Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

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

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

Stay Connected
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 donned on him: Maybe the news doesn't have to be brutally depressing all the time. Today, he balances his continuing work on more heartbreaking subjects by writing books about the intersection of science, human health and society, including the New York Times best-selling <i>Lifespan</i> with geneticist David Sinclair and the Nautilus Award-winning <i>Longevity Plan</i> with cardiologist John Day. His first solo book, <i>Superlative</i>, looks at what scientists are learning by studying organisms that have evolved in record-setting ways, and his is currently at work on another book about embracing the inevitability of human-caused climate change with an optimistic outlook on the future.<br/>