How to Lengthen Your Attention Span

The Next Big Idea Daily newsletter?(SUBSCRIBE)?is written by me,?Michael Kovnat, and gathers insights from today’s leading non-fiction authors. It’s a companion to our?Next Big Idea Daily?podcast.

I used to read books. Entire books. Beginning to end.

I still do. Sort of. Sometimes.

I rarely watch a movie all the way to the end, either.

Oh, don’t get me wrong, I still read large parts of books (it’s kind of my job), and if I go to an actual movie theater I can usually stay awake until the end. But if I’m honest, when I do finish a book or a feature-length film at home, I feel unaccountably proud of myself. I feel like I’ve accomplished something rare, almost counter-cultural.

Hear psychologist Gloria Mark explain how to increase your attention span by putting negative space on your calendar.

The reason for this is pretty obvious. Some very clever people figured out a way to make the entirety of human knowledge and entertainment available, instantly and cheaply. And then they figured out a way to put that in your pocket. As a species, we weren't built to resist this. What refined sugar is to the human body, the internet is to the human brain.

Maybe this is OK. Maybe a life of fragmented attention is livable, possibly even enjoyable for a while. But what if we've just spent the last couple of decades kneecapping one of our great human capacities? The ability to concentrate for extended periods has enabled our greatest art and finest inventions. And we’ve just willingly handed it over to a few corporations who’ve decided our shrinking attention span adds to their growing profits.

Sorry to be a bummer. But now here's the good news:

This week I had a fascinating conversation with Gloria Mark. She’s a psychologist and UC Irvine professor who’s made a special study of the way humans and machines interact. And her prescription for lengthening your attention span is actually pretty simple.

It’s rest. Sleep more, take more pauses, go for a walk. Because even if you don’t realize it, the internet is making you tired. Email, your smartphone, notifications social media — these things are exhausting you. They’re exhausting your mental resources, though you might not notice it while in the middle of the dopamine rush you're getting from that text message right now.

So take a break and listen to these insights from Gloria Mark. Your brain will thank you.

Next week on The Next Big Idea Daily

I'll be talking to author, podcaster, tech journalist, and LinkedIn honcho Jessi Hempel about her remarkable memoir about her remarkable family.

P.S.

• Want to listen to this week's episodes ad-free? Download The Next Big Idea app!
• Once you’ve installed the app, you can listen to more great Book Bites about staying focused in an age of distraction from authors like Johann Hari and Cassie Holmes
• Read more about Gloria's research here.
• And check out this interview on our sister show, The Next Big Idea, where productivity guru Cal Newport explains how to create a workflow that allows you to ignore distractions and concentrate on what really matters.