With all the info coming at us 24/7, "We are processing information at
400 times the rate of our Renaissance ancestors," she says. This is a
new human task that we haven't had time to adapt to yet -- physically
or mentally.
That's why we're getting tech-related health problems, like carpal
tunnel, and maybe even mental and neurological problems like
attention-deficit disorder. Naturally our attention is fraying -- we
are whipsawed by stimuli!
Moreover, with that 400 times more information did not come
400 more hours in a day. So we steal that time from sleep, both
deliberately (by working late into the night) and not (by being too
wound up to drift off). Hence another big trend: The burgeoning sleep
industry, with new pills, pillows and, in the big hotels, even "sleep
concierges" all trying to help us get the ZZZs we need.
Another byproduct of trying to pack too much into the day is the
erosion of dinnertime. This, of course, is nothing new. In the '60s
dinner was (supposedly) 45 minutes long. By the '90s it had shrunk to
15 minutes. But as Swanson's investigators traveled the country,
dropping in on real families, they found that the sit-down dinner had
evaporated almost entirely. "It is now basically five minutes," says
Swanson. "And it's not even sitting down."
Families (or chunks of them) eat standing up around the kitchen
counter. When parents are unavailable, kids prepare themselves
"latchkey dinners." Long, slow braising is not key.
What will be key in the coming decade, says Swanson,
is a new focus on science (as opposed to just technology). In an echo
of John F. Kennedy's call to reach the moon, our country will challenge
itself again, this time to save the planet. But first ... we have to
recover.
Sleep-deprived, anxious and strung-out on Easy Mac, we will use the
next 10 years to replenish, Swanson says. We'll do this through yoga,
face time (as opposed to Facebook), slow food, more sleep and
daydreaming. We'll also enlist the help of more organizers: people and
products that can de-clutter everything from our closets to our in-box,
leaving only what is manageable and not completely depressing.
Newly rested and happy, we will finally have time to read the paper again!
And by then we may even be out of Iraq.
400 times the rate of our Renaissance ancestors," she says. This is a
new human task that we haven't had time to adapt to yet -- physically
or mentally.
That's why we're getting tech-related health problems, like carpal
tunnel, and maybe even mental and neurological problems like
attention-deficit disorder. Naturally our attention is fraying -- we
are whipsawed by stimuli!
Moreover, with that 400 times more information did not come
400 more hours in a day. So we steal that time from sleep, both
deliberately (by working late into the night) and not (by being too
wound up to drift off). Hence another big trend: The burgeoning sleep
industry, with new pills, pillows and, in the big hotels, even "sleep
concierges" all trying to help us get the ZZZs we need.
Another byproduct of trying to pack too much into the day is the
erosion of dinnertime. This, of course, is nothing new. In the '60s
dinner was (supposedly) 45 minutes long. By the '90s it had shrunk to
15 minutes. But as Swanson's investigators traveled the country,
dropping in on real families, they found that the sit-down dinner had
evaporated almost entirely. "It is now basically five minutes," says
Swanson. "And it's not even sitting down."
Families (or chunks of them) eat standing up around the kitchen
counter. When parents are unavailable, kids prepare themselves
"latchkey dinners." Long, slow braising is not key.
What will be key in the coming decade, says Swanson,
is a new focus on science (as opposed to just technology). In an echo
of John F. Kennedy's call to reach the moon, our country will challenge
itself again, this time to save the planet. But first ... we have to
recover.
Sleep-deprived, anxious and strung-out on Easy Mac, we will use the
next 10 years to replenish, Swanson says. We'll do this through yoga,
face time (as opposed to Facebook), slow food, more sleep and
daydreaming. We'll also enlist the help of more organizers: people and
products that can de-clutter everything from our closets to our in-box,
leaving only what is manageable and not completely depressing.
Newly rested and happy, we will finally have time to read the paper again!
And by then we may even be out of Iraq.
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