6. Living With Distracting Tech

What we attend to is what we value. We cannot live a life of merely avoiding distraction because we will always be giving attention to something. By definition, a distraction is something that takes our attention away from something else. So what do we value? Do we value scrolling social media newsfeeds? Do we value the *ding* notifications in the midst of trying to do work? Why are we on our phones so much?

In this episode, we work through what distractions are, how to think about our "attention economy," and how to live a life where our attention is not distracted.

Links:

Alan Jacobs' Habits of Mind in an Age of Distraction

L.M. Sacasas' We Are Not Living in a Simulation, We Are Living In the Past

Andy Crouch's The Life We're Looking For

L.M. Sacasas' Your Attention is not a Resource

Michael Goldhaber's 1997 Wired Essay on Attention Economy

Carl Trueman's The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self

Carl Trueman's Strange New World