Category: Technology

We’ve all been there. Putting off an assignment, thinking we have all the time in the world. And then when we finally sit down to write a paper, obviously at the last minute, we can’t get away from all the techno distractions!

From Facebook and youtube, Twitter to Instagram, distractions are everywhere. So what’s a Deacon to do? In a recent presentation to Johnson Hall, Writing Center Director Ryan Shirey shared some great strategies for avoiding technology distraction while you work.

Rescue Time runs in the background on your computer and tracks the time you spend on various things to help give you accurate picture of what exactly you’re doing online while you should be writing. 

StayFocused and LeechBlock can help limit your possible distractions by selectively blocking your favorite time-such websites for set periods of time.

Have you found ways to limit distraction while you’re working? Share with us on our Facebook page. 

We recently ran across an essay by Tom Chatfield called “I type, therefore I am.” Chatfield kicks things off by asking the question, “More human beings can write and type their every thought than ever before. Something to celebrate or deplore?” That got us thinking. It seems like everyone has a blog these days, and a website, and of course, a Facebook page. This massive sharing that has come with new technologies has opened up the world of writing, but to what end?

What was once seen as an activity of the elite, has now come to the masses: “In the past few decades, more than six billion mobile phones and two billion internet-connected computers have come into the world. As a result of this, for the first time ever we live not only in an era of mass literacy, but also — thanks to the act of typing onto screens ­— in one of mass participation in written culture.” 

So what do you think? Share with us on our Facebook page.