Has this ever happened to you? You grab your phone to check the time but you get a message from a friend with a link to a video of a kitten drinking a soda; this makes you think about how a kitten might react to a caffeinated energy drink. A few clicks later and you have your answer; now you start to wonder what is actually in those drinks. A few more clicks and a couple more messages later you have forgotten why you pulled your phone out in the rst place.

Mindfulness seems directly at odds with the lifestyle of most young people today. Our digital connections mean we live every moment with limitless opportunities for distraction. Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, argues that we should be aware that constantly being online is eroding our ability to pay attention and build memories.

Do you think overuse of smartphones and the internet is undermining our ability to think deeply?

What makes you say that?