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Guest Essay

By D. Graham BurnettAlyssa Loh and Peter Schmidt

Mr. Burnett, Ms. Loh and Mr. Schmidt are members of the Friends of Attention coalition and co-editors of its forthcoming book, “Attensity!”

In our anxious age, increasing attention is being directed to our attention, and to the extraordinary and seemingly inescapable forces trying to exploit it. In one recent survey, 75 percent of respondents said they have some kind of attention problem. The psychologist Gloria Mark has documented a precipitous slide over the past two decades in our ability to stay on task in various screen-based activities, findings that buttress what has become a widespread complaint. There must be a thousand and

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