🐰 Down The Rabbit Hole 🕳️

“It is not necessary to conceal anything from a public insensible to contradiction and narcotized by technological diversions.”

~ Neil Postman

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WATCH AS VIDEO

Greetings, dear newsletter subscriber,

This week's newsletter marks a change in format! Moving forward, I will offer a summary of my weekly article here in the newsletter. This will make it easier to get the gist of what I write each week. As always, I will include links where you can listen to the entire article (as a video - always at the top of the newsletter), or read the entire article (on my Substack).

One other bit of housekeeping: in case you did not notice, I have now officially changed my Substack address (from hermanmiddleton.substack.com to gadflyacademy.substack.com). This is not a big issue, but in case you’ve bookmarked it (do people do that anymore?), I thought I’d just mention it(!)

OK…that’s it for housekeeping…

I hope you enjoyed our book study of Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death as much as I did! I always find new and helpful insights when I re-read it.

One of my struggles with developing Gadfly Academy has been trying to figure out what is the most important topic to address next. I have spent the past few months soul-searching, speaking with friends, and seeking an answer to this question. There are more than a lifetime of topics, issues, and concerns to address…which one to tackle next?

As my mother likes to ask: “how long is a piece of string?” (that is…there is no “right” answer(!)), but one topic that I continue to return to is that of attention. At the end of the day, near the heart of the problem of our relationship with technology is the problem of attention. There are certainly other problems (even deeper problems!) that manifest in our thorny relationship with technology, but the problem of attention is perhaps the issue that is most immediate, and that can be most directly addressed.

In the weeks to come, I plan to focus my attention(!) on the question of attention. As always, I’m very glad to have you along for this journey!

When Facebook launched in 2004 and the iPhone arrived in 2007, most of us had no idea how radically these tools would reshape our minds and culture. Nearly twenty years later, the research is clear: our attention is in trouble.

A growing body of studies now shows what many of us already know intuitively: constant notifications, media multitasking, and endless scrolling are eroding our ability to focus, learn, and even care for our own well-being.

👉 In my latest post, "Why Your Brain Can't Focus Anymore (According to Science)," I walk through some of the most important recent research on our growing Attention Crisis—and why this slow-burning issue deserves urgent action.

Read the full post here →

Next week, we'll look at why attention isn’t just another modern problem—but the very fire we need to fight if we want to live fully human lives.

In the meantime, how do you feel about the topic of attention? Is it something that you have thought about? Does it concern you? Are there aspects of it that you would like me to look at more closely?

Please let me know your thoughts by either responding to this email, or commenting on the blog!

Also…as always, please share with a friend who you think might find this work of interest, have a great weekend, and we'll see you again next week!

Warmly,

Herman

PS: Do you know of someone who might be interested in these emails? If so, please forward this email on to them!