Attention Span

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I notice that some people read these for upwards of 10 seconds. This is brain retardation caused by over-stimulation. The brain is wired...oh! There you go! I lost one. And another! You see, off to the next image. The brain of many now has this pattern of constantly moving from one image to the next, to the next, to the next. It isn't even conscious. You go online so that your brain can get its fix, from this email to that to this site to the next image to the next train of info, flipping the pages before its content is fully taken in. (many will leave before this next paragraph)

I suggest: conscious use of the internet. (understanding that required thinking, another 3 gone) Pick and choose what you read and look at. Let your will determine it, not uncontrolled habits of the brain, the infectious need for "new" information every instant. It will not only bring depth into our lives, but help us to discover it's depths. Probably most applicable in relationships. How can we have really functional conversations and relationships if we can only give a tiny bit of our attention to our partner? How can we really hear and understand them when our mind is constantly jumping around to the next and next thing? We can't. We can hope for, at best, very superficial relationships where we only relate with vague concepts of others, not their real personage at all. To see the reality of a person requires sustained attention to their presence/existence. On another note, think of what kind of sex results from this total lack of attention. Rushing, rushing, rushing, driven by impulses, and it's over in a heartbeat, without long-lived pleasure or depth of connection.

In the end, consciousness is far more beneficial than living through our ingrained habits alone. Take control of your mind, and don't be subject to this potential negative by-product of the abundance of information. Use it consciously and intentionally. And if you made it this far: you aren't even reading my blogs if you just glance at each one for 10 seconds. It's your brain scooting around on it's own, stimulated forward by words and pictures that require brief sensation alone and no cognition, while you are sleeping in the background of your existence. Reign in your mind as a rider reigns in his horses. Awaken from your slumber in the back carriage. The horses are heading over a cliff. Even if they stop before they reach its edge, their momentum will fling you right over.

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Comments

[Susan]

Attention Span
Good point George. I find it harder and harder to read because my eyes are just touching a word and then flying over to another as quickly as I can recognize the first word read. It's a shame and I know what's going on. I deliberately have to refocus - again and again. It's as incredible as leaving out all vowels in writing so I can write/txt faster.

[will sanders]

Thanks for this George
They did a study with rats, and I know this only anecdotally, but in the study the rat is given a treat in a separate place from the cage, somewhere away that requires the rat to do some task to make the door open and then to stick it's little head in to get the treat. The treat always came at different times and freqeuncies throughout the day, which meant the rat spent it's whole life checking this little compartment next to it's cage all day everyday over and over. There was a measurable jump in endorphins when the treat came, just like when we get an important email. And just like the rat we don't know when the email is coming so we find ourselves at work and at home thinking, 'hmmm, I wonder if I got an email'. The brief 'I got an email' rush has made us helpless slaves to the cycle just like the poor rat. It is such a trap, and it has warped our minds and our information and our communication as well as our perseptions of the world and people around us. So I agree with this email, and thanks for the rush I got when I saw it in my inbox. Now if you'll excuse me I have to rush off to the next flashing image.