beginner learning mode,

Mindfulness in all its forms and applications certainly is an end in itself, but practicing mindfulness in regard to online attention serves a specific strategic goal. Your goal and mine in this context is not just the control but also the management of attention.

Levy asked them to keep a log of their email behavior for a week

nstead of “Am I dreaming?” try “Have I drifted?”

But this simple exercise provided an invaluable founda-tion when I started striving to surf the Web without becoming distracted (or more precisely, without becoming too distracted—for me, distraction online often leads to discovery, and only becomes a problem when it grows compulsive and saps time from a more important task).

The narrative network is what is most active when your mind drifts into plans and memories during meditation. The direct experi-ence network is what is most active when you keep your attention on your breath; it is probably the one that is active when an athlete is in the zone.

narrative network

If you add consciousness to any activity, the nature of it changes, and the creative is illuminated.

hat awareness, which even tentative direct experimentation can grant to some noticeable degree, is the power tool that all the other literacies depend on. Mindful-ness is what connects your attention to skills of digital participation, col-laboration, crap detection, and network smarts. Deliberately exercised, continually strengthened, and judiciously applied, mindfulness is the most important practice for anyone who is trying to swim through the infos-tream instead of being swept away by it.

In the words of mindfulness teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness is “the aware-ness that emerges through paying attention on purpose.”77

I recall that I was best able sustain the audible feedback tone and inscribe the right kind of squiggles onto the paper by not making an effort. The feel-ing is more of a “letting go.” I would stop making a mental effort, and then the tone and squiggles would flow.

Mindful awareness, as we will see, actually involves more than just simply be-ing aware: it involves being aware of aspects of the mind itself.

The first thing I learned is good news if you have been thinking that “attention training” sounds like too much work: you can experience imme-diate benefits by beginning in small ways to exercise mindfulness regarding your attention online. In this realm, taking some control, even if it is a baby step, is far better than passively letting your attention be grabbed without reflection. Growing evidence indicates consistent exercise can strengthen self-control of attention.

Man geht immer von einem Punkt zu einem anderen. Man verlässt nie die Interaktion. Aber dies zwingt dazu, den zahlreichen Ablösungen zu folgen. Wie kann ein Akteur im Zentrum dieser Diversität überdauern? Durch eine Arbeit des Erzählens, das es einem „Ich“ erlaubt, in der Zeit zu bestehen. Und wie wird diese narrative Konstruktion ihrerseits erzeugt? Durch den Körper, durch diese alte Basis der Primatensozialität, die unsere Körper befähigt, die In-teraktionen aufrechtzuerhalten.

turning attention to the area of inattention

ubiquitären präsentismus