by Brian Dean
I saw an advertisement for a
car the other day that made me wonder. It
said that if you want directions to the stadium, "push here". If you want to listen to music, "push
here". And if you want to do this, "push
here". Of course, I had to add... if you
just want to drive the fracking car, don't push anything.
The technology that our
society has developed in the last 30 years is astounding. It has brought us convenience that we could
have only imagined in science fiction novels.
I mean, the ability to be in touch wherever we are, the medical
technology, GPS. It is all just
amazing. But it has brought with it distraction.
Technology is great even if
it keeps changing almost overnight. But
how we deal with it is more important. All
too often, we let the distraction of a certain piece of technology take our
attention causing us to lose focus on what we are doing.
Cell phones and driving are a
good example of this. I remember seeing
a car driving along side of me on a road when it started raining. The driver was talking on her phone while
holding it to her ear with one hand.
(This is by far the worst possible circumstance as it keeps the driver's
head from moving and seeing the traffic.)
The other hand was on the steering wheel. Well, it started raining. She had one hand on her phone and the other
on the steering wheel. She did not have
a free hand to turn on the wipers, so she didn't. She just drove down the road with her wipers
off.
Now, a lot of people would
say that we should ban cell phone use in the car. But it has been proven that using a hands
free device is no more distracting than having people in the car with us, and
in many cases, less so as we don't turn our heads to look at the people we are
talking to. In fact most phones allow
someone to receive calls from the headset, and many phones allow people to
place calls from the headset simply by talking into it.
The point is that we need to
be smart and look at what is important. We
need to focus on the important and not let the interruption take center stage. And yes, it is easier said than done.
With technology giving us
tons of information in moments, and our brains having to decipher it, it is
hard to wade through the garbage and pay attention to what is important. We constantly are thinking about more than
one thing at a time. We multi-task. We need to focus on the important. And obviously driving a motor vehicle safely
is more important than talking on the phone.
We run a constant balance of
all the things we are thinking of and doing at one time. It is like trying to walk and chew gum at the
same time. And as silly as that sounds,
we do a lot more than that in almost every moment.
In moments of distraction we
need to take a second and reset priorities and focus. Pause for a second and take a deep breath to
clarify and calm (ask the person on the phone to hold on while you do it). Close your eyes and count to 10 (if you are
not driving a car at the time). Take a
second and look at all the things you are doing and make sure that the most
important one has the majority of your concentration and make sure that this
amount of concentration is enough to perform the task properly (especially if
that task could kill you, or others).
Away from the madness, there
are things you can do to help concentration when you get overloaded. Do meditation to find a calming center and
clear pathways of unnecessary thoughts.
Go for walks where you have time to clear your mind and think
clearly.
Remember, when distractions
happen, the most important thing that needs your concentration is the one that
keeps you alive. Make sure you keep that
in the forefront and separate the less important things. Focus on safety first. Be smart in how you handle your distractions. Drop some when they become too much. Breathe.
