Finding It Hard to Focus? Maybe It’s Not Your Fault

Earlier this year both Facebook and Instagram announced new features which would help people limit the amount of time they spend on each platform. Studies have shown that we check our phones as many as 150 times a day but touch our phones over 2600 times. This is distracting for most people and they lose their ability to focus on what is important. These large companies are all competing (and winning) all of our attention, but the consequences of this may be dire.

Reflect on these key points:

• 1It’s ironic that after inundating us with devices and apps that companies, like Apple and Google, are suggesting we should unplug sometimes.
• 2It’s Silicone Valley’s version of the alcohol industry reminding users to “drink responsibly.”
• 3Facebook and Instagram have also announced the availability of new user tools to put limits on platform use.

““The liberation of human attention may be the defining moral and political struggle of our time,” writes James Williams, a technologist turned philosopher and the author of a new book, “Stand Out of Our Light.””

Read the full story: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/style/how-can-i-focus-better.html