Mercer County Library Blog: Pay Attention

Press release from the Mercer County Library Blog:

February 22, 2022

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World explores the methods used by “digital minimalists” to organize their lives, despite living in our maximally digital world. It depicts overuse of digital technology – phones, apps, social media, even streaming services – as an addiction. An addiction that creates enormous profits and influence for tech companies the way addiction to cigarettes creates enormous profits for tobacco companies. Newport, a professor of computer science and author of books on focus and productivity, recommends a “30-Day Digital Detox” in which you drastically and thoughtfully reduce your phone, computer, and social media use. For my detox, I deleted the Twitter app from my phone, changed the password, and hid the password in a file on my computer. I also deleted the YouTube app so I couldn’t mindlessly scroll through it. I reserved news reading for two specific times of day. (I am not currently involved in any Meta-products, but Facebook and Instagram are common detox targets for others.)

I haven’t looked back! It has now been four times thirty days and the changes I made are still in practice. Please note, this is a highly individual process, and technology that you reject, restrict, or decide to keep is about your own life and not mine. The point of the detox and digital minimalism is not to reject technology that could benefit you, but to carefully consider if a particular technology is benefiting you. If the downsides outweigh the benefits, think about why you still want it in your life. Is it serving you or are you serving it?

The crux of this is our attention. What do you want to pay attention to? I noticed that I would pull out my phone to check the time, automatically unlock the phone without thinking, and suddenly be scrolling, having forgotten the time completely. I’d rather be reading, or even be staring out a window.

Digital Minimalism provided a concrete and practical plan to reclaim my attention, but a source of earlier inspiration was How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by artist and writer Jenny Odell. This is not a self-help book, but an essay and a manifesto. The “nothing” of the title “is only nothing from the point of view of capitalist productivity,” Odell writes. How to Do Nothing is a plan of action, but not exactly for individuals - more for collectives, more for communities. Odell recommends what she calls “movements:” “dropping out” - “a lateral movement outward to things and people that are around us;” and a “movement into place” (as in, the place you inhabit right now.)

“Unless we are vigilant,” says Odell, “the current design of much of our technology will block us every step of the way, deliberately creating false targets for self-reflection, curiosity, and a desire to belong to a community.” Far-reaching and inspiring, the book touches on performance art, bird-watching, Google Earth, Deep Listening, the history of union organizing, Epicurus, communes, and much more. Also, in the acknowledgements section, she thanks two crows that regularly visit her balcony. “I hope that the figure of ‘doing nothing’ in opposition to a productivity-obsessed environment can help restore individuals who can then help restore communities, human and beyond.” I hope so too.

I will return to these books and find others (see below), any time I feel out of control and in need of an attention pep talk. I also have an invitation for you: public libraries can be cradles of attention. We offer quiet and peaceful spaces, spaces that are not your home or workplace, all for free. Curiosity is the spark of attention, and in the library, you can spend all day with your curiosity, asking questions, looking for answers, thinking of more questions, and making connections. You can soak in a novel or give a poem a close, loving reading. I hope you’ll join us.

Further Reading

• Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
• Inhabiting the Negative Space: Virtual Commencement 2020, Harvard University Graduate School of Design by Jenny Odell
• The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr
• The Stars in Our Pockets: Getting Lost and Sometimes Found in the Digital Age by Howard Axelrod
• Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age by Sherry Turkle
• How to Break Up With Your Phone by Catherine Price

- Corina Bardoff, West Windsor Branch

This press release was produced by the Mercer County Library Blog. The views expressed here are the author’s own.