Even the book on Attention Span could not keep mine.
Just keep skimming, just keep skimming. I thought to myself as I paced through my open plan living room and dining room while reading Attention Span by Gloria Mark. You need 1735 steps anyways, so you might as well get through this chapter…or at least to the next subheading of the book. God, I was bored.
It’s not like the content wasn’t useful to me. I bought it as part of the research for my book. I had avidly read four other books in the same space within the past few weeks (Solving the Procrastination Puzzle by Timothy A. Pychyl, Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg, Good Habits, Bad Habits, by Wendy Wood and Burnout by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski). But this book could not bring it together. The author’s inserts of personal anecdotes felt performative instead of authentic and the research presented was very dry and disconnected.
To be fair, I think I did get some valuable information out of it… something about playing mobile games makes your work ethic similar to Maya Angelou because it is a brain break and she gave herself brain breaks by playing solitaire with a deck of cards in a hotel room. Don’t quote me - I’m not even sure if it was Maya Angelou. All I know is that I am now addicted to playing Jewel Coloring and I’ve never been more creative in my life.
I forgot that I even read this book. I only remembered when I checked my activity log. It took me weeks to get through it. As soon as I finished it, I completed one excellent physical book, and two lovely audiobooks, listening at 2x speed. That’s slower than the 3x speed I apply to most of my podcasts. See? My attention span is not the problem.
Is attention span even a real issue? Or do the powers that be complain about it because now things must level up their interesting factor to keep your attention? So many Hollywood types whine about the second screen problem, where audience members are too busy staring at their phones while the TV is on so they don’t pay attention. Hey, I do that too – except when the show is good. If I’m binging The Pitt, I am fully engaged. For most of the first season of 3% I was all in. Even though the writing quality is deteriorating, I still am engaged because I don’t know enough Portuguese to listen without the subtitles.
Attention is valuable. That value is finally getting the recognition it deserves. The burden of engagement is on the content, not on you. I for one am not going to waste my attention on boring, self-indulgent crap… unless the actors are hot.
What has been keeping your attention? I’d love to hear about it.
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