Attention Deficit Generation

The internet is a gigantic, it encompasses a large fraction of our lives, especially in the 21th century. Like every technology that has come along, the net has changed us in ways, we would have never imagined. But it does come with a large baggage of pros and cons, and unfortunately, attention deficiency is one of them.

Its not the internet who is at fault, it's us. Humans designed and made it, and we should blame ourselves for our own mistakes. There is a widespread 'disease' or 'change' in us, however may you'd like to define it. We are losing the ability to concentrate on reading text, read a book at lenght, or to listen at music at a stretch, or to focus on work (doesn't imply for everyone). Well, I figured out, that the 'instant' lifestyle we're perusing: instant messaging, instant search, instant replies, instant publication, etc, is changing us in subtle ways. We are unable to simply focus.

Inspirational ho-hum

A few days ago, I read an incredible blog post by Mark Mason (Here you go) about how your attention will be the skill in demand when you'll be at your working age. And the ability to catch one's attention is a key economic opportunity for the commercial and social world. Example? Magazine publication companies have a "attract time" of less than a second, and it can all make the difference between a sky high or a rock bottom sales. Of course it depends on quality on the content, but it need to grab your eyeballs before you can consider reading and purchasing. The attention span of humans, two generations ago were longer than ours, and the next generation has even a shorter one. The ones to survive and excel in this kamikaze (of attention and work efficiency), one should learn the art of finishing and focus on a task, not multitask around and keep everything in half eaten and unfinished.


Attention deficiency and procrastination go hand-in-hand. When out attention gets diluted (Nazi cats, llamas, memes from philosophy 'Ice floats on it's own blood' to 'ERMAHGARD', attention seeking articles with headings in capslocks "HOW A PIG ENTERED A HIGH SECURITY PRISON AND WALKED AWAY SCOTT FREE"), we lose the ability to fix and and work quickly. And the importance of working quickly (Note: working quickly shouldn't be confused with rash work). It all subconsciously to "What do we desire to do?", Do we desire to complete our work or do we desire to delay and enjoy prematurely, freaking out in the last moment? In terms of investment, short term investments in time (read: procrastination) are bullshit when it comes to the long term benefits of "Get it done completely". It may seem harder, because most humans have a tendency to focus on the result, rather than the process.



It may not be apt in every situation, but the "Shut up while you calculate" may be modified to "Shut whining and just do it". Spending will power to keep yourself concentrated is harder than just ignore stupid and attention seeking objects/articles/adverts/people. Unless you constrict your attention and learn what matters and what doesn't, you'll end up with piled work, shit on your social network and a mountain of work left to be done. Get over and enjoy shit, instead of sacrificing shit for enjoyment.