Category Archives: information overload

Conscious Computing

Our focus has been on technologies as prosthetics for the mind, and human-as-machine style productivity. This has led to burn-out, poor health, poor sleep, and what I call email apnea or screen apnea. We wonder where our attention has gone. Turns out, it’s right where we left it — with our ability to breathe fully. What if technology became a prosthetic for our beings? Continue reading

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Filed under attention, breathe, breathing, Conscious Computing, continuous partial attention, distraction, email apnea, engaged, health, multi-tasking, overwhelmed, screen apnea, technology, Uncategorized

A Badass Musician & a Sixth Degree Aikido Black Belt Advise on Email Apnea

Watching Cameron Carpenter play the organ is a transcendant experience. It’s as if he’s “lit.” The organ just sits there, and Carpenter’s body exudes a powerful energy. Most of us, when we interact with digital technologies, “merge” our energies with the device, exhausting ourselves. Experienced musicians don’t do this. In the evolution of our relationship with digital devices, we have a lot to learn from experienced musicians. Continue reading

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Filed under attention, attention management, breathe, breathing, Conscious Computing, continuous partial attention, distraction, email apnea, engaged, health, information overload, iPhone, overwhelmed, screen apnea, technology

This is What the Future Looks Like

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been noticing that about a third of people walking, crossing streets, or standing on the sidewalk, are ON their cell phones. In most cases, they are not just talking; they are texting or emailing — attention fully focused on the little screen in front of them. Tsunami warning? They’d miss it. Continue reading

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Filed under attention, continuous partial attention, distraction, information overload, multi-tasking, overwhelmed, technology

The Hair Dryer that Got Away

For many of us, our evolving relationship with technology in a 24/7, mobile, always-connected world, traps us in a hyper-focus on the screen, and a blindness to the rich world around us. Continue reading

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Filed under attention, attention management, continuous partial attention, distraction, information overload, technology

Dee Hock’s 1996 Quote…

Today, we are Knowledge Workers evolving into Understanding Workers. Understanding Workers use technology to anticipate, judge and act. Think about it. This is what we’re doing with FitBit, Quantified Self, 23andMe.com, Facebook, and so many other technologies of this era. Continue reading

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Filed under attention, attention management, dominant mass consciousness attention paradigm, engaged, information overload, innovation, O'Reilly Radar, technology, trends

Kids, Video Games, Posture & Breathing

One of my favorite 8 year olds can’t get enough of his Wii.  I enjoy this child and hung out with him recently while he played his favorite video game.  He was hunched over on the sofa and I promise … Continue reading

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Filed under attention, breathe, breathing, email apnea, exhale, health, overwhelmed, screen apnea, stress, technology, Uncategorized

It’s Not the WHAT, it’s the HOW…

Are We at War with Technology, considers the relationship between the WHAT (technology), the HOW (how we’re using it) and the human (us). Continue reading

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Filed under attention, breathe, breathing, connection, continuous partial attention, email apnea, health, Huffington Post, information overload, innovation, overwhelmed, screen apnea, stress, technology

Diagnosis: Email Apnea

In early 2007, at the suggestion of my M.D., I took a course in Buteyko breathing and incorporated it into my morning routine.  I would get up, take a walk, do twenty minutes of Buteyko, then, sit down at my … Continue reading

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Filed under attention, Blackberry, breathing, continuous partial attention, email apnea, health, Huffington Post, information overload, iPhone, O'Reilly Radar, screen apnea, Steelcase Walkstation, technology