The problem is distraction. With an otherwise focused mind, you have to contend daily with “everything else.” And the “everything else” that is a part of twenty-first century life is mind boggling. You are aware of everything because you are in constant contact with everywhere. It’s very difficult to be just in the place where you are.
“A report by the BBC…”
“NBC reports…”
“Fox News reports…”
“MSNBC reports…”
“ABC reports…”
“CBS reports…”
“The NY Times reports…”
“The Miami Herald reports…”
“The You-Name-It reports…”
You know of bombings in the Middle East and earthquakes in Italy. You know of threats by foreign nations, economic upturns and downturns, breakdowns by Hollywood starlets, new fashion, suicides of locals, store robberies, Twitter feeds, leaking gutters and uneven sidewalks, sports outcomes, the need to restock the freezer and the checking account, political intrigue…
The Guardian reports on an eruption on Sumatra in Indonesia, “Three people also remain in a critical condition after Mount Sinabung, a highly-active volcano on Sumatra island, unleashed a series of eruptions on Saturday afternoon, disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said. ‘Nine people were struck by the hot clouds. Six died, and three others remain critical with burns,’ he said, adding the injured had been taken to [the] hospital.”*
There you were minding your own business, trying to focus, and ‘Holy Distraction’! Now you have to think for a moment first about the spokesman’s name and second about people dying in a pyroclastic flow. Pyroclastic flow? You studied that in school, but you can’t seem to remember the details. You look it up. Oh! Now you remember. And you just get to the other side of distraction when your phone rings (or sings, or buzzes, or beeps, or chimes—the noises themselves distractions that you planned into your life during a distraction to make such a distraction). You hope it isn’t Sutopo Purwo Nugroho calling.
You don’t have a problem with attention deficit. You have a problem with distraction. You want it to go away. You want order for at least an hour or two. You go on vacation to a tropical resort. There you find the lack of distraction distracting until you settle into a new routine free from outside... “No, thank you, I haven’t finished this drink yet. No, really, I’m fine. Thanks, but I’m going to pass on pool volleyball with strangers. No, truly, I am happy just sitting here trying to figure out which restaurant I should choose and how I need to dress appropriately. I wonder if the maid has finished cleaning the room. What is going on back home? No, I can’t think about that. I told myself just to relax; they have WiFi on the beach. Huffington reports what? Drudge says ‘it’ is a big problem. Oh! The sun just went behind a cloud, the surf is a bit rougher than usual, and no, though it sounds like fun, I’m going to pass on the catamaran cruise around the island. What time will I have to leave ‘paradise’ to go through the security hassle at the airport?”
You need a deficit of distraction to find order. But, sorry, not in this life, and possibly nowhere on this planet.
* https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/22/people-killed-as-mount-sinabung-volcano-erupts-in-western-indonesia
“A report by the BBC…”
“NBC reports…”
“Fox News reports…”
“MSNBC reports…”
“ABC reports…”
“CBS reports…”
“The NY Times reports…”
“The Miami Herald reports…”
“The You-Name-It reports…”
You know of bombings in the Middle East and earthquakes in Italy. You know of threats by foreign nations, economic upturns and downturns, breakdowns by Hollywood starlets, new fashion, suicides of locals, store robberies, Twitter feeds, leaking gutters and uneven sidewalks, sports outcomes, the need to restock the freezer and the checking account, political intrigue…
The Guardian reports on an eruption on Sumatra in Indonesia, “Three people also remain in a critical condition after Mount Sinabung, a highly-active volcano on Sumatra island, unleashed a series of eruptions on Saturday afternoon, disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said. ‘Nine people were struck by the hot clouds. Six died, and three others remain critical with burns,’ he said, adding the injured had been taken to [the] hospital.”*
There you were minding your own business, trying to focus, and ‘Holy Distraction’! Now you have to think for a moment first about the spokesman’s name and second about people dying in a pyroclastic flow. Pyroclastic flow? You studied that in school, but you can’t seem to remember the details. You look it up. Oh! Now you remember. And you just get to the other side of distraction when your phone rings (or sings, or buzzes, or beeps, or chimes—the noises themselves distractions that you planned into your life during a distraction to make such a distraction). You hope it isn’t Sutopo Purwo Nugroho calling.
You don’t have a problem with attention deficit. You have a problem with distraction. You want it to go away. You want order for at least an hour or two. You go on vacation to a tropical resort. There you find the lack of distraction distracting until you settle into a new routine free from outside... “No, thank you, I haven’t finished this drink yet. No, really, I’m fine. Thanks, but I’m going to pass on pool volleyball with strangers. No, truly, I am happy just sitting here trying to figure out which restaurant I should choose and how I need to dress appropriately. I wonder if the maid has finished cleaning the room. What is going on back home? No, I can’t think about that. I told myself just to relax; they have WiFi on the beach. Huffington reports what? Drudge says ‘it’ is a big problem. Oh! The sun just went behind a cloud, the surf is a bit rougher than usual, and no, though it sounds like fun, I’m going to pass on the catamaran cruise around the island. What time will I have to leave ‘paradise’ to go through the security hassle at the airport?”
You need a deficit of distraction to find order. But, sorry, not in this life, and possibly nowhere on this planet.
* https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/22/people-killed-as-mount-sinabung-volcano-erupts-in-western-indonesia
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