Simply stunning. I love that you read distraction not as a sign of weakness but as the activity of a desire that still hasn’t found what it’s looking for. (At least, that’s what I think you’re saying, through the thinkers mentioned.) And I’ll have to think more about the idea that distraction is a sign that we are doing what humans do, and that the question we should be asking is not “who’s to blame” or “how can I train myself to live in this attentional hellscape” but something like “how can I get distracted toward what is better and better? How can I make going from distraction to distraction equal going from strength to strength?” (Am I getting this right?) I’ve got all kinds of thoughts about what to put in my butterfly garden, but occasional hazards has got to be in there. And I have to say, this piece’s conclusion has me thinking theological thoughts.
Thanks Curry! Yeah, I can definitely see an Augustinian riff on this idea that might lead to other, interesting distractions (and I also think Mary Carruthers work on medieval ductus can be very helpfully used as a historicization of distraction, but that's heavier lifting than I'm willing to do here!)
Simply stunning. I love that you read distraction not as a sign of weakness but as the activity of a desire that still hasn’t found what it’s looking for. (At least, that’s what I think you’re saying, through the thinkers mentioned.) And I’ll have to think more about the idea that distraction is a sign that we are doing what humans do, and that the question we should be asking is not “who’s to blame” or “how can I train myself to live in this attentional hellscape” but something like “how can I get distracted toward what is better and better? How can I make going from distraction to distraction equal going from strength to strength?” (Am I getting this right?) I’ve got all kinds of thoughts about what to put in my butterfly garden, but occasional hazards has got to be in there. And I have to say, this piece’s conclusion has me thinking theological thoughts.
Thanks Curry! Yeah, I can definitely see an Augustinian riff on this idea that might lead to other, interesting distractions (and I also think Mary Carruthers work on medieval ductus can be very helpfully used as a historicization of distraction, but that's heavier lifting than I'm willing to do here!)
Could you direct me to the Simmel, Kracauer, Adorno text you referred to, please?
Absolutely! The theme of distraction is in each of these thinkers not located in one text, but I'll try to link the ones I was thinking of.
Simmel: The Metropolis and Mental Life (a book): https://www.blackwellpublishing.com/content/bpl_images/content_store/sample_chapter/0631225137/bridge.pdf
"On Art Exhibitions" https://sci-hub.ru/10.1177/0263276414531052
Kracauer: "Cult of Distraction: Berlin's Picture Palaces" https://sci-hub.ru/10.2307/488133
"Boredom": https://schwarzemilch.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/3103-boredom.pdf
Adorno: "On Popular Music" https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/91838/original/Adorno%2B-%2BOn%2BPopular%2BMusic.pdf
"A Social Critique of Radio Music" https://www.csun.edu/~liviu7/603/Chapter%2013-Adorno.pdf
Bless u.