Distractions: Friend or Foe?
http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2011-11-15/distractions-friend-or-foe
Technology can be a double-edged sword: email and mobile devices help us accomplish tasks quickly and efficiently. But they also present endless opportunities to procrastinate. Scholar Cathy Davidson argues that we can actually benefit from distractions and disruptions over the course of our day. She joins us to explain how innovative schools and workplaces are harnessing the power of distractions to boost creativity and increase learning.
Guests
Cathy Davidson
Ruth F. DeVarney Professor of English and John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, Duke University; also founder, Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory, (HASTAC, pronounced “haystack”), MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competition; and author, "Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn" (Viking)
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Excerpted from "Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn," by Cathy Davidson. Copyright 2011 by Cathy Davidson. Reprinted here by permission of Viking:
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I have always focused better in boring lectures or long talks by doodling on one side of the page. If I don't doodle, I zone out and miss a lot of the content being covered. If I am alone at my desk I work better while listening to a radio program (like NPR!) when doing mindless tasks like updating spreadsheets.
However, I find the use of FB and Twitter to be HUGE distractions and not beneficial to a productive work environment. I will take 15 min during a break to scan posts on FB, but beyond that I stay off. I don't know if that's because FB and Twitter are newer formats to me than pen and paper (I'm in my late 30's) or if there is truly something negative about the social lure of FB and Twitter. I feel like I get sucked in to all the conversations and lose track of time.
In general, I have always struggled with desk jobs because I feel that they are so incredibly unnatural. We are not designed to sit still all day long! I think our society needs to restructure our work day so that there is more variety and physical movement. I hope that by the time my children are adults that employers will recognize and embrace the need for play and movement during the work day.
flow happens during creative activity, such as making art, designing things, building things and on and on.