Deep Work

Some tasks call for our undivided attention. This is a lesson Job learned when God demanded that he focus and get a grip.

Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. YouTube. Pinterest. Wikipedia. Snapchat.

Together, they are weapons — weapons of mass distraction.

You know how it works. You are cooking something on the stove when you hear a ping from your smartphone. You say, “Okay, while that’s cooking, I’ll go see what that notification is about. Oh no, he’s totally wrong! I have to reply to this post … Ha, that cat picture is silly … What a cool video! And that other video in the thumbnail looks interesting, too … That high school guy is totally wrong again! … This Wikipedia article has a lot of cool information.”

Meanwhile, in the kitchen: five-alarm fire.

Journalist Shankar Vedantam knows that most of us react to the beeps and buzzes of our phones with great urgency, like parents responding to a baby’s cry. Although we know that this isn’t healthy or sane, we still do it.

But now, research is showing that we really should make an...