Best Of: Tired? Distracted? Burned Out? Listen to This.
14Digest
This podcast delves into the crucial role of attention in our lives, highlighting its impact on both productivity and well-being. Ezra Klein emphasizes the significance of attention as a human faculty, arguing that our experiences are shaped by what we choose to focus on. Gloria Mark, a leading researcher on attention, discusses the detrimental effects of technology on our attention spans, particularly the rise of "attention spam" and the decline in our ability to focus for extended periods. She emphasizes the importance of taking breaks and replenishing cognitive resources to avoid burnout and maintain a healthy rhythm of attention. Mark also provides practical strategies for improving attentional well-being, including understanding our personal rhythms, practicing "fourth thought," and role modeling healthy attention habits for children.
Outlines
The Importance of Attention
This chapter explores the significance of attention as a human faculty, emphasizing its impact on our experiences and the need for greater understanding of how to cultivate and manage it.
Attention and Well-being
This chapter discusses the crucial role of attention in well-being, highlighting the negative effects of technology on our attention spans and the importance of taking breaks to replenish cognitive resources.
The Decline of Attention Spans
This chapter explores the research on attention spans, revealing a significant decline in recent years and discussing the concept of "nested interruptions" that further disrupt our focus.
The Rhythm of Attention
This chapter examines the idea that attention has a rhythm, highlighting the importance of understanding our personal rhythms and taking breaks to maintain a healthy flow of attention.
Strategies for Attentional Well-being
This chapter provides practical strategies for improving attentional well-being, including taking breaks, understanding personal rhythms, practicing "fourth thought," and role modeling healthy attention habits for children.
Keywords
Attentional Capacity
The amount of mental energy available for focusing on tasks, processing information, and making decisions. It can be depleted by activities like multitasking, prolonged screen time, and stress.
Cognitive Resources
The mental energy and abilities used for thinking, learning, and problem-solving. These resources are limited and can be depleted by mental exertion, stress, and lack of sleep.
Executive Function
The part of the brain responsible for planning, decision-making, and self-control. It is essential for managing attention, inhibiting distractions, and staying on task.
Burnout
A state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress and overwork. It can lead to decreased attention, cynicism, and feelings of powerlessness.
Interruptions
Events that disrupt a person's focus and attention. They can be external (e.g., a phone call) or internal (e.g., a thought).
Self-Interruption
The act of intentionally switching tasks or diverting attention away from the current activity. This can be driven by a desire for novelty or a habit of frequent interruptions.
Fourth Thought
A technique for making decisions by considering the long-term consequences of our actions on our future selves. It helps us stay on track with our goals and avoid impulsive behaviors.
Yohaku Nobi
A Japanese concept that emphasizes the beauty of empty space. It encourages intentional scheduling of breaks and downtime to replenish cognitive resources and enhance productivity.
Q&A
How does attention affect our well-being beyond productivity?
Attention is crucial for well-being as it impacts our stress levels, ability to cope with demands, and overall mental health. Prolonged tech use without breaks can lead to burnout, affecting our ability to engage in work and social life.
What is the evidence that tech use is worsening our attention?
Research shows that tech use has expanded our scope of work, leading to increased time spent at desks and a decline in well-being. Email, in particular, has been shown to cause stress and disrupt focus. Ubiquitous access to information and people through devices also leads to work-life imbalance and difficulty detaching from work.
What are some healthy ways to take breaks and replenish attention?
Healthy breaks include spending time in nature, meditating, engaging in conversations, or doing mindless activities like knitting or playing simple games. These activities help to replenish cognitive resources and allow the mind to rest and recover.
How can we help children develop better attention in a world designed to capture their attention?
Parents should be role models for healthy attention habits, limiting their own screen time and prioritizing face-to-face interactions with their children. It's also important to understand that children's executive function, which helps manage attention, is not fully developed until around 10 years old, making them more susceptible to distractions.
Show Notes
I’m convinced that attention is the most important human faculty. Your life, after all, is just the sum total of the things you’ve paid attention to. We lament our attention issues all the time — how distracted we are, how drained we feel, how hard it is to stay focused or present. And yet, while there’s no shortage of advice on how to improve our sleep hygiene or spending habits or physical fitness, there’s hardly any good information about how to build and replenish our capacity for paying attention.
Gloria Mark is a professor at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of the book “Attention Span.” And she’s one of the few people who have deeply studied the way our attention works, how that’s been changing and what we can do to stop frittering away our attention budgets.
This was our first release of 2024, a kind of New Year’s resolutions episode. And since it can sometimes help to be reminded of the intentions with which you began your year — especially in the midst of a high-intensity election season — we thought we’d share it again.
Book recommendations:
“The Challenger Launch Decision” by Diane Vaughan
“The Undoing Project” by Michael Lewis
“The God Equation” by Michio Kaku
Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.
You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Claire Gordon. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld. Our senior editor is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Rollin Hu and Kristin Lin. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.
Soon, you’ll need a subscription to maintain access to this show's back catalog, and the back catalogs of other New York Times podcasts, on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Don’t miss out on exploring all of our shows, featuring everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts.
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