes the world and how they operate in it. It is no longer the simple, innocent world they grew up in. Now it is ruined with all these “youngins” and their [insert new tech here]. Meanwhile those youngins grow up with those very technologies that the older generation is bitching about and as they grow older, again new technologies are introduced and now it is their turn to be the outraged and crotchety “back in my day…” lecturers. And the cycle continues on ad infinitum.
Isn’t it interesting how we can lament how the smart phone--this piece of technology-- is changing how people interact (or rather, don’t interact) with each other? We can rail against the family sitting at the kitchen table all gazing down at separate screens in their laps, only pausing to shovel another forkful of Hamburger Helper into their mouths. We talk about how the smart phone is ruining our world, spoiling our ability to relate with each other, and changing the way we experience ourselves. Yet, the person writing this complaint, once he’s finished typing it up on his desktop computer, wordlessly joins his glazed-over partner on the couch as they gawp at the TV together. Before the smart phone was the enemy, it was the internet. Before that it was the computer. Before that, the TV. Then the radio. Then the telegram. Then letter writing. Then the printing press. “Back in my day, we all gathered around the fire and told stories to each other, none of this reading and writing bullshit... And then we died of dysentery at age 25.”
The technology itself is invariably blamed for the spoiling of society. This is quite a convenient way of denying our own culpability. Does not the blame rest solely on our (increasingly) slumping shoulders? Are not these technologies devised to meet demands and desires? The technology is invented and it is then incorporated and consumed on a massive scale. It seems that we literally cannot wait to devour (not literally) the next gadget that will lead us further and more constantly into distraction.
Our penchant for distraction and capacity to distract ourselves continually expand so that nothing is ever enough. It is not enough that we can be perpetually “plugged in.” It is not enough that from the moment we wake up to the point that we fall asleep (with the screen still in our limp, unconscious hands) that we immerse ourselves in something that distracts us. And this isn’t being hyperbolic. According to recent research, the average person checks their phone about 214 times every day (source). If you assume that a person sleeps about 6 hours each night (which is on the low end) and that they haven’t invented a way to check their phone while sleeping, then the average person is checking their phone about 12 times every hour during the day . And this incessant digital distraction marches invariably on, granted that we don’t get splattered while obliviously meandering across a busy intersection by the also digitally distracted motorists. Nowadays we so crave distraction that we need distractions from our distractions. While watching TV I’m checking Facebook and Candy Crushing and scrolling my Twitter feed.
But we do not need to blame the technology. Rather, we should take a look at ourselves (as reflected in the faint, dark screens we gaze into all day). It seems we humans have an insatiable desire for distraction. The technologies that not only permit but augment our ability to become more masterful in our distraction will continue to be consumed en masse because we need it so severely.
Why do we crave distraction so severely? From what exactly are we distracting ourselves? I have a couple of initial thoughts about this but they both orbit around the center of this thesis: what we are distracting ourselves from is our selfs. Distraction provides a path for us to divert our attention away from ourselves—our failings, our insecurities, our inadequacies, our blemishes, our feelings of purposelessness and meaninglessness. We lose ourselves in distraction.
If the most basic oversimplification of the purpose of existence is to survive, and a decent script to follow in order to do so is (generally speaking) by avoiding pain and seeking pleasure, then distraction is perhaps the overarching super-umbrella under which all means of pleasure-seeking and pain-avoiding falls. It is often painful and unsettling to look at our own insecurities and failings; or realize our respective powerlessness and meaninglessness in the scope of all history of humankind--and even more so when compared to our negligible significance in the scope of the universe. Too much pondering of these things leads almost invariably to some sort of despair, which is not exactly conducive to survival and procreation. As a result, we have evolved over time to not think about such matters too much--in other words, to distract ourselves. And over time this has lead to not thinking about these things at all. 
As technology has advanced it has allowed us the ability to prolong our lives ever longer, experience ever-decreasing amounts of pain, ever-increasing amounts of pleasure, and provided near infinite avenues for distraction. Perhaps the more we advance and evolve and come closer to immortality (even though we, admittedly, have an extremely long way to go) the less tolerant we are of our own mortality and pain. Therefore the need for distraction, as the pathway for pain avoidance and/or pleasure seeking, increases evermore.
Exactly how we lose ourselves in distraction occurs in two ways: the transposing of the self by way of projection and displacement; and the forgetting of the self through idle distraction. I will talk about these two pathways in more detail in upcoming posts. Now, due to the fact that distraction exists in so many different ways in so many different forms, I am choosing to focus on distraction through the lens of modern digital technology--where our craving for distraction finds an endless wellspring of opportunity . In my next post I will delve into the latter of the two pathways: idle distraction.