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Mindful Tech

How to Bring Balance to Our Digital Lives

David M. Levy

Yale UP, 2016

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David M. Levy, a professor and former Silicon Valley technology staffer, shows you how to slow down your digital life and connect mindfully. He presents a series of exercises to help you develop greater awareness of your use of digital media and to cultivate healthier, more productive habits. By observing and paying attention to your mind and body when you use email and other digital applications, you can identify potential triggers of distraction or distress. Levy helps you make appropriate changes and his compelling anecdotes might echo your experiences with email, texting and multitasking. getAbstract recommends Levy’s manual to busy people who seek calmness and better methods for using digital media.

Summary

A Happy Medium

Many people yearn for a happy medium between the “Fast World” of hyperconnectivity and the “Slow World” of contemplation. Today’s digital devices allow you to connect 24/7 across time and distance, but they can become noisy distractions. Only you can decide what deserves your attention and how to find that happy medium. Being more aware of how you use technology allows you to learn new approaches and make positive changes.

When you engage online, most of your attention is going outward, as when you type an email or conduct a search. Slow-loading web pages might make you frustrated. You may become upset if you can’t immediately think of the right words for your email or text message. But wait – instead of feeling stressed, direct your attention inward; focus on your breathing and posture.

Practicing a Craft – Online

Learn to focus on your tasks the way that professional athletes, musicians and artists focus. Writing emails or posting to Facebook is no different than any craft requiring purposeful training.

Practicing a craft online has four major dimensions:

“Intention” – Act with purpose and...

About the Author

Professor at the Information School of the University of Washington David M. Levy also wrote Scrolling Forward: Making Sense of Documents in the Digital Age.

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W. N. 7 years ago

A great article that resonates and is aligned with other recent articles about our use of and dependency upon devices. Monitoring the use social media and being mindful of time spent on devices can only be a good thing.
A. K. 7 years ago

This is an interesting book connecting digital devices and mindfulness, something we seldom or never thought off.

I totally agree with the author that we should cultivate other habits such as exercises and hobbies that take us away from digital devices, minimize their usage and appreciate every moment of our life.
#getLearning #getAbstract
G. O. 7 years ago

The four major dimensions to Practicing a craft online has my attention from Intention, care, skills and learning (learning just as we are intentionally reading for five days). The unplugging techniques were on point as I have had a reality check experience in the past and I can relate the instances with the authors template. I can relate this to Nicholas Carr’s book titled The Shallows – what the internet is doing to our brains for comparative insight. Levy harped on email and being an official tool can become a stressor but it needs to be managed to cultivate productive ideas. This is indeed a great insight and its inspiring for someone like me who will deliberately buy into Levy’s idea while I strike the balance between work, life and faith balance. The book comes highly recommended. #getLearning #getAbstract #Day 3