I’ll keep this short.
In 2004 the average worker spent an average of two and a half minutes on each task. By 2012 the average time spent was one minute and fifteen seconds.
So:
Workers are getting faster
or
There are more distractions
or
More is getting done
or
Less is getting done well
The note about less time focusing was in a news article that offered some tips on how to stretch our ability to pay attention, to sustain focus. The article is titled, “How to Focus Like it’s 1990.” Curious that there are ways now in which we can be nostalgic for 1990. Has your attention span shortened? Did you make it this far to be asked the question? The tips in the article were to understand what distracts you, to take a break from tech, and to read at length something written on paper.
Even though I read quite a lot, I have found that I am more easily distracted than I used to be. Most of this is tech related. I will reach for my phone for apparently no reason and have a positive feeling if, when I do reach for my phone, I can think of some apparently useful reason why I did so. Sometimes when I reach for my phone, with a reason in mind, I quickly forget that reason after being distracted by some alert or after opening app unrelated to my original intent.
One of the oft repeated concepts of Evangelically Departed is “Attention taken to the highest degree is the same thing as prayer. It presupposes faith and love.” This is a quote from Jewish mystic Simone Weil. We’ve been saying it for years, even as the ability to pay attention has declined. There can be a feeling of angst about all of this. It can be so frustrating.
Advertising and marketing and tech all seem to vie for our attention. It can seem that the idea is that our attention is scarce. When we confront the reality that we struggle with attention span, we can be driven to more angst, which results in less focus.
Ivan Illich outlined the concept of the “assumption of scarcity.” In the context of education, he argued that learning often takes place under the assumption that education itself was scarce. It was the acquisition of knowledge for a relative few.
This assumption of scarcity sets a way of understanding beyond education. In some religious ways of seeing, salvation is scarce. In global politics and international relations, security is scarce. Thinking this way sets up a battle. We have to defeat others in order to acquire that which is scarce. In regards to attention, the battle language prevails. Advertisers and tech companies “compete” for our attention.
This is where thinking about focus and attention span moves me to prayer.
I don’t want to respond to the reality that my attention span is shorter by entering a battle. I don’t know what it looks like, really, but I want to find the way to address this concern within a frame of abundance, not scarcity.
The advice on how to focus can help, but I also go back to Simone Weil’s observation as an invitation.
Dear God;
What does it mean to pay attention? How can I pay attention to you? Are distraction and attention always in opposition? If I “fix my eyes” on the author and perfecter of faith will I see more of everything?
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/jan/02/attention-span-focus-screens-apps-smartphones-social-media?CMP=share_btn_link
You might find this an interesting read. Pertinent to where our next genration is going. (Sadly.) Chatted aout this over lunch with a couple of friends. One said her granddaughter lives in Inuvik. At the age of 5 she knows how to fillet a fish. The other friend says her two grandkids in Victoria lock themselves up in their rooms and are on their devices. They wouldn't know how to boil water.
I'm not a parent but I would only allow my kids on their devices 'in my company' for a limited time each day. I wouldn't show them how to fillet a fish but I'd put them to work in a kitchen and a garden.
In my humble opinion, parents have to take back some control. I think many of them have gotten sloppy about letting the kiddos use technology because it keeps the parents from having to do their own babysitting and teaching. When I see a young child with their own iPad, I cringe. This is not how to teach people to focus.