The Art of Staying Focused in a Distracting World

James Fallows

A longtime tech executive, Linda Stone worked on emerging technologies at Apple and then Microsoft Research in the 1980s and ’90s.1. executive: 行政主管，经理；emerging: 新兴的，发展初期的。17 years ago, she coined the term continuous partial attention to describe the modern predicament of being constantly attuned to everything without fully concentrating on anything.2.17年前，她杜撰出了一个新词“持续局部注意力”，用来形容现代社会这样一种困境——身处万物之中，却无法全心投入。coin: 杜撰； predicament: 困境，窘境；be attuned to: 适应，习惯于。Since then, she has frequently written and lectured about the challenges of living in an alwayson, hyperconnected3. hyperconnected: 超联通的。world.

James Fallows:You’re well known for the idea of continuous partial attention. Why is this a bad thing?

Linda Stone:Continuous partial attention is neither good nor bad. We need different attention strategies in different contexts. The way you use your attention when you’re writing a story may vary from the way you use your attention when you’re driving a car, serving a meal to dinner guests,or riding a bicycle. The important thing for us as humans is to have the capacity to tap the attention strategy that will best serve us in any given moment.4. 对于我们人类而言，重要的一件事便是能够利用注意力策略，以最佳状态应对各种时刻。tap: 利用，采用。

JF:What do you mean by “attention strategy” ?

LS:From the time we’re born, we’re learning and modeling a variety of attention and communication strategies. For example, one parent might put one toy after another in front of the baby until the baby stops crying.Another parent might work with the baby to demonstrate a new way to play with the same toy. These are very different strategies, and they set up a very different way of relating to the world for those children. Adults model attention and communication strategies, and children imitate5. imitate: 模仿。. In some cases,through sports or crafts6. craft: 手工制作，手工艺。or performing arts, children are taught attention strategies.Some of the training might involve managing the breath and emotions—bringing one’s body and mind to the same place at the same time.

你的注意力能集中吗？——这可能是身处现代社会的我们所面临的一个世纪性的难题——我们每天和各种纷乱繁杂的事务打交道，却无法全心投入哪怕其中一个。17年前，时任微软研究院技术主管的Linda Stone提出了“持续局部注意力”的概念，描绘的正是这样一种生活状态，并且强调了培养“注意力策略”的重要性。当然，对于时下的注意力问题来说，电子设备是分散人们注意力的一大因素。那么，如何在闹世中保持“身与心”的统一呢？

Self-directed play allows both children and adults to develop a powerful attention strategy, a strategy that I call “relaxed presence.”7. 自主玩耍使孩子和家长都能培养出良好的注意力策略，即我所说的“放松状态”。How did you play as a child?

JF:I have two younger siblings8. sibling: 兄弟姐妹。very close in age, so I spent time with them. I also just did things on my own, reading and building things and throwing balls and so on.

LS:Let’s talk about reading or building things. When you did those things,nobody was giving you an assignment, nobody was telling you what to do—there wasn’t any stress around it. You did these things for your own pleasure and joy. As you played, you developed a capacity for attention and for a type of curiosity and experimentation that can happen when you play. You were in the moment, and the moment was unfolding9. unfold: 发生，发展。in a natural way.

You were in a state of relaxed presence as you explored your world. At one point,I interviewed a handful of Nobel laureates10. Nobel laureate: 诺贝尔奖得主。about their childhood play patterns.They talked about how they expressed their curiosity through experimentation.They enthusiastically described things they built, and how one play experience naturally led into another. In most cases, by the end of the interview, the scientist would say, “This is exactly what I do in my lab today! I’m still playing!”

JF:When people talk about attention problems in modern society,they usually mean the distractive potential of smartphones and so on. Is that connected to what you’re talking about in early-childhood development?

LS:We learn by imitation, from the very start. That’s how we’re wired11. wire: 连接。. Andrew Meltzoff and Patricia Kuhl, professors at the University of Washington I-LABS, show videos of babies imitating adults. The adult sticks his tongue out12. stick one’s tongue out: 吐舌头。. The baby sticks his tongue out, mirroring the adult’s behavior. Children are also cued13. cue: 提示。by where a parent focuses attention. The child’s gaze follows the mother’s gaze. Not long ago, I had brunch with friends who are doctors, and both of them were on call.They were constantly pulling out their smartphones. The focus of their one-year-old turned to the smartphone: Mommy’s got it, Daddy’s got it.I want it.

We may think that kids have a natural fascination14. fascination: 着迷，迷恋。with phones.Really, children have a fascination with whatever Mom and Dad find fascinating. If they are fascinated by the flowers coming up in the yard, that’s what the children are going to find fascinating. And if Mom and Dad can’t put down the device with the screen, the child is going to think, That’s where it’s all at, that’s where I need to be! I interviewed kids between the ages of 7 and 12 about this. They said things like “My mom should make eye contact with me when she talks to me” and “I used to watch TV with my dad, but now he has his iPad, and I watch by myself.”

Kids learn empathy15. empathy: 同感，同情。in part through eye contact and gaze. If kids are learning empathy through eye contact, and our eye contact is with devices, they will miss out on empathy.

JF:What you’re describing sounds like a society-wide autism16. autism: 自闭症。.

LS:In my opinion, it’s more serious than autism. Many autistic kids are profoundly sensitive, and look away (from people) because full stimulation overwhelms them.17. 很多自闭症儿童都非常敏感，他们会避开人们的目光，因为大量的刺激会让他们不知所措。profoundly: 深深地，极度地；stimulation:刺激；overwhelm: 使不知所措。What we’re doing now is modeling a primary relationship with screens, and a lack of eye contact with people. It ultimately can feed the development of a kind of sociopathy and psychopathy.18. sociopathy: 社会病态；psychopathy:精神病态。

JF:I’m afraid to ask, but is this just going to get worse?

LS:I don’t think so. You and I, as we grew up,experienced our parents operating in certain ways,and may have created a mental checklist: Okay,my mom and dad do that, and that’s cool. I’ll do that with my kids, too. Or: My mom and dad do this, and it’s less cool, so I’m not going to do that when I’m a grown-up.

The generation that has been tethered to devices serves as a cautionary example to the next generation, which may decide this is not a satisfying way to live.19. 离不开电子设备的一代作为对下一代的警戒，可能是在说明：这并不是一个令人满意的生活状态。tether: 拴住，系住；cautionary:警戒的。A couple years ago, after a fire in my house, I had a couple students coming to help me. One of them was Gen X and one was a Millennial.20. Gen X: X一代，指20世纪60年代到80年代初出生的美国人，其特点为主观多变、潇洒自信，但缺乏忍耐力和责任感；Millennial: 千禧一代，指20世纪80年代至本世纪初出生的美国人，差不多与电脑同时诞生，在互联网的陪伴下成长。If the Gen Xer’s phone rang or if she got a text, she would say “I’m going to take this, I’ll be back in a minute.” With the Millennial, she would just text back “L8r21. L8r: 网络用语，即later。.” When I talked to the Millennial about it, she said, “When I’m with someone, I want to be with that person.” I am reminded of this new thing they’re doing in Silicon Valley where everyone sticks their phone in the middle of the table,22. Silicon Valley: 硅谷；stick: 使固定。and whoever grabs their phone first has to treat to the meal.

JF:You say that people can create a sense of relaxed presence for themselves. How?

LS: When we learn how to play a sport or an instrument; how to dance or sing; or even how to fly a plane, we learn how to breathe and how to sit or stand in a way that supports a state of relaxed presence.My hunch23. hunch: 预感，直觉。is that when you’re flying, you’re aware of everything around you, and yet you’re also relaxed. When you’re water-skiing,you’re paying attention, and if you’re too tense, you’ll fall. All of these activities help us cultivate our capacity for relaxed presence.24Mind and body in the same place at the same time.