The attention

There are sometimes that I wonder if the greatest thing we are losing is not just creativity and imagination but also patience and attention.

I don't remember the last time I sat doing nothing for 5 mins. I am always doing something like doing my work or watching a movie or most of the time watching reels and scrolling through other social media. I can feel my nervous system always on edge and being on alert. That's why I cannot sit still for more than a minute. My mind is going to all the places and nowhere at the same time. We have the most source of information than any generation and yet sitting through a 10 mins podavst without looking at the near thumbnails is impossible. I don't remember the last time I have not seen a lecture at the normal speed instead of watching at 2x. Now I may say I watched it like that because I was running out of time to complete my syllabus but other videos too. A normal video about a product or a troll video or a new channel reporting something. I cannot watch a video or a 30 second reel at the normal speed when I have started to watch it at 2x speed.

Now I read a lot of stories in online. A lot of fanfiction and all but I don't do it slowly and feeling the atmosphere of the scene and I am not fully focusing on the thing right in front of my eyes. The scary part is that it does not feel unusual anymore. We have been accustomed to constant simulation that silence almost feels uncomfortable. Waiting in a queue? Check your phone. Eating alone? Play a video. Walking somewhere? Listen a podcast. Standing in a elevator for twenty seconds? Watch a reel at 2x. Every empty momentsm has become something we wish to full as though boredom is an enemy instead of a doorway.

Social media did not create the problem but it definitely perfected it. Every swipe promises something newer and funnier and shocking than the last. Our brains are expecting new things every few seconds. Slowing without realising we have started to treat our reality the same way. If a movie does not captivate us immediately we call it boring. If a book states slowly we put it down. If learning something becomes difficult we abondon it.

What worries me is that we are not just distracted, we are not losing to ability to focus deeply. Great art and meaningful relationship and scientific discoveries and personal growth all required sustained attention. They will require to stay with discomfort and tk resist the urge to get immediate gratification and to give something out full presence. A distracted mund may know many things but it cannot grasp something deeply.

I hope that we do not lose the ability to simply sit with a thought. Attention is more than a habit. It is the currency of our life.