Even without retreating to the desert, we can train our wandering minds with ancient monastic wisdom. “The question of focus,” argues Benedictine historian Columba Stewart, “is the single most ...

Each day we face a massive challenge; how to stay focused in a world designed to distract us. We are bombarded with the promise of happiness from a shiny new object and the threat of non-stop negative ...

Researchers at MIT’s Picower Institute found that rotating waves of brain activity help restore focus after distractions. In animal tests, these rotations predicted performance: full rotations meant ...

You’re reading Open Questions, Joshua Rothman’s weekly column exploring what it means to be human. I like gadgets, and so, at times, my digital detox has verged on technophilic decadence. A few months ...