For all its clear advantages, one big drawback to the digital age is our exposure to ubiquitous distractions — from our endless need to check stuff on Google, to the perpetual stream of WhatsApp messages, to our impulsive additions to our Amazon baskets. Although it’s too soon to know just what long-term impact living in the digital bubble will have on our brains, recent psychological research suggests that heightened social media usage is linked to deficits in concentration, empathy, and social skills, as well as increases in narcissism and life dissatisfaction. And the more drastic idea that our inability to be offline may have detrimental intellectual and cultural consequences for society is now less unusual than it was once.
4 Careers for People Who Are Easily Distracted
If you’re someone who’s prone to mind-wandering, you may want to pick a job or career that provides the right amount of distractions for your natural temperament. Few career paths will provide you with more variety than entrepreneurship. From coming up with an idea, to finding the resources to turn that idea into action, to interacting with key stakeholders to sell and develop your business, there’s just no time for boredom or routine when you have turned yourself into a business. If you have difficulty switching off, disconnecting, or staying focused on the same topic for extended periods of time, you may also want to consider a career in PR or media production. There’s rarely a dull moment when you have to manage clients from different industries and businesses, be prepared to react to any news eventuality, or learn how to communicate with very different audiences and in a wide range of media. Another career alternative if you want to avoid monotony and routine is consulting. And a final option is journalism, where you need to brand and sell yourself like an entrepreneur, always be open and reactive to the news, and always be exploring new questions. In sum, there’s no need to stress out if you struggle with distraction. A better approach to maximizing your career potential is to identify a role that is a natural fit for your natural dispositions.