Distracted: The Erosion of
Attention and The Coming Dark Age
Maggie Jackson
Reviewed by Tina Avon
This book could not have come at a better time in our
lives! Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming
Dark Age, written by Maggie Jackson, is talking to all of us as,
for the most part, we are a society of hyper, type A personalities who
live 24 hours a day attached to some kind of technologically produced
device that is, apparently, created to make our lives easier . If
that were not enough, we have come to realize that, in many
cases, we are also addicted to these little gems- be it, a cell
phone, the TV or our computers. Never has mankind advanced (are we
really advancing?) so quickly, in such a short time span.
This book takes a fascinating and frightening look at our
need for constant distraction and what it is doing to us as
humans. Why do we feel such a strong need (pull?) towards
anything that will remove us from focusing, meditating and basically
living in the now?. The author, Maggie Jackson, argues that we
must be in a constant state of distraction - that we are incapable of
sitting still and paying attention. In fact, as we go this is
becoming more and more of an issue - and is actually removing our
humanity from us. We seem to have a need to be surrounded by
"noise". As I was reading, I found myself nodding my head "yes"
on more than one occasion.
This book is a little scary as it reflects a good chunk of what I have
been thinking in the last few years. I, myself, am afraid of the world
that I live in at times and have said that we suffer from "too much
information", "too much choice" and basically just "too much". It
is depressing and it appears as though we are may very well be heading
into a very bleak direction. Although I am not certain that I
would refer to is as a "coming dark age", as the author calls it, I
think we certainly need to slow down and start smelling the roses again
- oh wait! we can just go on the Net and pull up a picture of one
instead!!!!
This book is extremely well researched and informative - while I did
not always like what Jackson was stating, I believe that she was
entirely correct in stating it.
(Reviewer note: By the way, I do see the irony of what I am writing
here - or more
precisely, the manner in which I am writing it and transmitting it.)