We're living in a time when a seemingly endless number of devices and apps are demanding our attention, while claiming to make our lives better and easier. However, this overpowering presence of technology actually makes it harder than ever to achieve a healthy balance of connectivity and disconnection -- certainly harder than it was a generation ago.
"There are no contemplative times that are built into our day like they used to be," Wisdom 2.0 conference founder Soren Gordhamer told Anderson Cooper in a mindfulness-themed "60 Minutes" broadcast on Sunday night. "When I was a kid, my dad came home at 5, and I don't remember him getting work calls or checking his emails -- we didn't have email. There were naturally built-in contemplative moments. That doesn't exist anymore."
During this segment of the show, Cooper led a discussion with Gordhamer, Twitter manager Jana Friedman, University of Massachusetts neuroscientists Jean King and Carl Fulwiler, and Wisdom Labs founder Rich Fernandez about the challenges of making time for pauses and meditative moments in our technology-saturated lives.
"What people are realizing is that constant connectivity is great for part of the day, but if you do it your entire day, you're more stressed, you can't sleep, you're less present with your kids," said Gordhamer. "They're hungry for some way to say, 'I need time for myself and I need time for some kind of contemplative space in my day.'"
The broadcast also featured a crew of prominent mindfulness figures, including founder of mindfulness-based stress reduction Jon Kabat-Zinn, congressman Tim Ryan, engineer and mindfulness guru Chade-Meng Tan, Google vice president Karen May, and psychiatrist and neuroscientist Judson Brewer, M.D., from the University of Massachusetts.
Watch the clip from "60 Minutes" above (via CBS).
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