“In a world of distraction, focusing is a superpower.” Those are the words of Ryan Holiday, an author and a marketer of Stoicism as a lifestyle and philosophy for modern people. In today’s world of growing distractions, his words hold true.
The stakes are higher than we may realize. As our attention diminishes in our work and personal lives, we are losing more than just productivity. Unfortunately, most of us don’t seem too willing to recognize this or take any steps to implement change.
But, why can’t we focus? Sebastiaan van der Velden helps people with stress and trauma-related issues. In a piece he wrote for Brainz magazine, he shares that distracted driving claimed 3,275 lives in 2023, and that the majority of these crashes involved drivers who were “lost in thought” — not texting, not on phones, just mentally elsewhere. They missed stop signs, pedestrians and oncoming traffic. He says there are three main culprits for this: technology's design, the multitasking myth and modern stress.
In terms of technology, van der Velden explains how smartphones and social platforms are “engineered for engagement through dopamine-driven reward loops. Every notification, like and scroll triggers a small hit that pulls us back.”
He also shares how media multitasking doesn't work, noting how studies with children show that “juggling multiple screens is tied to poorer cognitive functioning and behavioral problems.” He says adults experience increased stress and what researchers call “partial attention,” being perpetually half-distracted.
The third major factor that van der Velden says is tied to our inability to focus is modern stress, and it impairs our concentration independently. He says stress and exhaustion affect 35% of workers, “compromising their ability to notice critical details, whether that's a changing traffic light or their own health symptoms. When combined with technology's demands, it creates a perfect storm for attention problems.”
We tend to forget how all this technology that is supposed to simplify our lives is actually making it more complicated. Younger people may not realize this, as they have not known a life without it. I sometimes yearn for the simple life of my freshman year in college when we didn’t have social media, smart phones or even the internet. In fact, we had one phone in the hallway of our dorm floor that everyone shared, and it wasn’t a problem.
Meanwhile, the clock is not going to turn back, so we have to figure out how to manage technology without letting it manage us. Have some tips to share on how you are attempting to do this? Send them my way, and I will include in the mailbag editions.
Have a thoughtful Thursday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305
www.thedailyumbrella.com
Read more of Shane Goodman's columns here. | 
