Constantly distracted? Here’s how to resist the “syndrome of the 21st century”

Once upon a time, smoking at your desk was practically a sign of productivity. I’m not suggesting you rush out and blow a week’s salary on a pack, but I am about to plot a path from the ashed keyboards of yesteryear to our current problem of being hopelessly distracted by technology. The internet constantly cops the blame for diverting us from our labour, to the point that there are apps – the irony! – to help us resist its pull, from growing a virtual tree to locking us out of social media. Obviously social media is engineered to hook our attention, but perhaps there’s something deeper afoot. The book Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal attempts to answer that. Eyal himself tried every trick to keep focused on his writing, such as using a 1990s word processor without an internet connection, before realising that tech is not the problem. He argues that distraction arises from emotions we’re trying to avoid. Scrolling brings instant relief from intrusive thoughts, just as I would say that lighting a cigarette quelled the same sense of restlessness. Only, smoking didn’t drag us away from our work and [...]

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