We are in the midst of a battle for our attention.
Our devices have hijacked our brains and destroyed our collective ability to concentrate – to the extent that we’re even seeing the emergence of a ‘goldfish generation’.
That, at least, is the story that’s increasingly being told. But should we be paying attention to it?
Journalist Johann Hari’s new book, Stolen Focus, has just joined a chorus of voices lamenting the attention crisis of the digital age. His and other recent books reflect, and perhaps fuel, a public perception that our focus is under attack.
Indeed, in new research by the Policy Institute and Centre for Attention Studies at King’s College London, we found some clear concerns.
Faced with the kinds of findings that arose from our research, it is easy to be nostalgic about a past that existed before the digital revolution. But new technologies have been blamed for causing crises of distraction long before the digital age, so how should we respond to the…
