Distracting Ourselves to Death

Some really good "rules" here from John Mark Reynolds on how we can temper our use of those technological devices that clearly distract us and probably limit our mental capacity:

"First, no 'solitary media' on school days. If we watch a movie Monday through Friday, we are trying to make sure it is a family experience. In our family, anything we do together is active (discussion!) and not passive. At Lent the Reynolds go media free. Try it for forty days. You will hate it at first, but then (almost!) dread the end of Lent.

"Second, no earbuds with people (planes are an exception). When we are with people (especially folks we love), then we should talk with them. Life does not need a sound track and we are trying to limit our use of the Ipod to places (like the gym) where it gives us control of the music/audio we hear. The gym pumps music at us and the Ipod helps us avoid it. I must admit, however, that listening to the Brothers K in the gym and having the audio from the loudspeakers occasionally intrude leads to some fun moments.

"Imagine hearing Stacy’s Mom playing, while listening to Tolstoy’s description of Anna plunging into darkness through her misuse of passion . . . all the while running on an endless treadmill with CNN returning all the Obama fit to film. Quite educational really, an audio triptych of the new and old culture.

"Third, (and this is a hard one for me) with rare exceptions email needs to be checked twice a day and not more often. My phone should stay off or not be answered when in meetings with other people. (This seems obvious, but it is tempting to check email during meetings.)

"Fourth, my Google reader is fine for the 'news reading' time in the morning, but does not need to be checked again for the day.

"Fifth, my extended reading free time (longer articles or books) should equal my 'quick read' or video time. It does not matter, of course, whether the book is on-line (no Kindle yet for me!) or on paper, but the length and difficulty does."

See also Nicholas Carr's take on this subject, "Is Google Making us Stupid?" I think it is possible that I am getting dumber. Especially now that I use a reader, I process information so much more rapidly that I can't help but think the info gleaned is not "sinking in" like it once did. I think I will try and follow Reynolds' fourth rule.