The Distraction Addiction summary

The internet is at the heart of our lives today. According to Nielsen and the Pew Research Center, the average American spends around 60 hours online every month. Digital devices open up new worlds, but this new age of connectivity can come at a cost.

As we are ever more reliant on our devices, we run the risk of becoming “addicted to the internet.”

If that sounds like an exaggeration, take a look at a study carried out by researchers at the University of Maryland, who asked students from ten different countries to spend a day offline and report their experiences. The results were, to put it mildly, alarming.

The language the students used recalled substance addiction. One participant from the United Kingdom said they “craved” their devices, while an American student added that he “felt like a drug addict, tweaking for a taste of information.” Another British student flatly admitted his addiction: “I don’t need alcohol, cocaine or any other derailing form of social depravity,” he said. “Media is my drug; without it I was lost.”

Another study, conducted in a Boston hospital, echoed these findings. Two out of three participants experienced phantom cell phone vibrations – the uncanny sensation that your phone is ringing when it isn’t.

Scientists define this phenomenon as part of an addiction to the internet. Someone who uses their phone all the time is familiar with the sensation of it vibrating on their skin – when their clothes rub against them, or they feel a small muscle spasm, they immediately assume that it’s the all too familiar sensation of their vibrating phone.

But it doesn’t have to be like this – technology can work as an extension of ourselves when we integrate it into a flowing relationship.

The idea of “flow” was first coined by the Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. It refers to the way in which we experience the world when deeply engrossed in a task.

The author provides a good example of this – having practiced touch-typing as a child for over a decade, he can now type at least 70 words a minute with his eyes closed. Even when away from his computer, he is able to bring up an imaginary keyboard in his mind’s eye  – a useful trick for when his children ask him how to spell a word!

Addiction is a different experience altogether. When we’re addicted to the internet, we become reliant on it. The author’s example shows what can happen when we are discerning with our use of technology, using it as a helpful tool rather than letting ourselves become slaves to our digital devices.