In Cal Newport's novel, Deep Work, he exemplifies the growing conflict that goes along with continuous attachment to distractors. Social media has taken a toll as a part of American culture and Newport claims that the usage of cell phones and electronic devices is hardly beneficial to attracting "deep work."Newport details that not being able to achieve deep work is identified as "shallow work" and one of the sole purposes of deep work is to regain hard, concentrated information. Newpoint points out a central message that "If you don’t produce, you won’t thrive—no matter how skilled or talented you are” to elaborate on the fact that without hard, focused work, people will not be able to break down the complicated situations that may come in life. Although Newport mentions that concentration is a key element to success, it is clear that the task of true concentration is difficult. Newport adores concentration as an honorable trait to have, especially in the technological environment that people have become dependent on these distractors. Cal Newport stresses “To simply wait and be bored has become a novel experience in modern life, but from the perspective of concentration training, it’s incredibly valuable.” Newport takes the creative abilities that boredom may possess as a good trait to have because it is the time where the distractors are put away, the constant attachment to the media is left alone, and the brain is filled with the capacity to think, to ponder, to create.
To continue, Newport believes that a problem lies in the structure of our day to day schedule and rituals. He advises that creating a structure for daily activities of work will not only aid in time management but also provide enough space to do each activity one step at a time. With a clear structure, time is in the control of our hands, and the ability to concentrate is easier because devotion and commitment are created by the means of time management.
Overall, "deep work" needs to be the norm that society goes back to and in order to achieve it, concentration is essentially required.
- Aliya Roserie
The evidence that the ability to do "deep work" is becoming more valuable is apparent everywhere in high school, don't you agree? I find that certain assignments that shouldn't take more than thirty minutes become a two hour ordeal as my focus wavers from what I need to work on, creating what I suppose would be referred to as "shallow work" as stated above. The absence of focus and ability to do "deep work" takes a toll on the entirety of a day, pushing other responsibilities further back upon the timeline, creating time management issues stemming directly from issues of focus. I agree that a standard of "deep work" should be resurrected, yet believe that doing so as an entire population would be nearly impossible due to the availability of distractions.
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ReplyDeleteI can relate with Hannah that a simple assignment that shouldn’t take me more than thirty minutes ends up being finished hours later. My mind shifts from different ideas and imaginations that I suddenly picture in my head, and I just start spacing out; nonetheless, I get distracted by my phone and its access to social media. With that being defined as “shallow work,” I agree with the fact that concentration is a key element to success for it helps us achieve “deep work” more efficiently and effectively. It increases mental performance like problem solving and making decisions with no hesitations and contributes to achieving goals and success one strives for.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Newport's idea that the problem lies in the structure of our daily schedule. Most times, students do not have a set and organized schedule of work that needs to be done, and what would be even more efficient is for this organization to be planned out already for the week. This will aid the "deep work" which is already an issue for people in this generation and make it so that the ability to concentrate finds a firmer foundation on our lives. This book is even more support to what we have been learning in class for the past few months. The distraction of social media is definitely a big conflict that people must be reminded of time and time again.
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