| Popis: |
In the last chapter we showed how the attention is an oft-used tool in sleep-seeking strategies—how we might, say, focus on soothing sounds or comforting memories to distract ourselves from the annoying, anxiety-inducing ones that sometimes keep us awake. Our current technological milieu, however, undermines on several fronts this ability to focus our thoughts into a state of meditative calm. For not only does our current media surround us 24/7 with a swarming buzz of tweets or texts or feeds that atomizes and scatters our attention, but also—given the demands of this 24-hour media regime—we find that our culture actively valorizes and encourages attentive wandering itself. We are expected to be distracted and distractible. The rise of cable television with its hundreds of channels devoted to every human interest has helped to achieve this. So has the onset of “interactivity.” American Idol and related shows foster a new kind of democracy, a televisual suffrage wherein we cast instantaneous votes for this or that pop act or supermodel. Perpetual questionnaireing is now omnipresent. Countless websites allow us—encourage us—to log in and let everybody know what we think about the latest fashion designs, the latest truck muffler, the latest football trade … and many people—including this author—have felt this new interactivity to be an entertaining way to pass the time, a convenient way to achieve objectives, and a safe way to vent frustrations. |
