Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunj ji suggests giving time and priority to meditation to get over the chronic distractedness

A recent study done by a group of behavioural scientists showed that in the last one decade, human attention span has fallen to the lowest level, courtesy technology (precisely, the internet). We all have been experiencing this that today everything is becoming fast. Whether it’s the food that we eat, or the entertainment that we watch, or even the way we work. In short, the pace of life is accelerating. Indeed, there seems to be an insatiable desire to continually speed up the rate of change. If we look at the reality show participants for example, it is evident that these participants become extremely famous for a year or two and then vanish into oblivion, as the public's appetite for novelty for its own sake grows. A similar trend is observed in new tech gadgets, where we see a new model coming out every week, pushing a weak model out of the market and out of the consumer's mind. This hunger for the new has a slight air of desperation about it — perhaps it is an attempt to compensate for the ongoing destruction of economic, religious and political certainties. Whatever its source, this hunger contributes to the scattering of attention; another source is the proliferation of channels of communication email, instant messaging, SMS, and so on, with the consequent opportunity to chat endlessly about all the new things under the sun. This constant shifting of attention may seem relatively harmless, but it conceals a subtle danger: it can undermine humanity's capacity to focus, and to make wise decisions, on the many difficulties that we face in life. This scattering of attention takes place not only in leisure time, but also during work.

A recent study made by a prestigious university, reflected the experience of educators with the changing skills of young people. It was observed by them that, while their skills at accessing information, particularly in visual form, have increased, there is also evidence that their tolerance for ambiguity and complexity is decreasing. Similarly, a group of prominent psychologists did a sample study with 100 university students, to find about the effects of various types of media on their intelligence and learning ability. At the end of study, they concluded that every digital or new tech medium develops some cognitive skills within us, but at the expense of others. What they found was that our growing use of the internet and other screen-based technologies has led to the widespread and sophisticated development of visual-spatial skills. But those gains go hand in hand with the weakening of our capacity for the kind of deep processing that underpins mindful knowledge acquisition, inductive analysis, critical thinking, imagination, and reflection. In simple words, one can say that we are getting technologically richer but emotionally poorer.

Psychologists and behavioural experts say that our mind is like a parachute and it works best when it's open. It is also like a canvas upon which we can consciously create our life. The mind has tremendous power over our body and it directs everything in our body. According to medical experts, 70 per cent of our diseases can be changed by changing the mind, because they originate from there. So much is its capacity that in its most powerful stage, our mind could even transform the outside negative vibrations and situations into positive ones. So, in order to get over the chronic distractedness, we must give time and priority to meditation. For that, we need to first of all take a pause to check what kind of thoughts are being created in our mind, for these will decide the degree of our happiness and satisfaction. And these will shape the kind of world we are creating for ourself every moment. So, monitor your thoughts to see what you are creating and what is being destroyed; what are the tendencies that are being watered and which are the ones that are being allowed to droop. Take charge to consciously create positive thoughts and destroy the evil ones. Take charge to create well what you would receive a few steps away from now.