"there was no alternative to constant, ubiquitous engagement"

What is contemplative computing?

Contemplative computing may sound like an oxymoron, but it's really quite simple. It's about how to use information technologies and social media so they're not endlessly distracting and demanding, but instead help us be more mindful, focused and creative.

My book on contemplative computing, The Distraction Addiction, will be published by Little, Brown and Co. in August 2013. In the meantime, this 2011 talk is a good introduction to the project and its big ideas.

During a panel I moderated with well-known blogger and tech expert Robert Scoble, he said there was no alternative to constant, ubiquitous engagement and held up a spare battery he carried for his smartphone, so he'd never run out of juice. No time to respond to tweets? Do it while you're walking down the hallway, he said. Plenty of people agree with him.

The dude practices what he preaches, I have to give him that. This is a picture I happened to take of him a few years ago, as he was walking to the Apple Store in downtown Palo Alto, recording a review of the new iPhone with his Nokia N95:

via flickr

Nonetheless, I have to take issue with the idea that there is "no alternative." Free will, dude. And watch the car.

About Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

I write about people, technology, and the worlds they make.

I'm a senior consultant at Strategic Business Insights, a Menlo Park, CA consulting and research firm. I also have two academic appointments: I'm a visitor at the Peace Innovation Lab at Stanford University, and an Associate Fellow at Oxford University's Saïd Business School.

I began thinking seriously about contemplative computing in the winter of 2011 while a Visiting Researcher in the Socio-Digital Systems Group at Microsoft Research, Cambridge.
My book on contemplative computing, The Distraction Addiction, will be published by Little, Brown and Company in 2013. (It will also appear in Dutch, Russian, Spanish, Chinese and Korean in 2013 and 2014.)

My episodically-maintained personal blog is Relevant History; a c.v. of uncertain vintage is available as a PDF. I also have profiles on Linked In, Google Scholar, Academia.edu, and Amazon.

My books

My latest book, and the first book from the contemplative computing project. The Distraction Addiction will appear in summer 2013, published by Little, Brown and Co.. (You can pre-order it through Amazon or IndieBound now, though!)

My first book, Empire and the Sun: Victorian Solar Eclipse Expeditions, was published with Stanford University Press in 2002 (order via Amazon).

My Amazon author page.

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What is contemplative computing?

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