Distraction: Being Human in the Digital Age

by Mark Curtis, Futuretext

Obsessed with what we can do with our mobile phones and the web, it's easy to lose sight of the big picture, because so much is changing and so fast. We are distracted by it. This book steps back to look at our use of new technology and draws some uncomfortable and challenging conclusions about what society may need to do to get the best, not the worst, out of the digital era. Why are our fundamental notions of space and time changing? Why going mobile is the big difference. How new technology makes us prefer the distant to the close at hand Can we sustain current levels of communication? Will we have to start blocking things out? How are people doing this already? Why time is the biggest issue for most people, and technology is not helping. How can we make media deeper? How our sense of who we are is changing too. Why building trust online is going to be so important, and such a challenge. Why we need to focus on social networks. Why a new sense of discipline is required to prevent us drowning in distraction. Why each of us can use digital to be creative.

248 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 2005

About the author

Mark Curtis is an independent author and journalist. He is a former Research Fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and Director of the World Development Movement. He is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Strathclyde and has been Visiting Research Fellow at the Institut Francais des Relations Internationales, Paris and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Auswartige Politik, Bonn.

Mark has written six books and numerous articles on British and US foreign policies and international development and trade issues.

Alongside his work as an analyst of British foreign policy, Mark has worked in the field of international development for 18 years, including as Head of Global Advocacy and Policy at Christian Aid and Head of Policy at ActionAid. He is a graduate of Goldsmiths’ College, University of London and the London School of Economics and Political Science.