Is distraction an idle threat? 

The word comes with the negative connotations of lost concentration, attention deficit disorder, even cultural degeneration, raising alarms about the future of practices that have shaped human society since the invention of language.

But distraction can also be positive; it can put forward ideas that could never have happened otherwise, under conditions of focus.

This potential for productivity in distraction is what we will be exploring in this class, COLT 211, taking our cue from the words of Argentine writer Julio Cortazar:

“All profound distraction opens certain doors. You have to allow yourself to be distracted when you are unable to concentrate.”

Not all distractions are created equal – or rather, create equally – and some distraction, as we’ll see, can be strategic, intentionally opening certain doors that we wouldn’t see without getting lost.

Rather than think of distraction as derailing your reading, we will learn how to read with distractions, and see that perhaps all reading is distracted reading.

When has distraction turned out to be productive for you?