TED Talks · How to slow down

Running

Let's start with a number, 30. That's about how many seconds the average museum visitor spends looking at a work of art.

Level: A2 · 55 sentences

Transcript

  1. Let's start with a number, 30.
  2. That's about how many seconds the average museum visitor spends looking at a work of art.
  3. The Mona Lisa, Picasso's Guernica,
  4. a fresco in the Sistine Chapel, a self-portrait by Frida Kahlo.
  5. We shoot them a quick glance, maybe take a photo,
  6. and then we're rushing off to bag the next masterpiece.
  7. Think about that for a moment.
  8. 30 seconds for a work of art that transcends the ages.
  9. Why the rush?
  10. This is the right question to be asking at the start of this course,
  11. because the first step to slowing down is understanding how the world got so fast in the first place.
  12. Where does all of our impatience come from?
  13. What are the drivers of our roadrunner culture?
  14. I think several things are at play here.
  15. For one, The modern workplace pushes us to hustle,
  16. to burn the midnight oil, to dine al desco.
  17. We often have little choice but to toil harder, faster, longer.
  18. At the same time, new technologies permit us to do everything more quickly,
  19. which then conditions us to expect everything to happen at the speed of software.
  20. Modern consumer culture plays a part too.
  21. The world is now a vast buffet of things to do, collect,
  22. consume, experience, and we feel compelled to have it all.
  23. The trouble is that having it all means rushing it all.
  24. Sure, you want to see the Mona Lisa,
  25. but then there are 35,000 other works of art in the Louvre calling for your attention.
  26. All of a sudden, 30 seconds per work starts to seem,
  27. well, a little slow and not in a good way.
  28. It's true that speed is fun, sexy, beguiling.
  29. It delivers a delicious, even addictive jolt of adrenaline.
  30. Why else do so many of us bungee jump off bridges or ride hair-raising roller coasters?
  31. Even just watching Tom Cruise hit Mach 10 in Top Gun is enough to get our blood pumping.
  32. But when you live in fast forward, you pay a price.
  33. Fast U is less healthy.
  34. because rushing around without enough rest is a one-way ticket to emotional,
  35. mental, and physical burnout.
  36. Fast U is less creative because the richer,
  37. more creative mode of thought that psychologists call slow thinking only kicks in,
  38. surprise, surprise, when you slow down.
  39. Fast U is miserable because studies show that being in the moment boosts pleasure and emotional well-being.
  40. Fast U is more lonely because relationships thrive on two things that roadrunner living takes away from us,
  41. time and attention, which points up a final, deeper reason behind all this rushing.
  42. For many of us, speed and busyness are tools of denial,
  43. ways to avoid the big questions in our lives, like, who am I?
  44. What is my purpose here?
  45. Am I living the right life for me?
  46. Grappling with such questions is hard, even scary.
  47. It's easier to fill your head with distraction, with to-do lists that never end.
  48. In a 2014 study, people were asked to do nothing for between six and 15 minutes.
  49. In other words, to spend time alone with their thoughts.
  50. Most found it hard.
  51. When given the option,
  52. almost half found it so hard that they chose to self-administer electric shocks rather than just sit and think.
  53. This story begs the question, if we are living in fast-forward,
  54. are we running towards something?
  55. Or are we really just running away from ourselves?