Semi-controlled focus.

Even when I write with a pencil and paper, I'm always taking breaks - lifting my head up, running my eyes over the bookcase, reminding myself of various items that demand attention but aren't being attended to. Breaks such as these are considered "natural" (whatever that is) and as such aren't a reason for concern. What probably most distinguishes them from internet-based distractions is that they're limited in scope - we sense that we're able to keep them under control. The computer, and our internet connection, cause us to feel as though we're no longer in charge, that we've lost our ability to set the pace of the incoming distractions for ourselves. Instead, we feel as though these have taken control of us.

This may be true, but it may also be a case of needing time to adjust, of having to establish a new set of parameters for what we consider to be sufferable distractions. Doodling with a pencil may be every bit as much a distraction as web-surfing, but we think that we control the pencil, while with the internet we sense a loss of control, we're unable to set our own pace.



Go to: It's too quiet here - I can't think.