When The Matrix hit theatres back in 1999, it seemed like pure science fiction. A world where human brains and computers could directly interact? Impossible. But fast forward to today and the idea is reality. In fact, you could soon be able to control your thermostat or play a computer game just by thinking about it.

There’s one big problem though. Now that we have the collective attention span of a squirrel, how can we focus long enough to control our tech with our thoughts? 

The concept of a brain-computer interface, or BCI, is straightforward. Every one of your actions, thoughts, and sensations come from the bioelectricity created by your neurons (brain cells). Besides speeding around inside your brain and body, this bioelectricity can also be picked up by sensors and translated into commands for an external device.

Those sensors might be placed outside your head, like a bunch of electrodes inside a cap. Or they might be internal, such as a tiny chip implanted under the scalp or directly into the brain. Either way, a BCI can be summed up as “a system that enables a person to use their brain signals to control an external device.”

So far, the main focus on BCIs has been in healthcare—things like an individual learning to control a prosthetic limb, or a patient with paralysis expressing themselves through a voice application.

Commercial uses aren’t far behind, of course, and some researchers have already envisioned the day when we can send an email, play a video game, or even start our coffee maker simply by thinking about it.

But there’s a huge contradiction standing in the way of that grand tech dream.

On the one hand, learning to control your thoughts for even the simplest task, like moving a cursor, would take hours of practice and the ability for sustained focus.

On the other hand, our modern digital world has conditioned us to a barrage of constant interruptions—with the average digital distraction coming at us every 47 seconds. If you’ve ever tried to meditate for more than two seconds, you know how hard it is to focus on anything that long before other random thoughts come rushing in to distract you.

So, who will be most likely to have that ability to focus, to control a device with their thoughts? The folks who regularly spend more time away from a screen than in front of it. The ones who engage in the types of activity that foster concentration and attention to detail.

People who read entire novels, or who spend hours on analog hobbies like woodworking or jigsaw puzzles. In short, the people who are probably least likely to be interested in consumer BCIs at all.

Hopefully, The Matrix will remain nothing more than an impossible sci-fi fiction. But as we get closer to the reality of brain-computer interfaces for everyday tasks, there’s a simple fact we can’t ignore. If we want to thrive in that futuristic world, it might be time to put down our phones and focus on a book.

Image created in Dream Studio