A Lesson from Angela Duckworth
Put Your Phone Down, Pick Your Life Up
I just watched Angela Duckworth’s graduation speech at Bates College, and I have to tell you that she didn’t just speak to the new grads, she spoke to all of us. With her signature mix of humor, heart, and hard science, she spoke some of the most consequential lines of advice for our tethered generations.
“Where you physically place your phone may be one of the most consequential decisions you make.”
It is a brutally honest observation of the state of affairs in our technology driven world.
We love to think we’ll conquer distraction with sheer willpower and we all know how successful we have been at it. Duckworth, the grit lady herself, tells us otherwise. Attention, it turns out, is not just a mental game, it’s an environmental one. You don’t guard your focus by yelling “Be strong!” at your brain. You guard it by moving your phone to another room. You change your behavior not by force, but by changing your surroundings. Psychologists call it situation modification.
And let’s be real. We’re not just protecting our attention spans in this attention economy, we’re protecting our lives. Our creativity, relationships and most importantly our limited time on this planet. If your phone is the first thing you touch in the morning and the last thing you see at night… maybe it’s not about your phone anymore. We must find something truly interesting to do in our real life.Â
So here’s your gentle mommy reminder.
Your attention is sacred. Guard it with everything you’ve got. Put the phone away. Look up and experience real world in 3D.
Angela Duckworth at Bates: Push Those Cell Phones Away
Featured Image: Copyright of Bates College Youtube Channel: Screenshot from the above video
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