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The Distracted Mind summary

Name: The Distracted Mind
Rating: 4.2 (114 reviews)
Author: Adam Gazzaley and Larry D. Rosen

Adam Gazzaley and Larry D. Rosen

Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World

4.2 (114 ratings)

19 mins

Brief summary

The Distracted Mind by Adam Gazzaley and Larry D. Rosen is a book that explores the impact of technology on our brains, and provides strategies to help us improve our focus and productivity in an age of constant distraction.

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Table of Contents

The Distracted Mind
Summary of 8 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 8

What’s in it for me? Stay focused and keep your eyes on the prize.

What’s the first thing you do when you need to find the solution to a problem or find some information? Most likely, you reach for your smartphone. With a world of information constantly at the ready in your pocket, there’s hardly any information you can’t find within seconds. And do you even remember what it was like trying to keep up contact with all your friends before Facebook?

Let’s make no mistake. There are definite pluses to living in an interconnected high-tech world. But there are downsides too. Our brains are the product of millions of years’ worth of evolution. They have developed to operate in a certain way. Unfortunately, we’re hard-wired to get distracted, and new technology is hardly helping.

These blinks explain just how the brain works and what strategies can be deployed so that you don’t use your smartphone unless you have to. Don’t worry; this isn’t a guide to returning to the Stone Age! It’s a pointer to enjoying life and getting the most out of it.

Along the way, you’ll learn

how your brain responds when you see a terrifying lion;
how often people reach for their smartphones each day; and
what to do to change your brain for the better.

The brain’s limitations mean we easily succumb to interference and distraction.

The human brain is unquestionably one of the wonders of the universe. With it, we can achieve incredible feats – from solving complicated math problems to learning languages and designing cars and jets.

In short, it’s one of the most complex systems in the known universe. In fact, it’s this complexity that helps us set goals and perform an incalculable number of tasks. From gossiping with friends to presenting the next big project for colleagues at work, our brain is equipped with decision-making, planning and evaluation abilities. More formally, these are known as executive functions.

After this planning function, another faculty of the brain is necessary to actually accomplish tasks. Specifically, we need cognitive control. These are cognitive abilities like attention, goal management and working memory.

If we didn’t have cognitive control, there’d be no way to make conscious decisions that inform and have an impact upon our lives. Instead, we’d just respond unthinkingly and mechanically to the world around us.

Imagine you’re wandering the aisles of your local supermarket because you need food and drinks for friends who are coming over that night. If you were to suddenly lose all cognitive control, your ability to pay attention to and remember that goal would simply vanish. Instead of tracking down beer and snacks, you’d be walking through the aisles without aim.

Unfortunately, nowadays, our cognitive control is under more stress and strain than ever before. Consequently, we are distracted from our goals even more.

This has a lot to do with complexity and the complicated nature of the brain in particular. More complex systems are more vulnerable to interference.

If we’d evolved so that we could cognitively control our minds despite constant interference, that would be great. But we haven’t.

In fact, our cognitive control seems to have evolved less than our executive functions. In other words, we’re collectively great at setting goals but far worse at seeing them through.

This explains why we all tend to forget tasks like calling on a friend’s birthday or turning off the lights.

No matter how hard we try, we’re primed by evolution to get distracted by certain stimuli.

We might like to imagine that we’re in full control of our behavior, but that’s far from the case.

We can’t help the way environmental stimuli cause us to respond automatically. These external stimuli are called bottom-up influences. Typically, they’re characterized by saliency, which means they are immediately noticeable to us, like, for example, when you hear someone shouting your name. Additionally, these stimuli have novelty – a dramatic and unexpected quality such as a car backfiring.

Modern technology hampers performance, but we let that happen because we naturally strive for information.

Although we can’t hold buzzing smartphones or flashing TV screens entirely responsible for distracting us, it’s nonetheless clear that modern technology has put considerable strain on our cognitive control.

More precisely, modern technologies exploit our brain’s intrinsic susceptibility to interference. They impede our performance and sidetrack us from our goals. You know the feeling: even though you’re in an important meeting you just can’t help glancing at your phone. Or maybe you totally zone out at the dinner table because the game is playing on the TV next door, and you can hear the crowd reaching fever pitch.

Three technologies have changed societal behavioral patterns.

We’ve seen that we have hardwired responses to information. But this means we have to recognize how the current high-tech world makes it all the more easy for us to get distracted.

Specifically, there are three technologies which deliberately accentuate interference and have significantly changed societal behavior. These are the internet, smartphones and social media.

Modern technology impacts our daily lives and affects our safety – and we let it.

Brace yourself for this next tidbit. In 2004 in the United States, an estimated 559 people had to seek medical help after smashing into stationary objects while simultaneously texting and walking. Since then the number has surged. In 2010, the number had climbed to a whopping 1,500. And these were only the incidents serious enough to require admission to medical centers.

Why do people put themselves in constant danger because of this behavior? You would think that no phone is that important.

Physical and mental training changes your brain and improves cognitive control.

There are two ways to improve your cognitive control. You can either alter your brain, or you can change your behavior. In this blink, we’ll explore the former.

Don’t worry: modifying your brain does not involve using surgical tools! The brain is plastic, which means it's able to constantly change its own structure, physiology and chemistry. Consequently, many scientists think the brain’s cognitive control can be enhanced.

A few hacks will reduce interference while driving.

Cognitive-control improvements can also be achieved by modifying our behavior.

However, there’s no need to do a full-scale “digital detox” and delete Facebook or Twitter, or even cut yourself off from the internet altogether unless you feel you’re addicted.

You too can resist interference from digital devices while socializing.

If you ever pop your head into a social environment like a café or restaurant, then you’re sure to see people fiddling with their phones when they’re meant to be chatting with the people right in front of them.

Even in these social situations, interference seemingly can’t be avoided.

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What is The Distracted Mind about?

The Distracted Mind (2016) explains the basic structures of the brain and questions how well it can function in a world stuffed full of high-tech gadgets and constant distractions. Drawing on the latest research in neuroscience, it offers practical solutions for how to resist all these distractions and regain focus.

Best quote from The Distracted Mind

... our impressive goal-setting abilities have resulted in the conditions necessary for goal interference to exist in the first place.

—Adam Gazzaley and Larry D. Rosen

Who should read The Distracted Mind?

Anyone struggling to keep focused at work
Psychology students
People who are afraid of missing out

About the Author

Adam Gazzaley is an American professor and neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco. He is also the founder of Neuroscape, a neuroscience center devoted to the understanding and optimization of human brain functions.

Larry D. Rosen is an American researcher and professor emeritus of psychology at California State University. He is the author of Me, MySpace, and I (2012) and IDisorder (2007). He is also an in-demand keynote speaker and a recognized expert on the effect of technology on human lives and psychology.

Categories with The Distracted Mind

Psychology Technology & the Future Productivity

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