David Nicholls Quotes

If I'm not in the dead heat of working on something, I can end up spending tons and tons of time on the Web, and I hate it. I feel the same shame I did in grad school when I was pretty much addicted to reruns of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation'. I wish someone would make the Web just go away. Just remove it from the earth.

Almost every time I go to the ocean, I think about throwing my phone right into it. Sometimes, you pull that thing out of your pocket, you look at it, and you're like, 'What was I just going to do with this? Was I going to take a note? Was I going to check my email? Was I going to take a picture?'

Nowadays we have so many things that take our attention - phones, Internet - and perhaps we need to disconnect from those and focus on the immediate world around us and the people that are actually present.

Sometimes my husband has to literally pull me away from the computer.

My mind is constantly going. For me to completely relax, I gotta get rid of my cell phone.

There are plenty of reasons to put our cellphones down now and then, not least the fact that incessantly checking them takes us out of the present moment and disrupts family dinners around the globe.

I'm always interested in whatever I can do to not look at my phone.

I don't focus well angry.

I think I'm generally more inspired when I'm away from technology. Whether that is on a beach somewhere or just in your room with your phones and screens shut off, I think that quietness is often very inspiring.

If - when someone asks me a question, if I could just focus on not joking, I think that would be great, because for some reason, I can't.

Sometimes, a new toy, a new technology, will focus you. The world is always trying to draw you out, so you always have to remember to go in.

Always staying focused is something that's been very tough for me. I'm still working on it.

I am not a big technology person. I don't go on the Internet really much at all. Drawing is like a zen thing; it's private, which in this day and age is harder to come by.

Sometimes you have to disconnect to stay connected. Remember the old days when you had eye contact during a conversation? When everyone wasn't looking down at a device in their hands? We've become so focused on that tiny screen that we forget the big picture, the people right in front of us.

It's amazing how confused and distracted and misdirected so many people are.

I used to play video games all the time, but now I don't because I don't have an attention span.

I feel like saying we need to all calm down a little. Let's take the time to breathe. I have no intention of allowing myself be distracted.

I sometimes got distracted easily and allowed my mind to wander when I needed to be focused. It's quite subtle, really, and just being aware of it helps.

I try to stay focused on my life and do try not to be brought into the Hollywood fantasy.

I think we live in delusional times, whether it's with a great ability to totally distract ourselves with technology, or with speed and the velocity of life.

The moment of drifting into thought has been so clipped by modern technology. Our lives are filled with distraction with smartphones and all the rest. People are so locked into not being present.

I think I'm really good at forgetting about golf when I'm off the golf course.

I've trained all my life not to be distracted by distractions.

When I'm doing work online or on the computer, it's one thing. When I want to read, I want to go elsewhere, and I want to be away from the screen.

I won't deny that I have a far more productive writing life without the Internet, mostly because I rekindle my ability to concentrate on one thing for a period of longer than three minutes. My curiosity is channeled inward rather than Internet-ward.