Distractions

On page 118 of The Shallows, Carr says “It returns us to our native state of bottom up distractedness, while presenting is with far more distractions than our ancestors had to contend with.” Though there a lot of things Carr say I do not agree with, one thing he mentions that really pertains to my internet use is the internet being a distraction.  Sometimes the internet really distracts me, but it is difficult to avoid since most of my daily tasks have to be done online.  A lot of my school work is done online. This brings up an instant distraction because as soon as I flip open my laptop after a day at work I am led to check my facebook or reply to all my emails.  Though these are things I would do later in the day anyway, I mostly just find a challenge in prioritizing.  Clearly mostly all of my assignments have deadlines and due dates so it would make sense to take time and do those first.  Sometimes I find myself forgetting what I even got online to do, or “checking my facebook for a couple minutes” turns into a few hours of web surfing. 

Before going onto the internet I find it useful to create an agenda if I know I have stuff to get done. Making a timed agenda gives me time to have some down time well still getting my important tasks done.  This is why I think internet is good in moderation, in a sense. When you allow yourself to indulge in some leisure while still getting work done you are able to get the best of both worlds.  I always have to stay extremely disciplined when I decide to go online and complete my schoolwork.  The reason Carr says “far more distractions than our ancestors had to contend with” is because olde3r generations did not have to deal with the distractions of the internet.  Before the internet school and business work was done or written by hand and passed in in person.  Now a lot of the work that has to be done is typed or solved online and then submitted to a teacher or boss at the end of the day.  Same concept essentially, but technology has kind of given people more excuse to be distracted.

Same thing with reading a book, when you sit down to read a book you usually go to a quiet spot and are distracted by nothing but the pages of the book.  When trying to read something online all you have to do is open up a new tab or window and your automatically disengaged.  Carr says “It returns us to our native state of bottom up distractedness, while presenting is with far more distractions than our ancestors had to contend with.”  The reason for this is because the internet has so many distractions and it is hard to stay away when facebook is calling your name, or you have other tasks to complete.

Angeli Hajali