What I Learned Today: Thinking

From a recent lecture at West Point given by William Deresiewicz via my friend Sally:


"Multitasking, in short, is not only not thinking, it impairs your ability to think. Thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to develop an idea about it. Not learning other people’s ideas, or memorizing a body of information, however much those may sometimes be useful. Developing your own ideas. In short, thinking for yourself. You simply cannot do that in bursts of 20 seconds at a time, constantly interrupted by Facebook messages or Twitter tweets, or fiddling with your iPod, or watching something on YouTube."


Seems like I've got something to say in class this coming week about the busy lives of students and how for brief moment in time, they now have the chance to slow down and think.  I know they don't think they have the time, but I will challenge them just the same.  Just as I challenge myself.