Short Attention Span is a Myth

Source: Pexels

So I recently encountered some folks who were bent on a philosophy. A philosophy supposedly based in scientific experimentation.

These folks believed that the advances in technology and the social media of this era is gradually eroding the attention span of people.

Some sited studies that seemed to show how people could no longer focus for more than 10 secs at once.
How people got sucked in different directions by differing thoughts and opinions every 10 secs.

I immediately revolted. I clearly stated that the issue of attention span was a no -brainer.

You don't need to conduct experiments to find out if people were dwindling in their ability to focus.

When you sit in front a screen watching your favourite TV series, does your attention span dwindle after 10secs?

When you are playing your favorite mobile game, say... Splinterlands, does your attention span shift a thousand times in 100mins?

I don't think so. I think you are as concentrated as you want to be. Sometimes even more than you want to be.

I think where we need to focus our attention is in the creation of content that is not only emotional but appealing to the mind.

Once that happens, it is easy to keep focus on something for a long as we want to.

Here is how I try to focus...

I know that focus is like a muscle that needs to be trained for different areas.

Most times we spend time on social media or playing games because they have been specially adapted to interrupt neural patterns in our brains so we can quickly learn to enjoy them.

The more of social media content we consume, the more focused we are on consuming content from social media or in playing a game, or watching a movie. It doesn't matter what the activity is.

Some people are addicted to working out. They are extremely fit, yet they cannot get themselves to moderate their workouts, they are always pushing themselves.

I guess what I am trying to say is, interest is learned not congenital...

And with interest comes focus. The level of interest in a particular venture is what determines how much focus/attention a person gives to that venture.

So, your attention span may be short regarding a particular venture, it is because you are simply uninterested in it.

So to reiterate...
Short attention span is a myth. I think what we should be focused on is interest.

Because strong interest correlates with long attention span.

So I try to get myself to focus on something by learning all I can about that thing.

By learning about it, I am forcing myself to develop interest in it. With time, it becomes easier to focus on it.

Right now, writing has been something that I have been forcing myself to learn for a while now. I am getting a lot more interested in it, and these days I can spend hours on end writing.

So once again...

Throw that trash away... You don't have a short attention span.

If you disagree, I would love your thoughts in the comments.

PS.

I have been absent from hive lately because my phone was stolen. So it's been quite a struggle keeping up with posting. But I think I am back... And I am back for good.