Dark Age Dawning: Salvaging Focus in a World of High-Tech Distractions

Maggie Jackson, award winning author of the critically praised book Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age, is the first speaker of the 2010-2011 Core Connections Series at UNE.  Her talk, “Dark Age Dawning: Salvaging Focus in a World of High-Tech Distractions” will take place on September 14, 2010 at noon in the St. Francis Room.  She encourages the UNE community to attempt a “digital detox” during the 24-hours preceding her lecture, asking whether UNE has what it takes to leave behind digital communications for even one day.

In her book, Jackson raises troubling questions about the implications of technology in our lives.  While many of us believe that smart phones, video games, email, and even social networking sites make us more efficient, countless scientific studies suggest otherwise.  Far from growing smarter, we may actually be texting ourselves into social malaise and cultural decline.  Technology might be leading us into a new “dark age.”  

A number of colleges and universities tried the “digital detox” idea in the past year, as did a group of psychologists from major universities around the United States.  One such program is recorded at this blog: http://withoutmedia.wordpress.com/about/.

Can YOU go 24-hours without texting, checking email, looking at Facebook, or talking on your phone?  Prior to the lecture, the Core Connections Committee invites students and faculty at UNE to accept Jackson’s challenge and to engage in a “digital detox.”