I just found that, like everyone who’s sort of in the modern age, that I’ve had moments where I just felt completely distracted by various devices around my house, finding it hard to be engaged in something like a book…But the things I found interesting about working on this book was that engaging in these activities, something like drawing, I found that it really required the entirety of my attention to just, there was so much visual information to absorb once you really started looking for it that I had no time for anything else and that hours would pass and…I would look up and go, “Wow, where did the time just go?” And again, it’s hard to describe. On how learning a new skill might help you become more engaged when you need it most:

Highlights from this week’s episode From the Tom Vanderbilt interview: Listen to The Upgrade above or find us in all the usual places podcasts are served, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify and iHeartRadio. Tom is the best-selling author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us), and You May Also Like: Taste in an Age of Endless Choice, and his latest book is Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning.

Listen to hear Tom lay out the reasons why we should continue pursuing new skills and hobbies, including the cognitive benefits that come from doing so, and what it can mean for your overall engagement with the world. When is the last time you tried something new? This week, we’re talking about why we lose that lust for learning past a certain age and what we can do to reignite it, with help from journalist Tom Vanderbilt.

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