This is hidden brain.
I'm Shankar Vedantam.
For many people, this is what work sounds like nowadays.
It's a constant thrum of notifications, tweets, and messages.
Every time we respond to an email or a text or Google, a question that's just popped into our head.
We pay a small price in the moment there.
This price is imperceptible, but over time it adds up.
And we haven't quite come to terms with the cost of constant distraction.
We treat it, I think, in this more general sense of I probably should be less distracted, and I think it's more urgent than people realize.
This week on Hidden Brain, we continue our annual summer series U 2.0.
Authenticity is contagious.
I have been dragged into this all the way, kicking and screaming.
Ideas and advice about how you can respond to life's chaos.
Let's do a just check to my inbox.
Just check.
Just check.
Just check to my phone real quick.
With wisdom this episode, we explore ways to immerse ourselves in meaningful work.
Today, we look at the challenge of cultivating deep attention and what we gain by immersing ourselves in meaningful work.
I spoke to someone who might seem like an unlikely advocate for technological restraint.