WATERVILLE, Maine _ Colby College commencement speaker Arianna Huffington, who recently released a book about sleep, chose to speak on a topic with which many college students are already familiar: sleep deprivation and the attitudes that make it so prevalent.
"You snooze you lose. I'll sleep when I'm dead. And that goes hand in hand with how we glamorize burnout." Huffington, a media entrepreneur, author, and self described sleep evangelist, told the Colby graduating class on Sunday. "I'm slammed is a way of saying I'm important and I'm in so much demand."
Huffington counseled graduates to resist a culture that glorifies burnout, and which stretches the limits of their time and attention.
"The grab for your attention is the new gold rush." Huffington said, urging students to remember to unplug from their mobile devices. "There has to be part of our attention that is not available to be constantly captured and colonized by social media, by text, by email. We need to reclaim part of our lives and to nurture the idea of our attention as something sacred that needs to be safeguarded and protected."
It was the 195th commencement for the private liberal arts school. About 500 students from 32 countries received their degrees.
Next weekend, students at Bowdoin College in Brunswick will graduate on Saturday, with students at Bates College in Lewiston graduating on Sunday.
