Why do I need a cure for being perpetually "unfocused," you might ask? Well.....as it happened, over the the last decade (give or take a decade or two) my ability to stay on task from "starting something" until I reach "finished something." seems to be more and more difficult. In most instances there has to actually be a deadline involved or I tend to wander off course. It actually boils down to "the things that have to be done, GET DONE. The things that are optional, may or may not get done in a timely manner. Those tasks probably require multiple breaks.
It would appear that I am not the only one on the planet that has lost the ability to stay focused. Even beforeI tracked down the article that the acquaintance mentioned, I happened upon a different article in the Kansas City Star written by a free-lance columnist on this very subject.
The columnist, Denise Snodell, said she has noticed her attention span getting noticeably shorter now that one child is away at college and the other is preparing to leave for school. According to her article, the calendar on her fridge that once was jam packed with household hieroglyphics, now more closely resembles a snow field in Nebraska. Her point being that she felt akin to Sandra Bullock in the movie Gravity. She is so untethered now that she isn't participating in constant activities and obligations with her kids, she doesn't know what to do with her extra time.
While often I have heard people blame this lack of focus on the aging process...perhaps it has less to do with our chronological years and has more to do with our unstructured time. Yes, by all means let's blame something other than age.
Thought Number One: Technology Has Changed How We Use Our Time and How We View Our Time
 |
| Anything over 5 minutes is just too long. |
Let's start with speed. No... not the movie Speed (that was a waste of time)...or the drug "speed" (that would alter our perception of time) ...oops sorry...lost focus.....I am talking about the ACTUAL rate of movement.
When I was a mother of younger children, it was B.C. Seriously, do I need to explain that means BEFORE COMPUTERS! Nearly anything you can think of that required action, took longer than it does today. No smart phones, no Internet, and no DVRs. I seems shocking now but we actually had to get up and move if we needed to interact with someone or something.
For me, the first thing that comes to mind that had a huge impact on shifting time, was the microwave oven. Up until about 1976 or so, I cooked our food in a regular oven. Let's say for example, the time committment it would of taken in the mid-1970s to bake a potato. It would have taken an hour for that potato to be done which also allowed me to prepare other things like an entree and dessert. (ah the good ole days, huh hubby?) BUT THEN ...along came my shiny new Amana Radarange. WOW..baked potatoes in 12 minutes...how could they possibly be done already?
That change in speed, changed my perspective on how long I needed to allow to prepare a meal. In theory, instead of needing an hour to make dinner, I didn't need to start preparing anything until 15 minutes before meal time. As you might imagine, the quality of the rest of the meal might of suffered a tad with the new speedy meal prep but hey, progress is progress.
Same goes for that early dial-up Internet connection. In the early 1990's we bought our second computer, a Apple IIe. I thought it was magical. So what if it took awhile to connect? The sheer joy that went with that sound of connecting to the Internet was music to one's ears.
From the awesome beeps and whirrs of signing on you could go to
this in less than 20 minutes.
 |
| downloads took a time commitment |
A minute is still a minute, an hour is still an hour but why is our perception of time so skewed?
 |
| Our perception of time might have to do with our enjoyment of what we are doing. |
Could it be that as our technology sped up, our PERCEPTION of time also changed?
Thought Number Two: The Price of Preoccupation
As our technology freed up some of our time, it also provided a huge opportunity to take all that free time back.
If you are anything like me, you now find yourself saying...fairly often..phrases like
"Where was I?"
"What did I come in here for?"
"Sorry, what did you say?"
"I feel like I am forgetting something."
Or As I was saying... let's go back to the O magazine article. [link] I looked it up online to see what the 5 "no-fail" ways to keep me focused.
It turns out that it is a rather lengthy article so you do have to focus to get through it. The author, Martha Beck, refers to all of us distracted multitaskers as flaky and has 5 suggestions on how to make us less flaky.
Time (ironic, heh?) and space keeps me from giving you her whole thought process but the 5 points of the O Magazines "no fail" plan to resolve our lack of focus:
Come Join Top Sites Tuesday and be #1 on BlogDumps!
The purpose of this Meme is to encourage
Networking between bloggers and to have fun while doing it!
Make sure to visit all the other participants and leave comments
Posts
38 comments:
I refused to be distracted while reading your post. I worked so hard at it that I failed to analyze what you were saying. So now I'm reading it again, unless I'm distracted by something shiny.
Hahaha...I so relate to that. I not only have to read things twice but then I have to make changes on the comments I leave after re-reading them. It's really hard to stay focused in the blogging world.
Distracted before finishing the article about being distracted is like putting off reading that book about procrastination I took out of the library.
the 411 - I bet younger people would not know what that means.
Look squirrel!
Einstein proved that time was relative.
Clean dishes and the end of time - I need to remember the relationship between those two events. thanks
Look squirrel!
yes it's funny and ironic to fail the lesson attempting to correct the reason you failed. I think my last sentence just failed. Your post was longer than most posts I read but it is well written and if the reader takes a beer break in the middle it's no problem.
Yes, I typically try not to make posts this long. I am sure it will put some readers off.
I get distracted a lot, but what needs to get done always seems to get done. I do have many projects going around the farm, but as they aren't top priority I guess I'm flaking out on them for now LOL
Clicks!
--Trina
Hi Cheryl,
"Where was I?"
"What did I come in here for?"
"Sorry, what did you say?"
"I feel like I am forgetting something."
Those are thing I say on a daily basis! I guess I am always distracted LOL I do have the multiple morning alarms thing down to a science though, I even set one purposely across the room so I have to get up and turn it off.
Great thoughts!
Wolf
Maybe we all become like goldfish as we get older and end up with 5 second memories! Now.....what were we talking about.....
Ok I read this post and got distracted with changing a baby's (Summer) nappy and calming another child (Daemon) down and then I decided to go and put a load of washing in the machine and now I am back and what I thought I would write in way of comment is lost..............so all you get is this............
Okay okay, you just know that I just HAD to click that video on dial up. Even though I had that sound memorized for a long time. I got my first PC about 25 years ago , which I know for sure because I have a photo of my WHOLE family of boys sitting in front of that gigantic monitor, staring in amazement. I begged for years to get real internet , not dial up, because with all the people using the computer, no one could ever call us! I so concur with that graph you designed on perception. Of course, we all know it is true, but don't we all metaphorically and actually stomp our feet when a site takes more than a few seconds today? I still recall trying to look at the real estate sites for homes for sale back years ago, you can well imagine how long that took to load up! While I must confess that I am not distracted easily, despite my lads all gone from the house yesterday, ( wait...it was years ago now...my , my), I think it highly insulting to call it being flaky! Cheryl, I am Stunned you did not comment on that last line in the 5 points Remember, fun is the new work. WHAT? Oh, perhaps you just got too distracted being called flaky. I do so LOVE that last drawing of the text messaging. I confess- to my shame- that I use to IM my lads in their downstairs bedrooms to come for dinner rather than yell for them. And yes, I have texted them when they were even close in the house as, just like Crabby Pants, they actually prefer the text. In fact, they consider it ''breaking down' to use their device for its actual purpose- to phone someone. It's become somewhat a family joke when they actually call me. Wait, Maybe that's why the song Call Me Maybe is popular- hey, just call me - maybe? (So, you got an ipad2 too...aren't they nifty, hun...more distractions!)
You mean everyone doesn't reread their comments after writing them? Ah ha, now we see the reason for all those not so nice comments. Right. Right?
First of all, I think it is fucking hilarious that your friend got too distracted to finish the "how to not get distracted" article! This is timely. Today I forgot my phone at home. While I did think, "Oh man, I hope I don't get a flat tire today," it was super nice not to have that leash beeping at me all day. Didn't feel compelled to check email when I finished my meeting. Didn't feel compelled to text people back. Because I could not. Yippee!
On the other hand, our volunteer was laughing at me. She is my parents age and said, "You kids! You don't remember when we actually had to track down a pay phone, or just wait and talk to someone in person."
So I get home to about 12 text messages, which was fewer than I anticipated.
A few weeks ago a colleague was trying to get a hold of another colleague and I told her he had emailed me saying he had left his phone at home. Her reply: "What kind of dumbass does that?" I guess now I know.
Interesting post. The company I worked for once gave all the executives a test that measured our work-style. It turns out that most of us have a different work-style when we're under the pressure of a deadline than we do normally. I was an analytical, team guy until the deadline got close, then I turned ruthless, get the job done at all costs. Maybe it's your workstyle, too. On time speeding up, my theory is that as we get older, time seems to slip by faster because it becomes a smaller and smaller percentage of the time we've been alive. Anyway, those are my theories.
You mention four things here: age, the affect of technology on our lives, free time, and 'flakiness' as causes for chronic distraction. Since this phenomenon is not age-specific, I've never had kids to keep me focused, and flakiness bears no resemblance to an illness, especially one as complex as addiction, I tend to lean towards over-stimulation as the root of our collective lack of focus. Technology has invaded every aspect of our lives and the constant stimulus it produces is often unbearable. At least for me.
I don't know if I view my time differently because of technology ~ I've always found that time seems to move quickly when I'm doing something I enjoy or requires my undivided attention. Where technology plays a huge role is more in visual and aural overload. The world has gotten very noisy with all our gadget, gizmos, and home and yard maintenance equipment. It doesn't matter what I'm doing or how much I'm enjoying it or need to be focusing on it, I can't think or relax when everything is so loud. I'm visually overstimulated on the internet but also just driving from point A to B because of all the signs, most of which are blinking, rotating, flashing, or have animated characters doing whatever they do. It's hard to block it all out and usually I fail. Everything and everybody is constantly screaming for attention in ways that are far different from what they were 20 or 30 years ago.
One last point about time. Just because we have these nifty tools to communicate quickly doesn't mean that we can get tasks done anymore quickly than we did before we had lightning-fast communications. Sure, I can Google things for quick answers to questions but that doesn't change how fast I can write a check, take out the trash, or write a letter of condolence to a friend. Our husband writes code for computer programs and he'll be the first to tell you that computers, computer programs, and software do not increase our ability or speed in getting things done; they're simply a different tool to use to manage the same tasks we've always needed to perform.
You and I have had this conversation before but I think we sound so much alike. I can really move into high gear when I am working on something important but if I am just doin' my own thing...there may not be any hint of urgency on my part.
Yes, those lines get a real workout around here as well. I will say though that when my alarm goes off I pop right out of bed. Like toast from a toaster. If I didn't there would be a chance I wouldn't get up at all. My husband has been known to hit the snooze button and wait for another alarm. Having an alarm out of reach is a great idea for those that need a second (or third) warning.
Hahah..on some days..even five seconds might be out of my recall.
As much activity as there is in your house, you would have to get distracted. Who wouldn't? There are certainly more distractions when grandchildren are in the mix of things.
I Googled the dial up tone initially just for the nostaglia, but then it occurred to me that maybe some of the young people today wouldn't really be familiar with it. (not that those young people would be reading my blog...but I can dream)
It was probably about 25 years ago that our family got a "first" computer as well. I didn't think to take pictures of the occasion. BUT if I had, we would of all been looking confused. It had DOS operating system (that's redundant...I know) and we never figured out how to do anything but use it as a word processor.
I waiver between being "tunnel visioned" and being "flighty". For example: If I am reading and am engrossed in a book, I am oblivious to the world. Conversely, if the TV is on and I am not very invested in the program, I will wander after snacks, or make a grocery lists, or check my emails...you get the picture.
In regards to spans of time, that tends to be somewhat confusing for me. Some things seem like just yesterday and other things feel like a lifetime ago, but there doesn't seem to be a chronological sense to it. I remember the birth of my now 40 year old with crystal clarity but don't remember things that happened 5 years ago.
I, totally agree with you about the word "flake". I found most of the Martha Beck's article condescending and somewhat insulting. Truly, I would have had a lot more thoughts on this topic, but the post was already way too long for most blog readers. I think that any post over a few paragraphs is taking a chance as far as readers willing to read it. People like to deal in "snippets" of information these days.
I find that hilarious about texting your boys within the house. I haven't done that but I often text my husband when we shop rather than look around the Target or Walmart for him. Isn't our culture just so interesting in terms of how we communicate now?
Yes, I do have an ipad2 but sadly, it is obsolete now. My walking partner is telling me that the ipad air (if I have the name right) makes my ipad2 a piece of obsolete garbage. **sigh** I just can't keep up.
I think you and I just tend to love irony. We have touched on this in some of our conversations before. I, too thought that was hysterical that she couldn't focus on an article to help overcome being distracted.
I all but hyperventilated at the thought of you leaving your phone at home. Seriously, I have turned my car around and gone home when I realized I didn't have a phone with me. That is always my thought as well. This would be the day that my car would decide to pay me back for all the abusive things I have done to it. I am surprised that you found it a bit "freeing". I think I would of been anxious that someone was trying to get in touch with me. (which is really funny as...no one EVER needs to get in touch with me.)
That is funny...what kind of dumbass? I hope that colleague forgot their phone the very next day. I so hope that there is such a thing as karma. I am counting on it.
I have taken those "work style" tests as well. The last one rated me as assertive with an equal measure of conscientiousness. I, too tend to be very analytical. With that being said, I also am very emotional...those two things fight with each other in certain circumstances. There have been more than a few occasion during stressful work projects, that I sobbed (no exaggeration) in my car all the way home.
I have a ton of theories about time and how we view it as we age. There is something about the realization that there are WAY more years having already been lived than one could possibly live into the future that alters perception. Somewhere in the mix, we went to acquiring things to figuring out how to manage our estate so our children could manage acquiring our things.
As to your point..time does seem to now race along where it used to crawl.
I totally agree with your assessment of the current culture of being bombarded with visual and audio over-stimulation. There is a scarcity of quiet and calm these days, so it makes sense that so many of us are distracted.
A couple of points, I think that "hand held" technology has given us a new way of being distracted that wasn't the norm a decade ago. The more gadgets that have become mainstream such as smartphones and tablets has reaches epidemic proportions at least as far as the way people communicate. Those snippets of information that run among us is certainly lessening the quiet time we have with our own thoughts. Now people can be reached instantaneously...all the time. I realize it is within everyone's power to control that but that is kind of the point. They don't limit it.
I, also, agree with your point about "time" in relationship to technology. I think for every instance where the computer made some chore more efficient or in some cases faster. (I can "one-click" my Amazon orders quicker than I can drive to the Target) ..it took an equal amount of time away by adding the ability to play a game, or read some articles, or chat on social media. It has been as much as a time suck as it had been a time management tool.
So our husband is smart, huh? Good to know. I appreciate and respect "smart".
Sadly, even after I re-read and made changes to the comments I leave...I should of re-read them AGAIN and made other changes. I tend to think of better ways of explaining myself 5 minutes after I hit the SEND button. Oh and typos haunt me.
Texting is fine, but when we set up a telegraph system from downstairs to my boys bedrooms, well, that was way more FUN. Educational, too. Ooh, please don't say that about ipad2...I just bought one! Obsolete my eye!
That is coming from a person that just spent money on an ipad air so she has to justify the expense. My ipad2 does everything that I need it to do. I won't be upgrading anytime soon.
Oh God, you've just channeled my inner nerd. I've done a lot of research about this stuff to try to make my time as efficient as possible, and also because my wife has ADHD and just naturally can't focus. Prepare for nerddom in 3, 2, 1...
It actually does have to do with age, but in reverse. You see, a big part of this is also the way things are packaged for us now. Look at cartoons like Spongebob Squarepants, which air 3 10-minute episodes in a 30 minute timeslot, rather than one big 30 minute episode. Studies have shown that this actually does a lot to hinder kids' attention spans, because they come to expect a full story in 10 minutes. So watching a 30 minute show becomes difficult. An hour long show - nearly impossible. Do you remember that whole Baby Einstein thing? It's a series of videos for your baby to help them "learn"? Well, it consisted of a multitude of cutesy animated clips, clips that were sometimes as short as 30 seconds each. And these kids grew up not only to have much shorter attention spans but also have less of a vocabulary than regular kids. It backfired so bad, Baby Einstein issued all of its customers a refund. Long story short, you can't show your kids 30 second clips all day long and then expect them to have any sort of attention span.
For us adults, it's the smartphones. We now have games that we can play 5 minutes at a time. Or pull up your phone, look on Facebook at a few funny pictures, and put it away. 30 second Youtube video? Yes please! Well, it's killing our attention spans. I love my wife to death, but she can't go a single 30 minute TV show without pulling out her phone and browsing Facebook or texting someone. I watch her. I wait for it. (And then I get the invariable, "Wait, what happened?" when she misses something)
To be honest, though, I used to be the exact same. But after I caught myself doing it, I've started treating my phone like a phone. Do I need to call someone? Communicate with someone? No? Then put it the hell down. And as stupid as it sounds, this one thing has done WONDERS for my attention span. (Also, I stopped watching Baby Einstein, which helps...)
My inner nerd could bore your inner nerd to death on this subject. I used to run a corporate training company. I wrote a number of courses on time management and have done more research on the subject of time/productivity than any one person should ever do. I find this subject pretty interesting really. I know that this post was way longer than most people would be willing to read but I could of written it ten times longer and still had things to say.
Yes, every type of information coming our way today from cartoons, to news clips, to human communication is being presented in smaller and smaller segments. The result is that it is teaching people's attention spans to lessen and lessen. Not only are there people like your wife that can't engage with a 30 minute program but those that try, need to have their hand on the remote to pause or fast forward the program. They need a certain amount of control over that 30 minutes to make is palatable.
The hand held devices such as tablets and smart phones are sort of like a worm infiltrating the brain to constantly need to be focusing on snippets of thought. I realize there are clinical reasons for diagnosed cases of ADD or ADHD and I don't want to imply that cell phones are responsible BUT people that had no prior attention disorders are training themselves to exhibit deficits in attention spans because they are creating the habit of being "unfocused" over and over and over. Just as you said...when you made a conscious effort to not use your phone as a constant distraction the behavior decreased.
I, too have noticed my growing inattentiveness but mine is more centered around the television than the phone. I am so used to fast forwarding my way through a program that when I have to watch "real time" TV is makes be a bit jittery. God, if only I could drink....perhaps it would help.
Consider my inner nerd very pleased, and me one of the people who would have read this had it been 10x as long. Also, that's an awesome comic.
As a stay at home writer, I NEED time management, so this is something I've spent a lot of time looking into as well. I admit it as fact - if I don't manage my time with an actual organized schedule I will slack off like nobody's business. "Oh, let me just look at one more funny cat picture. Now one more. Oh, someone sent me a hilarious video. I should probably check Facebook." Then I get nothing done. It's so easy to fall into that habit.
My wife was diagnosed with ADHD long before cell phones even existed. It's just something she has. With that said, her cellphone certainly does not help. And as you mentioned, I found myself exhibiting those same symptoms when I was so attached to my cellphone, tablet, etc, which made no sense because I knew I didn't have that. It was just a short attention span starting to take over, so I nipped it in the bud before it became a real problem.
As for TV, we make it a habit to only watch shows that we are truly going to watch, i.e. not just having TV on mindlessly in the background or watching shows we only half care about. It makes us focus on the story and the plot, and adds to that whole time management thing. No fast forwarding, no skipping around (except commercials). We just watch the show as it is. If we can't sit through the show as a whole, then it's not worth watching and we scratch it from our list. That's helped us both immensely.
You mind if I ask why you can't drink?
And this is exactly why I write short fiction. These days most of us have the attention span of a gnat. Again, LUV the crabby pants drawings. :)
Oh my GOSH did you bring back a memory!!! I remember going to a guy's house before a casual date. He was heating up barbeque and put it in a "microwave oven." WOW! Of course I knew what they were but i didn't know anyone who had one... I was actually fascinated!
That makes me exceedingly happy to think that anyone would read a post of mine that is any longer than this one was. You are a great blogger friend.
I totally relate to your comments about working at home and needing structure. A lot of my jobs have been out of my home office and I am the WORST for wandering away from what I am doing both mentally and physically. Can there ever be enough funny cat pictures on the Internet? I think not.
Yes, I have known a number of people that had issues regarding ADD long before cell phones and DVRs came into play. Now it is confusing because so many people mimic behaviors similar to attention deficit disorders.
I should follow your example as far as TV watching. There are a few shows that I follow intently because I am hooked but so many shows have just become white noise and I FF and RW a ridiculous amount. If ATT Uverse charged per FF...they would really be making out like a bandit with me.
No..I don't mind the question about me not drinking. I have alcohol intolerance. It's not really an allergy but kind of acts like one. My liver can't break down alcohol so I swell up sort of like Violet Beauregard in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. I don't turn blue..more of a sickly green actually. Not pretty and not fun..Plus there is no chocolate involved.
That is how I describe my attention span also. A gnat for sure.
I don't know about you attention span in relationship to your writing but your fiction is always so creative and AWESOME that whatever your reason is ...YAY for that.
Thanks for the kind words. You're the best.
Really it doesn't seem like it is so long ago that microwaves weren't in every house as they seem to be today. When my husband brought one home as a surprise, I spent days reheating food just for the fun of it. It was fascinating technology. Those early ovens were so big and heavy and SUPER EXPENSIVE. We have come a long way in that department.
some people may claim to be the Queen of distractions, but I firmly believe I was the "Greek Goddess of Random Distractions and Straying Off Course to Forget Projects that shall, forever, Remain Unfinished", in some past life. ... GGRDSOCFPRU
- Because I totally had to follow that acronym tangent when it popped into my brain.
-Just a few days ago I had to clarify to my daughter that when I was a kid we had one television (what was a remote?), no microwave, or cell phones. Her response? "OMG! So, like, what did you do all day then? Just sit at Starbucks and play games on your laptop?" ... and the child is actually intelligent. :::clueless:::
Don't know you, but you totally nailed this! I've been trying to get my family to believe that the culture today is the way it is because of what we have done to ourselves. ... just had to mention this comment is "Rockstar" and on the button! - Go you! WOOT!
Jane, it was so fun to see your name pop up here. hahaha...I suspect you and only you could be the real GGRDSOCFPRU. Are there perks to being a goddess in a prior life? There really should be.
I find it comical how young people can't imagine a time before Smartphones and computers. However did we manage to survive it? I don't fault your daughter and I am sure she is a smart girl.... Even after having lived it...It seems like an alternate universe, when I think back to a time that we had "party" line telephones and only black and white TVs. As a baby boomer, I feel like technology went from 0 to 60 in a blink of an eye.
Of course, we have already established my sense of time is totally corrupted.
Quite frankly,
I'm getting fed up with some of this technology. It's gobbling
up every spare minute. We
used to be amazed at people who "multitask". Now,
we're all expected to do ten things at once. But I don't have
trouble staying focused pickles and a facecloth, I just
concentrate.
I am in total agreement. I think the pendulum has swung too far from the side of helping us be more productive to the side of giving us lot's of reasons to screw around. I don't think some people understand that multitasking isn't a good thing if you are doing multiple things that are a waste of your time.
Pickles? and facecloths? My concentration tends to wander so perhaps I need to get some tutorials from you how to improve that.
Post a Comment