A One-Hour Practice to Overcome Divided Attention
Yes, I know…
I’m a little late to the page today. Truth is, I woke up quite early to cover a sort of prayer shift for my wife at our local chapel. That shift threw me a little off schedule. Thanks for your patience.
The Effects of Divided Attention.
Keep two screens connected to your computer, a third one—your cellphone—on the desk beside your keyboard.
The Left Screen: Work the flowchart, the spreadsheet, the document, but only for a few minutes. Then, switch.
The Right Screen: Monitor the YouTube video, your email, maybe a Netflix Docuseries, but only when the action is hot, which is to say every few minutes. Then, switch.
The Screen on the Desk: Check every ding, every notification, especially those with any social component, but only when the people outside your room ping you, which is nearly constant. Then, switch.
Follow the bouncing ball: left, right, desk; left, right, desk; left, right, ad infinitum. This is the brain in the modern workflow.
We are a people of fragmented attention, constantly context-switching from one thing to the next. (Some studies show most people only spend three minutes of focused attention on a given task before being distracted by some ding, buzz, or ping.) How does all this distraction affect us? Our productivity wanes, and the quality of our work diminishes. (Can there be any doubt?) But this is about more than productivity. In a state of fragmented attention, do we stop long enough pay attention to our inner lives, to note our own creeping anxiety, pain, or despair? Do we stop long enough to take note of the world around us, to feel the wind on our face, to see the children playing int he field, to hear our neighbor’s newest news? Are we cognizant of a world that is infinitely complex, one so big that cannot be summed up in 280 characters?
Life Examined in Practice: Today, go offline for an hour. Turn off all the screens. Go on a walk, maybe with your spouse, neighbor, or friend. Give your full attention to the analog things of life. At the end of the day, reflect on the experience.