This post was adapted from abook review for our Bible Study. I hope you enjoy it and it helps you in living intentionally.
Intro
This is two basic sections: the first part is a book review, then will have a group discussion on how to be intentional about a few specific areas identified in the book.
Book Review
I ended up pulling quotes from two books I have read in the last several years as they have very similar concepts. In very brief, The Shallows talks about the ability of technology to rapidly rewire the way our brains work. Deep Work focuses more on the benefits of creating distraction free times, and how to achieve that.
Note: all bolded text is my emphasis
The Shallows Summary:
Idea 1: The medium has as much ability to change us as the message
“The medium is the message.” (quoting Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man) (p. 3, Kindle Edition)
…That in the long run a medium’s content matters less than the medium itself in influencing how we think and act. As our window onto the world, and onto ourselves, a popular medium molds what we see and how we see it—and eventually, if we use it enough, it changes who we are, as individuals and as a society. “The effects of technology do not occur at the level of opinions or concepts,” wrote McLuhan. Rather, they alter “patterns of perception steadily and without any resistance.” (p. 3, Kindle Edition)
Media work their magic, or their mischief, on the nervous system itself. Our focus on a medium’s content can blind us to these deep effects. We’re too busy being dazzled or disturbed by the programming to notice what’s going on inside our heads. In the end, we come to pretend that the technology itself doesn’t matter. It’s how we use it that matters, we tell ourselves. The implication, comforting in its hubris, is that we’re in control. The technology is just a tool, inert until we pick it up and inert again once we set it aside. (p. 3, Kindle Edition)
As McLuhan suggested, media aren’t just channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation (p. 6).
Discussion Points
- Do you agree with the idea that the medium is the message?
- Similarly, do you think that a medium (e.g. any technology such as book, word processor, washing machine, smart-phone, recorded music) has the ability to influence the way you think?
- If the medium itself is significant, do you actively assess for implications of the medium, not just the content?
Idea 2: The internet and distractions are rewiring our brains
The brain’s plasticity is not limited to the somatosensory cortex, the area that governs our sense of touch. It’s universal. Virtually all of our neural circuits—whether they’re involved in feeling, seeing, hearing, moving, thinking, learning, perceiving, or remembering—are subject to change. (p. 26)
“If we stop exercising our mental skills,” writes Doidge, “we do not just forget them: the brain map space for those skills is turned over to the skills we practice instead.” (p. 35).
…When we go online, we enter an environment that promotes cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning. It’s possible to think deeply while surfing the Net, just as it’s possible to think shallowly while reading a book, but that’s not the type of thinking the technology encourages and rewards. One thing is very clear: if, knowing what we know today about the brain’s plasticity, you were to set out to invent a medium that would rewire our mental circuits as quickly and thoroughly as possible, you would probably end up designing something that looks and works a lot like the Internet. It’s not just that we tend to use the Net regularly, even obsessively. It’s that the Net delivers precisely the kind of sensory and cognitive stimuli—repetitive, intensive, interactive, addictive—that have been shown to result in strong and rapid alterations in brain circuits and functions. With the exception of alphabets and number systems, the Net may well be the single most powerful mind-altering technology that has ever come into general use. At the very least, it’s the most powerful that has come along since the book. (pp. 115-116).
Imagine filling a bathtub with a thimble; that’s the challenge involved in transferring information from working memory into long-term memory. By regulating the velocity and intensity of information flow, media exert a strong influence on this process. When we read a book, the information faucet provides a steady drip, which we can control by the pace of our reading. Through our single-minded concentration on the text, we can transfer all or most of the information, thimbleful by thimbleful, into long-term memory and forge the rich associations essential to the creation of schemas. With the Net, we face many information faucets, all going full blast. Our little thimble overflows as we rush from one faucet to the next. We’re able to transfer only a small portion of the information to long-term memory, and what we do transfer is a jumble of drops from different faucets, not a continuous, coherent stream from one source. (pp. 124-125).
To make matters worse for depth, there’s increasing evidence that this shift toward the shallow is not a choice that can be easily reversed. Spend enough time in a state of frenetic shallowness and you permanently reduce your capacity to perform deep work. “What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation[.]”
And so we ask the Internet to keep interrupting us, in ever more and different ways. We willingly accept the loss of concentration and focus, the division of our attention and the fragmentation of our thoughts, in return for the wealth of compelling or at least diverting information we receive. Tuning out is not an option many of us would consider. (p. 134).
Summary and Discussion Points
In this section, Carr argues strongly that our brains are very plastic (think playdough), in that they are actually are designed to accept rewiring, even as adults. Carr’s key thesis for the book is that the internet has a high propensity for rewiring our brains. [Carr uses the internet very loosely, actually most specifically surfing the web although he also includes social media. This was written in 2011 before we were even as connected as now.]
- First, do you agree with this point, that the internet has a strong propensity to rewire our brains?
- If so, have you noticed ways for yourself, or family that you are or think differently since getting a smartphone or internet at home?
Deep Work Summary
Cal Newport. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. 2016
Idea 1: Impossible to accomplish deep work while distracted.
Deep Work: Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.
Shallow Work: Noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend to not create much new value in the world and are easy to replicate. (p. 6).
To learn hard things quickly, you must focus intensely without distraction. To learn, in other words, is an act of deep work. (p. 37).
High-Quality Work Produced = (Time Spent) x (Intensity of Focus) (p. 40)
Discussion
- I didn’t list many quotes to establish this, but Newport’s first premise is that deep work is a crucial element of productively completing any mentally taxing task, particularly learning. Therefore, reducing distractions is a significant requirement for true productivity. Finally, productivity is crucial for becoming good at anything (career, skills, personal success, etc.).
- Do you agree with Newport’s premise that productivity (especially mental productivity) is strongly influenced by distractions?
- Are you already doing anything to protect yourself from distractions?
Idea 2: Tips for being less distracted
Your will, in other words, is not a manifestation of your character that you can deploy without limit; it’s instead like a muscle that tires. This is why the subjects in the Hofmann and Baumeister study had such a hard time fighting desires—over time these distractions drained their finite pool of willpower until they could no longer resist. The same will happen to you, regardless of your intentions—unless, that is, you’re smart about your habits. This brings me to the motivating idea behind the strategies that follow: The key to developing a deep work habit is to move beyond good intentions and add routines and rituals to your working life designed to minimize the amount of your limited willpower necessary to transition into and maintain a state of unbroken concentration. If you suddenly decide, for example, in the middle of a distracted afternoon spent Web browsing, to switch your attention to a cognitively demanding task, you’ll draw heavily from your finite willpower to wrest your attention away from the online shininess. (p. 100).
Point #3: Scheduling Internet use at home as well as at work can further improve your concentration training. (p. 164).
Newport identifies two approaches to assessing usefulness of a tool/medium (particularly digital):
The Any-Benefit Approach to Network Tool Selection: You’re justified in using a network tool if you can identify any possible benefit to its use, or anything you might possibly miss out on if you don’t use it. (p. 186).
The problem with this binary response [any benefit to me or no benefit to me] to this issue is that these two choices are much too crude to be useful. The notion that you would quit the Internet is, of course, an overstuffed straw man, infeasible for most (unless you’re a journalist writing a piece about distraction). No one is meant to actually follow Baratunde Thurston’s lead [Thurston cut off internet access for a period of time to assess how it would affect him]—and this reality provides justification for remaining with the only offered alternative: accepting our current distracted state as inevitable. For all the insight and clarity that Thurston gained during his Internet sabbatical, for example, it didn’t take him long once the experiment ended to slide back into the fragmented state where he began. (p. 183).
Alternate approach to tool assessment:
The Craftsman Approach to Tool Selection: Identify the core factors that determine success and happiness in your professional and personal life. Adopt a tool only if its positive impacts on these factors substantially outweigh its negative impacts. (p. 191).
Discussion
- Do you agree with the concept of developing rituals and habits to help protect you from distractions?
- Do you agree with the Craftsman approach to tool selection?
Scriptural and Other Data
The Bible was written in an oral culture, where many people didn’t even know how to read. I had trouble finding much specific direction about the direct implications of adopting a new medium (technology). Here are a few clues.
The Christian removes distractions from serving his Lord
62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62
4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 2 Timothy 2:4
34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37 For what can a man give in return for his soul? Mark 8:34-37
The Christian should not be addicted
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Matthew 6:21-24
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16
18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit…. Ephesians 5:18
1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. Proverbs 20:1
Addiction is a complex condition, a brain [and heart!!] disease that is manifested by compulsive substance use despite harmful consequence. People with addiction (severe substance use disorder) have an intense focus on using a certain substance(s), such as alcohol or drugs, to the point that it takes over their life. They keep using alcohol or a drug even when they know it will cause problems…. People with a substance use disorder have distorted thinking, behavior and body functions. Changes in the brain’s wiring are what cause people to have intense cravings for the drug and make it hard to stop using the drug. Brain imaging studies show changes in the areas of the brain that relate to judgment, decision making, learning, memory and behavior control.
From <https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/addiction/what-is-addiction>
Using this definition of addiction, many Christians dabble with addiction. Addiction is not just hard drugs and alcohol, but anything that leads us to lose control of our actions (e.g. continuing to do something even when we know the consequences outweigh the benefits). As noted above, the Christian is to be controlled by the Spirit, not by addictions.
Fasting is a useful way to learn to control addictions. The Whole30 diet (a 30 day diet that emphasizes eating vegetables and fruits and prohibits grains, sweeteners, legumes including soy, dairy, and alcohol) was thought-provoking for me in the way it taught me I didn’t have a right to any tasty morsel I saw. It also taught me to recognize some of the emotional support I expect from food, and try to find alternate ways to find joy. I was also fascinated to realize that often it is easier to totally cut something out then navigate a thoughtful balance. This is the traditional Anabaptist stance for many things (e.g. prohibiting TV, radio, and cars), but doesn’t work as well for technology like the smartphone which doesn’t fit neatly into a box.
Consuming questionable content is not the way of someone with a new heart
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:1-10
Command[s] for what to do with your time
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:5-9
Worksheet
How do we apply these concepts to our daily life? Please try to think about a few technologies that you think are most influential in your life and write these in the sections below. I have prefilled a few that are significant for me which I assume may be for you as well. Spend some time thoughtfully answering these questions, then be prepared to share your ideas with the group. This exercise assumes you have a pretty good grasp of what is most important to you (e.g. relationship with God).
Download a personal technology evaluation worksheet.