Stolen Focus?
How to Steal Back Our Focus and Improve Life
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As the patriarch of our family here in Arizona, I love hosting the growing Jones Clan of Scottsdale to be with my wife and me when we have dinner on many Sunday nights. We're a close-knit family who loves to be together, and I've noticed how hard it can be to compete for our children's attention.
One son, in particular, seems to suffer the most from the topic of this article; stolen focus. For example, when he's with us, he's constantly looking at his smartphone, which means he's not fully present with the rest of the family. I'm not judging him as much as I observe the price he pays when he's with us and not. He's among the billions of us who are less than intentional when protecting the power to focus on one thing.
When We Feel the Suck
I, too, feel the suck of social media, the internet, and Youtube. However, when I stopped drinking booze many years ago, I intentionally nuked the cable TV subscription and tuned out all commercial radio, news, sports, and anything with commercials. I became more prayerful and intentional about meditation, mindful walks, reading quality books, and eating healthy foods. As a result, my life has changed dramatically. I’m less anxious and more present than ever before. I experience serenity even when I witness most hell on earth.
I did this because I wanted to feel better, sleep better, and be less emotionally reactionary to the seeming insanity around us. I know how the Madmen machine works on Madison Avenue as a recovering sales copywriter with a long direct sales and marketing career. In short, for-profit companies have one objective when spending money on copy, ads, and marketing; to hijack our attention and get us to buy more stuff most of us could never fit into our garage or rented storage space.
Our minds constantly battle for attention in an age characterized by relentless connectivity and a ceaseless flood of information. The rise of digital technology has undeniably reshaped how we interact with the world and ourselves. But at what cost?
Modern technology's impact on human focus is profound and perplexing, from the smartphones in our pockets to the numerous social media platforms competing for our time. Authors and…
