Distractions

Distractions
Circa AD 160 Marcus Aurelius writes:
"Do external things distract you? Then make time for yourself to learn something worthwhile; stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions."

Learning goes on, for sure - but it is driven by the myrid of minor challenges that gather like flies around our working day. When we ask about why people do not take time to learn something worthwhile they will generally say that 'they are too busy'. The same reason is given in large organisations the world over.

The irony, of course, is that for many organisations if a person's learning does not address some immediate challnge - then it is not, by definition, worthwhile.
I can't remember who it was who said that the problem with the modern person was that they are unable simply to endure their own, silent, company - but it does seem characteristic of our digital dwelling that we are fallen into distraction: if you take the train you notice the constant (almost frantic) fumbling between phone, i-pod and PDA - and I suppose these have become almost necessary distractions.

A world in which we learn less and use more, a world in which we contribute and consider less, endlessly distracted: hardly hyperbole - over the weekend I watched some teenagers watching sky: of all the available channels they chose to watch a music channel with text messages overlaid on the bottom part of the screen. Strange distractions.