The digital world instructs our attention like no other human invention before. The consequence changed the way we live, work, and think. Gloria has studied people’s relationships with digital technology as long as it existed. Here’s what the research found: 

In 2004, on average. Workplace ...

What is attention?

Psychologists define it as the ability to process certain things in our environments while excluding others consciously. The attention system consists of various networks that sustain different tasks. 

Every attentional state has its purpose and value. To achieve more, you don’t have to push yourself to be focused all the time; playing candy crus is also good for you. For most people, the highest focus is at 11 am and again at 3 pm—the boredom peaks shortly after lunch. We need to learn to flow...

When people are frequently interrupted by such distractions, they report more frustration, pressure, and stress. The surprising fact is that people interrupt themselves almost as often as they are interrupted by outside forces. 

Researchers found that people switch their attention 44% of th...

Once people get interrupted, it takes 25 minutes to get back to their original task. Our brains are good at dealing with multitasking & attention-shifting. However, if we do this every time, it takes a bit of our mental energy, and it leads to exhausted and stressed feelings. 

The internet is everywhere today. The network structure perfectly mimics the structure of our minds. The curiosity by following associative connections, much as we do when mind-wandering on our own. Companies use algorithms to collect data about themselves to predict what links will get us to cli...

The more often you ask these questions, the easier they’ll come to you next time. Remember: Self-regulation is like a muscle. Knowing this, you can structure your day to complete your most complex tasks during peak focus. 

Once we understand our behavior, we can leverage our new kinetic att...

“This means there might be some truth to the old trope that women are better at multitasking. But don’t fool yourself: the percentage of supertaskers who can multitask without sacrificing mood and performance points is tiny. “ 

Multitasking takes a lot of resources. Howeve...

Quick questions: How much control do we have if companies are so good at manipulating our online choices? 

We need to develop meta-awareness of our digital behavior. It means recognizing our habits, understanding what forces are trying to manipulate our attention, and learning which distrac...