Distraction Experiment Reflection Assignment – In Pensées, Pascal argues that human beings continually distract themselves because without these distractions, they become unhappy, bored, and anxious.

Distraction Experiment Reflection: In Pensées, Pascal argues that human beings
continually distract themselves because without these distractions, they become unhappy,
bored, and anxious. But, we never learn our true nature when we do this. So, for a 24
hour period you are to stop distracting yourself in order to think about your true nature:
do not watch TV/movies, do not listen to music, do not use social media, do not use your
phone other than what his necessary (trust me, checking Facebook, Snapchat, X, TikTok,
etc., is NOT necessary…), do not use your laptop other than what is necessary, do not go
to the bar/club, do not hang out with people, do not engage in sports (a walk or run may
or may not distract you from your life – you need to be the judge of that), etc. In your
‘undistracted time’, take note of your thoughts and feelings; and, take note of your
thoughts and feelings as you return to your normal life. Write a six (6) page typed paper.
Three (3) pages are to be a critically engaged response to Pascal’s writing on
diversions/distractions, supporting your writing with quotes from the text; three (3) pages
are to be a personal reflection (yes, you should use “I”) on your experience. The only text
you should use for this paper is Pensées; no title page or bibliography are needed. I, of
course, have no way of knowing if you are lying – saying that you performed the
assignment but did not – or not, only you do. So, the critical analysis portion of the paper
is in some ways written for me – to show me that you know how to read, comprehend,
critically analyse, and write – whereas the second portion of the paper, and the
assignment as a whole, is for you – I want you to actually do philosophy. I want you to do this assignment for the sake of actually practically learning about philosophy, but also
for the experience of actually learning about yourself, rather than just theories about some
ideal notion of a ‘self’.