In 2007, I made some observations and named what I was seeing in a 2008 Huffington Post article. I described a phenomenon I initially called email apnea, and later referred to, interchangeably as email apnea or screen apnea. This followed observations and research I’d done in the 1990’s on attention, when I coined the phrase, “continuous partial attention,” in an effort to differentiate between simple and complex multi-tasking.
So many people recognized both continuous partial attention and “screen apnea” in themselves and resonated. I’m especially grateful to Steve Porges, Fred Muench, and Margaret Chesney, who, early on, helped steer through related research on breath holding and shallow breathing. Dr. Porges and Dr. Muench helped me understand the physiological impact of what I was noticing as well as the relationship to the vagus nerve and vagal tone. I love that the journalist, Alisha Haridasani Gupta, features Dr. Porges’ insights. I’ve come to believe that exercises that contribute to healthy vagal tone are as important as breathing exercises.
Here’s the link to today’s NYTimes piece.
Linda Stone 