Compare and Contrast

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Recommended: Essay on technological revolution

Technology and the modern era have brought out a whole different side to all sorts of things. From the global economy to state boundaries, the world has undergone a widespread wave of change. And with the passage of time, human beings are evolving at a continuously transitioning motion. In his book ‘Stumbling on Happiness’, Daniel Gilbert has, under the title “Reporting Live from Tomorrow”, described this very circumstance that our societies face today. The premise for his article is the ‘now’ that all of us are experiencing each day. In the article, “Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of our Era”, Restak uses the same premise as a setting for his work.

Restak’s focus is on how the brain is changed by today's standards. He states, “This technology driven change in the brain is the biggest modification in the last 200,000 years… One consequence of this change is that we face constant challenges to our ability to focus our attention.” We are constantly dealing with two or more things at once, which constantly results in a change of our attention. We have been rendered unable to focus on any one thing in a complete and comprehensive manner . If we sit still and focus on one task , we have difficulty paying attention. Part of the reason why we moved to a society of short attention span is the use and development of technology. We have become used to and quite adept at getting all the information in a short period of time, which is an example of how technology causes a change of mentality in society. Gilbert too talks about technology and the many ‘blessings’ that have been bestowed on societies due to the onslaught of modern times. While Restak focuses on the hyperactivity and impossibly fast pace of modern societies, Gilbert’s ...

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...accustomed to rapid-fire motormouth commercials spoken at truly incomprehensible speeds." He says that man finds it difficult to concentrate because the advent of the technological time sphere has aided in the development of short attention spans. He also mentioned the fact that how we are able to be always present in different places at one time due to technology.

It would be interesting to note how Gilbert would respond to the picture that Restak paints of these technological times. Both writers speak in the context of the modern era, and Restak depicts it as an era of isolated socialization, where humans are isolated due to their inability to stay (mentally or physically) at any one place at one point in time. Gilbert’s discussion of happiness and the skewness of modern definitions regarding happiness might be extended to allow for comment on such a topic.

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