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UnDisciplined: Technology is decreasing your attention span – here's how to help that

Brain imaging experiments found patterns associated with attention span.
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Brain imaging experiments found patterns associated with attention span.

It might not surprise you to learn that in the past few decades, our attention spans have been significantly changed by the digital devices that surround us and that we carry with us. And maybe you think there's no way to undo what has been done, but pay attention, because that might not be true.

Gloria Mark is a professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine. Her new book is called Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity.

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Matthew LaPlante has reported on ritual infanticide in Northern Africa, insurgent warfare in the Middle East, the legacy of genocide in Southeast Asia, and gang violence in Central America. But a few years back, something occurred to him: Maybe the news doesn't have to be so brutally depressing all the time. These days, he balances his continuing work on more heartbreaking subjects with his work on UnDisciplined — Utah Public Radio's weekly program on science and discovery.