There is a finite amount of attention to be paid, much like there is a finite amount of time to spend in life. People far smarter than myself have made this observation before.
One thing that I found less clear is how attention is a scarce resource that has some interesting differences. And what things to watch out for, and how to decide what I choose to pay attention to.
In this way, attention and time are very much alike. It's easy to pay attention to things that are not important, much like it's easy to spend your time on unimportant things.
For example, just like you can squander your time thinking ruminating on old thoughts and situations without learning anything from it, you can find yourself watching videos or reading books that are all fluff and no substance, and leave you no better off in the end.
Attention, then, can be directed in service of specific goals you choose. "Start with the end in mind."
Now we're getting to some areas where attention is unique.
While it's difficult for someone else to decide to spend your time on your behalf - not without some amount of consent from you, in any case - it's not difficult for someone or something to highjack your attention.
YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram - these are all very large organizations who make a living by getting you to be interested in something and spending your time and attention on them.
There are many mechanisms that affect how we pay attention (note that the link describes a more shallow experience - clearly a book can hold your attention without embedded pictures or throwing in a bunch of different fonts and sizes). You can use what you learn about attention on yourself, to make things easier for you, but be on the lookout for these same mechansims being used on you.
Attention is special in that, by definition, what you let into your mind is 'in there' in some form or another, without an easy way to get 'evicted'.
For example, if I spend an afternoon being lazy, that really has little effect on my evening - I can choose to do something quite different.
However, if I spend a bunch of time looking at ads or reading about certain ideas, those ideas will 'nest' in my mind, even if I disagree with them or choose to disregard them. Whether I intended it at the time of viewer or not, I might find myself whistling the tune of an insurance commercial - and that, to be frank, is by far the more innocuous of effects.
Consider your sources, the things you pay attention to, and to what degree you're controlling what you pay attention to vs. beind externally directed.
You really have only some much time and concentration power every day, and if you don't put it to use however you choose, others will do the choosing for you.
Happy attending!
Tags: philosophy