{"id":19227,"date":"2018-10-11T18:28:08","date_gmt":"2018-10-12T01:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=19227"},"modified":"2018-10-11T18:28:08","modified_gmt":"2018-10-12T01:28:08","slug":"distracted-multiple-times-in-the-writing-of-this-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/distracted-multiple-times-in-the-writing-of-this-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"***Distracted multiple times in the writing of this blog"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s such an irony to return from a whirlwind trip to Hong Kong, try to recover from jetlag, reconnect with family and friends, return to work (and all the emails, meetings, and responsibilities), return to \u201cschool\u201d aka assignments (three in one week!) AND then read Cal Newport\u2019s Deep Work<\/em>.\u00a0 Newport\u2019s research shows \u201cThis was something I noticed was very common to influential thinkers, is that they all seem to have this drive to, on a regular basis, cut themselves off from their lives of busyness and communication and distraction and isolate themselves to think deeply. This drive to get away from noise and towards isolated solitary thinking is something that just comes up again and again when you study people who use their brain to produce influential or valuable output.\u201d[1]<\/a> Yet here I am, composing my thoughts, with a noisy head, emails still unread from my long absence, and only having listened to Cal Newport on NPR\u2019s Hidden Brain podcast.<\/p>\n

I found significant research on the impact of technology and its connection to distraction.\u00a0 And it all reiterates the same message (including multiple authors who discuss email as a productivity killer).\u00a0 It begs the question\u2026no one is changing course for better output?\u00a0 For me, the technology demands \u2013 especially email – are consuming my energy and decreasing by influential and valuable output (on a side note, I literally just stopped to read a work email that caught my eye at 8pm!).\u00a0 I am on board with dialing back society\u2019s use of technology, but not just at work.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s brilliant that Newport has rejected all social media.\u00a0 Time spent on technology outside of work is just as damaging \u2013 but to a different target – people.\u00a0 It\u2019s no longer about the bottom line of productivity, but the bottom line of relationships.\u00a0 Spouses\/partners\/paramours suffer.\u00a0 Children suffer. Friends suffer.\u00a0 \u201cIn 2012, in fact, scientists at\u00a0the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that the brain chemicals\u00a0of people who habitually used the Internet (and were perhaps addicted to it) had abnormal connections between the nerve fibers in their brain. These changes are similar to other sorts of addicts, including alcoholics.\u201d[2]<\/a>\u00a0 As a therapist, I frequently see damaging technology use from toddlers all the way to the elderly.\u00a0 Whether it\u2019s video games, pornography, cyber bullying, online dating as a form of infidelity, or just Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat, technology is consuming our time and energy.<\/p>\n

While all of the focus of Newport\u2019s writing is on technology connected to the concept of distraction and decreased influential thinking and valuable output, this same phenomenon exists for the person who has experienced trauma. Think about the refugee who is fleeing their country to escape war, human rights violations, or persecution. They leave almost all their belongings, their home and job, family, community, and friends to find protections for themselves and whoever is able to leave with them. What strength and courage it takes to make and execute the decision to leave.\u00a0 And then there\u2019s the trauma. Significant trauma. Trauma from the dangers in their own country, and trauma from the leaving. Yet, after years (often 10-20) in a refugee camp, and relocating again to a new country (let\u2019s say the United States), refugees are expected to arrive in their new homeland ready to assimilate to culture and language, all the while become productive, contributing citizens within a short period of time. (Writers note \u2013 distracted twice in the writing of this paragraph including a phone call and viewing a suggested sweet video which triggered a \u201ctrauma\u201d response from me).\u00a0 Have you ever struggled to focus on a task due to your own state of mind?\u00a0 It\u2019s hard!\u00a0 Wait\u2026more like impossible, right?\u00a0 For the refugee, there is then the trauma of arriving.\u00a0 Yes, arriving to the country where they begin their new life.\u00a0 In the United States, there are expectations and timelines for paperwork, school enrollment, job attainment, housing, etc. If, per se, the refugee struggles to get these things accomplished, there\u2019s criticism, consequences, and guilt and shame. \u00a0The fact of the matter is, the brain just can\u2019t do it.\u00a0 Because of the trauma, critical thinking and outcomes are hindered (just like hindered thinking and outcomes from technology distraction).\u00a0 It\u2019s imperative to provide trauma-informed care at every level of service for the refugee \u2013 whether it\u2019s Job and Family Services, ESL classes, or learning how to grocery shop here.\u00a0 It would be an undertaking, but my hope is that the attitudes and biases towards refugees \u2013 deepened during this administrations tenure \u2013 can be turned around to reflect the heart of Jesus.\u00a0 Love, service, and non-judgment.\u00a0 He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Matthew 25:25<\/p>\n

I want to be an influential thinker.\u00a0 I want to have valuable outputs. I want to find time and space in my life to create a place of solidarity, put away my technology (I would even discard social media if we didn\u2019t have to have it for school), leave work at work, and be truly present in relationship with self and others. Thank you Cal Newport for this important reminder!<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> https:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/transcript\/transcript.php?storyId=539092670<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2015\/08\/15\/gy-killing-the-human-touch.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s such an irony to return from a whirlwind trip to Hong Kong, try to recover from jetlag, reconnect with family and friends, return to work (and all the emails, meetings, and responsibilities), return to \u201cschool\u201d aka assignments (three in one week!) AND then read Cal Newport\u2019s Deep Work.\u00a0 Newport\u2019s research shows \u201cThis was something […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[951],"class_list":["post-19227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-newport","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19227"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19230,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19227\/revisions\/19230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}