It’s easy to get distracted. Our computers and phones bleep and glow. Thirty new email messages. Six meeting invites. Four friend requests. As though email, IM, SMS, and RSS weren’t enough, we now have Skype, Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and Buzz. We pull in that which interests us and the rest is pushed to us from those who seek our attention. We’ve become digital air traffic controllers, and we like it. It never gets old. Each new alert brings with it a small twinge of excitement. Who could it be? Is it good news or bad?
Creative productivity requires sustained periods of concentration. So does learning and comprehension. What many call “multi-tasking” is really a state of self-induced, Internet-powered attention deficit disorder. Those of us who know this (and care) have adopted defensive measures, often to the frustration of our colleagues.
I bought an iPad the morning they went on sale. I believe it and other emerging Internet connected devices have the potential to revolutionize how we use computers and consume media. But for book and long form text reading it won’t replace my far less capable Kindle. The Kindle is a wonderful reading device precisely because of its limitations. Its simple interface, long battery life and lack of visual and functional distractions (even the clock display is hidden until you click the menu button) allows me to lose myself in the text, which to me is one of life’s greatest pleasures. The Kindle, like a lightweight version of its analogue counterpart, lets me read for long stretches without eye strain or recharging, secure in my knowledge that a message isn’t going to pop-up alerting me that some distant acquaintance just checked into Whole Foods w/ 3 others.