I began this book with high hopes but it just never grabbed me; maybe it was me and I just got distracted. The thesis of the book I think could have been developed convincingly in about ten pages. I doubt there are many who might dispute that we live in an ADD society.

The solutions? Don't necessarily look to Maggie Jackson or her book for answers, though she states up front that it is not her aim to offer a solution.

A fairly effective - if over-written - description of our ADD society.

Read an article in the Boston Sunday Globe written by this author. She cited her book and I purchased and read it thinking it would help a teacher in dealing with kids who are easily distracted. Dry. Tough to read. Not worth the purchase. Sorry!

Do you understand a society better by looking at the edges or at the middle? That's the fundamental question that any social scientist and author must answer. Ms. Jackson shows her journalist roots by making alarmist arguments about a "dark age" based on looking at the most extreme forms of inattention in society and extrapolating those extremes into a future where that's the norm. In doing so, she throws anecdote after anecdote pretty harmlessly against the wall.

Do you agree that quiet is better than too much noise? Do you think that being able to concentrate is something worth cultivating? Do you think that most of what's on the Internet is worthless junk? Are you interested in people staying focused so they can make better judgments? Do you find meditation helpful? If you said "yes" to those questions, you'll agree with this book . . . but you won't learn much that you didn't know already unless you read nothing about the way brains work. Even if you want to learn about brain physiology, this isn't a very good book.

I found the overstatement to be irritating, as well. Otherwise, I would have rated the book at three stars.

You can lead a person to education, but you can't make him or her think. that's always been a problem. The new context just adds color to the old dilemma.

Distracted is the story of the function of attention. In nine chapters organized into three parts, Maggie Jackson takes us on a tour of the past, present, and possible future of our ability to pay attention. She begins with Part I ("Lengthening Shadows"), considering the landscape of our consciousness today. Jackson winds the calendar back to 1880 to examine a society that has become interrupt-driven. Her look at technology brings us through life in a virtual world, high-bandwidth information delivery, and how we have optimized our lives to work "on the go," rather than where we are.

In Part II ("Deepening Twilight") Jackson looks at surveillance, the use of technology to observe, and its impact on the observed. Moving on to how we process information, she writes about the history of speech and the history of writing. She then focuses on reading--not an act of nature, but one that we must undertake deliberately if we're to do at all. We're then taken into the world of "smart machines," computers and robots that display empathy and that give us the kind of personal attention that we seem incapable of getting from other humans.

Undoubtedly, distracted readers will fail to realize that the journey has taken them through two iterations of three critical components of thinking: focus, judgment, and awareness.

Part III ("Dark Times...Or a Renaissance of Attention?") introduces a lovely term, McThinking, and considers what happens to our ability to succeed, to plan, and even to reason when instead of assimilating information, we passively watch it fly before our eyes. We cannot synthesize one set of information that we don't know with another set of information that we don't know. Lacking engagement, we're unable to detect, much less to resolve, conflicts. Jackson concludes her discussion with "The Gift of Attention," looking at how science is showing that attention is not a fixed value doled out to each of us In The Beginning, but something that we can, through effort, develop.

Maggie Jackson's tour through attention and its absence is both timely and welcome. She engages in the valuable service of holding a mirror before us, showing us truly what we as a society have become. As was noted by Dr. Walter Gibbs in the 1982 movie Tron, intelligent machines and easy access to information can have surprising side-effects. "Won't that be grand?" he asked a brilliant young programmer. "The computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop!"

As anyone who has asked a simple question only to have the listener type the question into Google knows, there are many technology-dependent citizens among us, completely unable to do anything but regurgitate what the computer said. Far too many among us have become as useless as a crew member on the bridge of a spaceship in a science-fiction television series: unable to do anything but to ask the computer questions and to regurgitate the answers. (In fact, it's worse; the sedentary Google-surfers have none of the aesthetic value of the curvy crew member with the form-fit uniform.)

Kurt Vonnegut made a similar point in his 1961 short story, "Harrison Bergeron." The objective of that society was equality; everyone was equal in every way. Of course, this was merely a way of saying that the society was only as good as the worst of its members in every way. Those capable of greater thought were made equal to everyone else by having regular interruptions of their attention.

I am grateful to Maggie Jackson for her consideration of the topic of attention and suggest that anyone who cares about the future of our society give Distracted some much-deserved time and focus.

I was a little disappointed in this book. It's for the most part a long essay, and the author seems to meander quite a bit. I wouldn't have minded this if there had been a few deeply insightful moments, but most of the creative energy here is spent pointing out the obvious and then supporting the obvious with lots and lots and lots of quotes and citations. This is a sometimes well-written and interesting book, but it reads a bit like having a dinner conversation with one of your really intelligent friends. Nice for an evening of distraction, but I was hoping for considerably more in a book that came with such high praise.

Sadly, DISTRACTED is a product of the culture it describes. The book is perfect for the easily distracted, skimming reader. In a word, it's shallow. If you're looking for something to powerfully address this important topic, something to fire up your neurons and take you deep -- this is not your book. Advice to all: get it through your local library.

The topics addressed in DISTRACTED are far better addressed in THE ATLANTIC's "Is Google Making Us Stoopid?" "Stoopid" is well organized, researched and written. It has a thesis. More: after reading it you may change your habits. DISTRACTED just leaves you hungry.

Disappointed. Felt like I'd wasted valuable time reading it closely.

Kirtland Peterson

Impressive is not strong enough. Vast, in-depth, challenging, thorough, detailed and triumphant may describe it better. Maggie Jackson's Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age is a tightly written treatise on the state of American culture in the Technological Age. Where has our attention gone? According to Ms. Jackson, it has seeped into blue split-screen living with a dash of nomadic transience. We're skimming the surface of our lives like a dragon fly on a pond with dripless, crustless, tasteless food, shattered conversation, and information overload. Intensity has escaped us. We lead a vacuum-packed existence.

The book claims we are quickly losing the capability of deep thinking. It may sound radical, but consider how much we read (on the Web) and how little we retain. Fragmented scraps of data float in our brains with little cohesion. We task-switch without concentration, making more errors than if we were to refrain from juggling.

Thinking the book might focus solely on the Internet itself, I was pleasantly surprised to see the breadth of Ms. Jackson's treatment of our collective attention deficit disorder. Quoting Nietzsche, William James and Derrida, Ms. Jackson delves into the treasure trove of philosophy to explain how we've gotten into the state we're in. Satisfyingly academic, her book requires attention and commitment to slog through the text without the culturally threatening distraction she bemoans.

If you're looking for a guide on modern living, you won't find it here. Distracted is a lovely compilation of ideas sewn seamlessly together by anecdotes and academia. It made me miss the penetrating hum of the overhead lights in my cubicle at Smith College so many years ago. It was the only distraction we had. My daughter's generation is challenged by the ring-tone culture that leapfrogs our focus from one thing to the other without thought.

Thankfully, Ms. Jackson has offered us an eye-opening discourse, torch in hand, illuminating the darkening walls as we edge closer to the light.

Christine Louise Hohlbaum, author of Diary of a Mother: Parenting Stories and Other Stuff and Sahm I Am: Tales of a Stay-at-Home Mom in Europe, lives near Munich, Germany with her husband and two children.

This book could not have come at a better time in our lives! Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age, written by Maggie Jackson, is talking to all of us as, for the most part, we are a society of hyper, type A personalities who live 24 hours a day attached to some kind of technologically produced device that is, apparently, created to make our lives easier . If that were not enough, we have come to realize that, in many cases, we are also addicted to these little gems- be it, a cell phone, the TV or our computers. Never has mankind advanced (are we really advancing?) so quickly, in such a short time span.

This book takes a fascinating and frightening look at our need for constant distraction and what it is doing to us as humans. Why do we feel such a strong need (pull?) towards anything that will remove us from focusing, meditating and basically living in the now?. The author, Maggie Jackson, argues that we must be in a constant state of distraction - that we are incapable of sitting still and paying attention. In fact, as we go this is becoming more and more of an issue - and is actually removing our humanity from us. We seem to have a need to be surrounded by "noise". As I was reading, I found myself nodding my head "yes" on more than one occasion.

This book is a little scary as it reflects a good chunk of what I have been thinking in the last few years. I, myself, am afraid of the world that I live in at times and have said that we suffer from "too much information", "too much choice" and basically just "too much". It is depressing and it appears as though we are may very well be heading into a very bleak direction. Although I am not certain that I would refer to is as a "coming dark age", as the author calls it, I think we certainly need to slow down and start smelling the roses again - oh wait! we can just go on the Net and pull up a picture of one instead!!!!

This book is extremely well researched and informative - while I did not always like what Jackson was stating, I believe that she was entirely correct in stating it.
( By the way, I do see the irony of what I am writing here - or more precisely, the manner in which I am writing it and transmitting it.)

Before I begin, permit me to share the fact that I myself have extraordinary difficulty focusing and/or concentrating. When I was a child (the son of a teacher), I was assessed by the school psychologist as being a 'bright underachiever', since my academic performance level was not congruent with expectations based upon my assessed IQ. Of course in those days (1950s) ADHD wasn't even a recognised DSM diagnosis (unlike today, where it seems that almost every 'difficult' child in the classroom is thus labeled and immediately placed on Ritalin HCl). This problem has remained with me throughout my life and although I have achieved success in my academic and subsquent endeavors, the requisite battle to focus and concentrate has for me been continuous and unrelenting. I say this to illustrate the fact that even something as simple as recreational reading is often a major challenge for me; the effort required to read critically is an order of magnitude beyond that.

Despite my own personal challenges in this arena (or perhaps because of them) I have been acutely concerned with the issues delved into in Jackson's book throughout my entire life. Moreover, the broader effects of impaired reflectivity and focal acuity on our society and culture have remained among my chief interests, in my efforts to understand and evaluate the profound failings of our chosen American sociopolitical and economic way of life.

For these reasons, I was immediately attracted to Maggie Jackson's recently released analysis of our attenuated national attention-span. Although I am still `en route' in my read at the present moment, what I have encountered thus far validates my anticipatory interest in the subject of her discourse.

Jackson's book is NOT an easy read, due in part to the immense number of citations and references she has filled it with. Each requires pause for appropriate thought and suitable reflection, a task that tends to interfere somewhat with the flow of her greater thesis. That having been said, Jackson gives ample evidence of being an extremely thoughtful and intelligent individual, for although a bit circumlocuitous and tangential in her (highly) intellectual arguments, she provides impressive substance in the development of her primary contention.

As someone who has been about as near an out and out pseudo-Luddite as a technowonk may comfortably be in the course of my professional involvement with aeromedical technology, I am nevertheless acutely aware of the highly deleterious effects America's technocratic obsessiveness has had on our culture's sense of collective spiritual awareness and sense of human identity. In our enthusiastic and largely unqualified embrace of all things technological, we have consistently failed to maintain parity with those critically important inner qualities of reflective intelligence and qualitative empathetic awareness that so distinctly set us apart as sentient beings. The bitter Jekel/Hyde irony of our American 'more is better' ethic stands revealed in Jackson's book to actually be 'more is less', by virtue of her near-surgical dissection of the means by which our psycho-physical senses are being progressively overwhelmed by too much sensory input, excessive information, and too many nonessential distractions. A matter of spiritual and intellectual social impoverishment, directly attributable to an embarrassment of scientific and technological riches, if you will.

One point that Jackson deftly manages to avoid making (let me qualify that with the thought that I'm only on page 217 of her 327 page book to date, so she may well still have alluded to it) is that our own basic national economic philosophy (capitalistic materialism) appears to be one of the principal culprits contributing to our collective ADHD, since grossly overemphasised 'lowest common denominator' commercial advertising drives much of our descent into distractiveness. The dogma of modern advertising doctrine employs methods and principles deliberately contrived to and aimed at exploiting our instinctual neuro-biological defenses against threat, and it is often this dynamic that augments distractibility on the part of individuals who are already suffering from intolerable sensory assault throughout our 'go-go-go' culture. It is a commonly acknowledged principle of commercial advertising that a sound-bite type pace (that leaves no time for reflective thought) in visual media advertising is most effective in selling `things' to viewers, since the message is effectively retained, uncomplicated by any temporal possibility for cogent dissent or reflective consideration. Thus `distractivity' is actually cultivated and effectively employed by corporate business in the media marketplace--a practice that has the most dire and far-reachingly harmful consequences in terms of discouraging balanced thought and rational analysis on the part of the public.

As a person who was brought up and educated before the microprocessor revolution burst upon us, I and others of my generation are perhaps more able to understand how technology has transmogrified from its simple archetypal form (of being a tool) into an icon of worshipful, near-religious significance. Having learned from books, rather than by television (we did not have one in my childhood home, by choice) or computer, I am far more wary of the deus ex machine potential implicit in technology than those in later generations perhaps might be. While I recognise science and technology as extremely useful resources to draw upon and employ as needed, I am not unmindful of the threat they pose to virtually every aspect of our most basic spirituality and physical health concerns. Hopefully maturity prepares us more adequately to perform that important process of reflective differentiation and it is therefore that younger segment of the population that is theoretically (I say this mindful of how arguable this statement actually is) still not yet fully intellectually maturated (those under the age of 25 or so) who are most susceptible to the cold and calculating predation practiced by these forces of commercially gainful distractivity.

Drawing tangentially from Rick Shenkman's recent book, `Just How Stupid Are We?', it isn't so much that younger people today are stupid (and unaware of these effects), as much as it likely that they are so profoundly repulsed by the evidence that us `older/wiser' (i.e. mature?) members of society have reduced virtually every aspect of American life to its most vapidly empty level of greed-associated profit/loss that they actively choose escape into trivial diversion over thoughtful concern with serious issues. That `easy way out' dovetails nicely with the market forces of American capitalism to produce endless trivial distractions (all highly profitable) that discourage reflectivity and rational repose on the part of those who buy into this insidiously endless cycle of self-gratifying escapism.

This book is a delight for those among us who are gratified to stumble upon hard documentation of basic assumptions and intuited understandings we have formulated within ourselves from simple observation of human behavior, and Jackson's research and references are meticulous, illuminating, and well worthy of the not-insubstantial effort required (by someone like myself) to absorb and ruminate upon all that lovely data she presents therein.

Perhaps one of the best dustcover blurbs employed to describe this book succinctly comes from Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter, who states: `Maggie Jackson's fascinating book on America's collective attention deficit disorder is a wake-up call to all of us to take back our lives, turn off the technology, and focus on paying attention to what makes us human and fulfilled." Well spoken, Rosabeth!

PS: This book from Prometheus Books may well temp you to silently steal back to the Mount Olympus of ancient Greek myth to return the `fire' that Zeus (perhaps wisely) chose to keep hidden from mankind!

There is little doubt that over the past few decades, particularly during what has been referred to as "the computer age," the world of intellectual activity has substantially changed. So-called "multitasking" has become common. "Sound-bites" provide many people with all the news they get. Rapid-moving video games provide many with most of the entertainment they experience. The technology of "virtual" reality is becoming so "real" it is becoming increasingly difficult to determine what is "actually real" from what is "virtually real." Add to all this the reports that attention deficit symdrome (ADD) and hyperactive behavior among the young are growing problems in our fast-moving society, and one might be tempted to conclude that we are, in fact, "distracted" to the point where the erosion of attention will result in a soon-to-occur "dark age."

This latter point, of course, is a paraphrase of the title of Maggie Jackson's latest book "Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age." The major problem we face now, Jackson seems to say, is INATTENTION; that is, we are no longer engaging in such activities as reflection, searching for deeper meanings, taking time to relax and participate in traditionally intimate conversations, getting to know people in a personable way, taking the time to discern the really important from the merely transitory, and so on. We as a society and as individuals are, in other words, not paying ATTENTION. At least to the things we ought to be paying proper attention to.

In her book, Jackson provides a historical survey of the problem, cites a lot of research drawn from a wide range of scholarly fields including empirical science and philosophy, and provides quotations from a diverse population of thinkers who have considered aspects of the main problem she addresses. There is a lot of detail here to be digested; the reader, hopefully, is not suffering from the very problem the author discusses.

One may argue, however, as to whether the current situation will lead to a genuine "dark age." Some might say that that suggestion might be just a little bit hyperbolic. Nevertheless, the author does raise some interesting questions and attempts to provide some workable solutions. So, in this period of constant motion, multitasking, social networking, instant messaging, and electronic overload, it might just be worthwhile for everyone to slow down a little, sit back and relax, read this book, and pay ATTENTION to what Jackson is saying.

A core concept of the martial arts is focus. That's where you get your power from ("your chi is concentrated"). The laser, which we use to cut through the hardest of steel, is nothing more than focused light. Any endeavor that requires brainpower, from sports to engineering, requires the ability to tune out everything except the task at hand. The ability to focus is a learned skill, and most people aren't learning it. In today's video and sound bite world, in fact, massive numbers of people are unlearning it.

Why does the stupidity epidemic continue to spread, despite its horrible cost? One answer may simply be that people are too distracted to pay attention. Consequently, they are not fully engaging their brains and focusing on what they are reading, saying, seeing, or hearing. This is a real problem in, for example, the task of driving an automobile. All of us can spot the "cell phone driver" from a distance, and there's a reason why.

It's the same reason this country has a shortage of qualified engineers, a shortage of senior project managers (average age now for the SMs in the construction industry is north of sixty), and such widespread ignorance of basic science, geography, and other subjects that require study. It's why only about half of voting-age Americans can correctly identify the three branches of the federal government.

When people are chronically distracted, something is wrong with their ability, desire, or discipline to filter out nonessential things and focus on what matters or what really has value. The result is a watered down life experience and a weakened intellect.

The effect is so pronounced and ubiquitous that, Jackson asserts, we as a society are poised on the edge of a coming dark time. I'm the first person to cry "alarmist" when an author raises dire warnings. But in this case, I have to agree with Jackson. When you read her book, which is the result of intense research, you will probably also agree.

Many other factors contribute to the stupidity epidemic, such as toxic diets, stupidity immersion (e.g., television), idiotic lyrics blaring from radios, lack of serious reading, and a failed "education" system. But the widespread lack of focus may be the main problem.

The cultural norms of today work against focus, as this book explains. Fortunately, that doesn't mean you have to accept those norms and sink into mindlessness. Jackson provides insight into the lack of focus issue and further insight into how to avoid being a casualty of this intelligence-sapping problem.

This book is well-researched, well-written, and timely. Unlike many works that hit the non-fiction list today, it actually is non-fiction. Given the subject, the author could easily digress into editorializing her personal political agenda (which is a common problem with "non" fiction today). But, she doesn't. In fact, I have no idea what it is.

The author stays focused on the issues the book is about, which, given what the book is about, should be no surprise.

If you're looking for something that will provide a formulaic solution to our ADHD culture, or ten steps to inoculate yourself against the stupidity epidemic, this isn't it. The author isn't pushing easy self-help solutions that she can later talk about on Oprah. Nor is she using a book as a way to promote herself for gigs on the rubber chicken circuit. She wrote an intellectually serious work that is engaging and enlightening.

As the author points out, much of what we read, hear, and say today is just surface noise. That's not what you get in this book. What you get is a properly developed work that is well-worth reading.

Earlier, I said Distracted is well-researched. That's a qualitative statement, so let me quantify it. The book is 268 pages from start to finish, followed by 50 pages of tightly-written bibliography (nearly 20% the size of the book itself ). There are about 60 references per chapter, with 79 references for Chapter 6. Somehow, Jackson manages to weave all this research into a flowing, engaging narrative.

Usually when a book is really good, I'll say it was a page-turner or I couldn't put it down. Oddly enough, I can't say that about Distracted. The reason, however, is the book made me stop and think. The author would sometimes make a point so profound or so worth mulling over that I just had to stop and digest it for a while. How many books can you think of that make you want to do that?

Distracted consists of three Parts. Part I explains where we are now, and consists of four chapters. These give us the "lay of the land" and many examples to show how things are. Part II delves into the "deepening twilight" and consists of three chapters. These help us see how we're trending the wrong way and what factors are contributing to those trends.

Part III poses the question, "Dark Times or Renaissance of Attention?" At several points, I put the book down just to think about some point or another, because especially in this part of the book she says much that just makes you want to stop and think.

In Chapter 8, "McThinking and the Future of the Past," Jackson looks at such issues as cultural memory, how a child's ability to delay gratification is a reliable predictor of success as an adult, and what the difference is between cultivating information and merely stockpiling it. A key concept I like is that the ability to select what to retain and what to discard is an important part of being able to handle information.

In Chapter 9, "The Gift of Attention," Jackson looks at the breaking developments in cognitive research, especially in relation to the ability to deliberately focus one's attention. Some of what she reveals is more academic, while other revelations have more immediate and practical value for the reader. She doesn't wrap it all up in a nice, neat conclusion because there are many things the reader can conclude while reading this chapter. But a common theme in such conclusions is that we can choose to be in charge of our minds rather than let distractions blow us around like so much tumbleweed.

As someone who has studied the stupidity epidemic for several years now, I am increasingly convinced we (as individuals) can choose to let ourselves become stupid or we can make deliberate choices that, by exercise of some personal discipline, spare us that fate. Most people aren't making those deliberate choices or exercising that discipline. But, many are. All of us can.

Being mindful strengthens the mind. When you're constantly distracted, you can't be mindful--you're too busy shifting mental gears all the time. The "default value" is chronic distraction, but the good news is you can choose to be mindful and you can make other choices that keep you from being chronically distracted. Jackson shows us what some of those choices are, and that's also good news. The choices aren't hard to make or to carry out.

Jackson's book goes beyond my pet interest, however. While chronic distraction is sapping our collective IQs, it's also destroying our ability to interact with each other. Here's something to think about (not in Jackson's book). Even critics of Bill Clinton acknowledge his charm and charisma. When Alan Greenspan went to meet Clinton for the first time, he was doubtful that he wanted to continue on as Chairman of the Federal Reserve with Clinton in the White House. When Greenspan left that meeting, he felt tremendously loyal to Clinton. From doubting Thomas to committed supporter in a single meeting. How did Clinton do it? Greenspan said, "He made me feel like the center of his universe. Everything else was blanked out and he was totally there. He focused on me."

When one person focuses on another and listens to that person, the other person feels respected. Respect is the foundation of any good relationship. When people never truly engage with other people, haven't they also given up on what it means to be human?

If someone is talking to you in person and the phone rings, show respect by ignoring the phone. If you have a television on and someone visits you, turn the television off and focus on that person. If a child talks to you, stop what you are doing and listen. Be completely there. If you don't understand the power of such actions and the cost of failing to take them, read Chapter Two.

The point that one must give full attention is something I learned during graduate school for my doctorate. This point is critical for all learning. I elaborated on this point in my book "Teaching and Helping Students Think and Do Better".

This book will change your life and save your family. If you feel overwhelmed, under pressure, and generally undone by multi-tasking, technological overload, and too many demands -- and who of us doesn't -- Distracted will not only explain just how detrimental all this input is to our daily lives and relationships, it will tell you what you can do to get things back on track.

Jackson's research is wide and deep. She has climbed mountains to Buddhist retreats to learn about inner peace. She has sat in with college students to observe the erosion of our educational process. She has subjected herself to medical tests and psychological studies to learn about attention. She seems to have studied just about every relevant psychological experiment. What does the length of time six-year-olds can defer gratification of a marshmallow tell you about how they will succeed in life? What does constant camera surveillance say about what is happening to the American family?

Distracted is a smart book about technology. It is a brilliant book about the way we live now, what we have gained, what we have lost, and how we can reclaim some precious humanity.