Multi-tasking to distraction
How can a technological generation find time to reflect?
February 8, 2007
Jolene Hildebrand
Generation Y is known as the technological generation. Our world has become increasingly complicated, and we are the first generation to intuitively navigate the complexities of a technological world. Described as an inherently skeptical generation obsessed with change, Gen Y has more educational opportunities and financial support than any preceding generation.
But has infinite access to information and technology created a cultural climate that values speed and flexibility, yet has lost the appreciation for reflection and meditation?
As a result of technology, our lives have become busier and our time is increasingly divided between the demands of technology and communication, and personal health and fulfillment. Multi-tasking is second nature to us as we balance the various responsibilities of communication – answering the phone, text messaging, responding to emails, and doing homework. In the meantime, the amount of information that is presented to us becomes a burden. How do we sort and prioritize information, while maintaining the quest for genuine knowledge and wisdom?
A BBC study carried out at the Institute of Psychiatry found that excessive use of technology reduced workers’ intelligence. Switching between email, instant messaging, phone calls, and a variety of other distractions caused a ten point fall in the workers IQ – more than that found in studies of the impact of smoking marijuana.
The requirements of operating within the complex standards of technology take their toll. Regardless of our ability to handle everything at once, it is the illusion that we are actually fully engaging with our tasks and obligations that prevents us from concentrating our focus on one thing. Our impatience is characteristic of the advantages we have of immediate ready-to-hand sources of entertainment and information that require relatively easy access.
Information is always available, and yet knowledge requires time to engage and reflect. Because of the distractions of technology, time is becoming an increasingly rare commodity, and the patience that is necessary for reflection eludes us as the desire to move on to instantly gratifying projects is tempting.
Immediate access to current global events via technology has created a raised awareness of poverty, terrorism, and war. Our desire to change the world and provide better standards of living for everyone possible indicates a growing concern for the “other,” the human being that exists beyond the framework of our local society and culture. Our parents have invested everything into our quality of living and education. Gen Y has been given everything necessary to succeed, and the burden of success and ambition can be overwhelming.
Where has all of this left us? The burden of unrelenting social and cultural responsibility has led to an overwhelming sense of doubt and guilt: we can heal all of the world’s wounds, pursue a rewarding career, and have a fulfilling family life, so long as we utilize our time. We have been given everything on the expectation that we will correct all of the mistakes of previous generations, but when it comes to the quality of our own lives, the loss of focus and patience results in an inability to reflect and think.
Throughout the chaos of everyday living, stillness and contemplation are increasingly becoming relics of the past. Drowned by the demands of iPods, emails, cell phones, and schoolwork, time to just reflect is scarcer and under-valued. Work does not necessitate thinking, and it’s easy for our minds to be preoccupied with worries and distractions. But genuine silence and reflection can enrich the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. As a generation that has unprecedented opportunities and privileges, we can allow a restless desire for change and innovation to motivate us to greater ideals and aspirations.
Now you go...
One Response to “Multi-tasking to distraction”
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Thanks so much for your article this month. As I have been thinking about the distraction brought about by our generation’s obsessive levels of multi-tasking and technology use, I have been reminded of the verse in Isaiah which states that “in quietness and truth is your strength.” Perhaps, as suggested in your article, it is the failure of our generation (Generation Y) to be quiet, to focus and to contemplate that has proven to be our greatest weakness thus far.
It is interesting that in the journey of our lives, it is the Good Shepherd who longs to lead us by quiet waters (Psalm 23)in order that we might not only be restored, but also led in paths of righteousness. Therefore, the life of the Christian should model that of attentive listening and faithful response through intentional acts of stilling and quieting the heart and mind. I am by no means advocating for the elimination or abandonment of technology, but rather for a balanced approach towards it. When iPods, cell phones, emails and television begin to occupy the place of highest prominence within our lives (so as to distract us from focus and reflection), we perhaps place ourselves in grave danger of leading reckless lives solely engaged in the promotion of self.