Distractions Are Everywhere!

 “We are constantly distracted from our everyday tasks,” says Damon Young. Everybody I know would undoubtedly agree with this statement, because what are Blackberry’s, twitter, Facebook, msn, and My Space? They are all distractions that are keeping us from doing our work! Young states this problem by saying that we always wait for the next ‘hit’; the moment I hear by Blackberry make a sound I immediately reach into my pocket and look at the text, BBM, e-mail, WhatsApp or Facbook message that I just got. In fact, while writing this I jut realized how many distractions I have in this small gadget. Moreover, Young says in the article, “Wait. What was I doing?” This is a problem I encounter multiple times in a day, whenever I am on my laptop doing homework at some point or another my phone will ring and when it does I check it. That is the problem! I change attention to what the blackberry says, and forget my ideas for the paper I am writing or forget what equation I was about to write. Further on in the article Young states, “Is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.” I cannot remember the last time I was in my room and there was no sound; either the TV is on or the music. However, then it comes time to do homework at which point it is quite… no, the phone starts ringing again. The worst part is, I am relieved it’s a break I get to start a conversation with my friends and have a good laugh. What I don’t anticipate is that my concentration when I go back to work will be split, as I will think about the conversation that I just had. In my opinion, to do a homework that represents your full potential you must turn off all distractions. For me, that is impossible there is no way I can have my phone off for more than 30 minutes because my mind will just wonder about all the BBM’s, calls, and texts that I missed. And that is why we are doomed! We cannot stay focused for there are too many distractions that we NEED. In fact, you’ve probably been distracted by something or another in the time span that you’ve been reading this blog. I know I have.

            In Hunger the protagonist is incredibly poor and he must write in order to receive money which he can then spend on food. If it’s not for his writing then it is very possible that he will die of starvation. However, this is the point that Young makes, no matter how drastic it is that we stay focused without distractions it simply cannot happen. Of course, the protagonist in the book does not have all the technology we do at his disposal. The matter of the fact is, one will always find distractions no matter how little they are. Furthermore, Young says, “ If we’ve no smartphones and online social networking, there’s gossip, gambling or booze.” At one point in Hunger the protagonist is sitting on a bench in the park and writing, but then a fly comes on his paper and instead of making it fly away he gets distracted by it. It’s a scary thought, but something will always distract you the question is, how long will be distracted? I would like to end this post on a quote that Young decides to begin with as it shows us that we can’t blame anyone for this problem. “But don’t blame technology because the causes are humans.”