The “Twitter culture” and the end of attention

6 comments

The classes we’re having down here at Singularity University are really amazing. It’s a unique opportunity to listen to speakers who blow your mind off. I must confess, however, that there’s something I’m quite worried about: When taking some distance from what is going on at the classes, you can notice that, hard as we may try, we students don’t manage to pay attention for an extended period of time.

It seems as if the culture of brevity reflected on Twitter or TED (the shorter the better) had destructed our capacity to stay focused for more than just a couple of minutes.

Maybe it’s because it’s been a long time since I last stepped into a classroom. Or it might be because at that time we didn’t have personal computers on our desks. Or perhaps it was because even if we had one, there was no internet to put the whole world just one click away. Truth is that my prior experiences on what it means to be “a student” consisted in 40 minutes to 2 hours sitted, paying close attention most of the time.

When I noticing my attention span was so much shorter, I worried. About 15 minutes after classes started -even with topics I found incredibly interesting- I found myself getting distracted. I couldn’t even tell when my mind simply decided to leave me. Jjust as it happens when we’re reading a book and we’re tired: We realize that about two pages back our eyes have followed the text but we haven’t registered any information.

Then I started to look around. What I saw worried me even more: I wasn’t alone in this. Everybody around was experiencing the same thing. In the middle of an outstanding lecture, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to listen to amazing speakers, most people were tweeting, using Facebook, Wikipedia or even doing e-mail.

Some of the distractions were relevant, for example checking a website mentioned by the lecturer or a Wikipedia article related to the class subject. Many others were completely random. None of them -even the most relevant- were good. But having a window open to spy on what was going on in thousands of other places (reading tweets, checking Facebook) seemed to be an irresistible attraction for our attention -beyond our own will. Just like a person going for a bite of that chocolate cake even knowing that they shouldn’t.

A while ago somebody gave me an example of how TV series scripts changed from the 70s or 80s to today. In the past, every episode told a story. Nowadays, TV channels wouldn’t broadcast episodes unless there are at least three underlying stories interwoven. For instance, we wouldn’t tolerate watching a Starsky & Hutch or CHIPS episode today. Some even say that those old episodes can be summarized in barely 7 minutes without losing any information.

Chris Anderson was aware of this when he created TED. Same thing happens with formats as Ignite and Pecha Kucha. Content must fit in the very few minutes our minds can pay attention nowadays. Sir Ken Robinson’s talk on TED has over 1,400,000 visits on Youtube. The exact same thing, but more developed -the complete 83-minute version- is somewhat below 60,000 visitors. This means that from all the people who enjoyed that video and were fascinated by Ken Robinson’s ideas, less than 5% referred to a longer, more detailed video on that topic.

I am sure that many of us also probably face this situation when relating with your beloved ones. We find ourselves checking our cell phone or computer while interacting with our couple, children or friends.

It seems to be an adaptation mechanism from our brain in response to the hyperstimulation we’ve been subjected to over the past years. But what is adaptive to multitasking is likewise destructive for our capacity of paying attention to one thing only.

With all this in mind, I can’t stop thinking that with this change we’re, in the blink of an eye, losing something very valuable: The chance of really fully being present where we physically are.

I’m not sure whether the group of students at SU represents what happens around the globe. I’m interested to know if you think this is a general phenomenon or simply sheer madness of a bunch of people living at the verge of hyperconnectivity and hyperstimulation. And if this is actually a general phenomenon, how should education adapt to this new reality?

I always supported hyperconnectivity. Right now I’m not that sure.

Picture: Austin Kleon

Translated by: Palindromic

Juan says:

July 28, 2010 at 12:35 pm

Really interesting… Food for thought! I believe this represents a great challenge to teachers and professors at large. THEY will need re-training and adapting to an undenniable reality

Great post.

Ramiro Ferrer says:

July 28, 2010 at 7:08 pm

Great post, as usual. I’ve already commented on the spanish version of this very same post, but I will add something here:

people is getting too entertained because it’s getting harder and harder to actually live. Any hours we spend online is a time we don’t have to be doing something more meaninful. Multiply those moments and the issue becomes crystal clear.

Keith says:

July 28, 2010 at 9:51 pm

Great topic. But I got distracted after the second paragraph so I will have to read the rest after I check facebook, email a couple friends, text my wife and read 3 other blogs and news stories. Ok. I’m back… Just kidding.

I think you are right on. Are you familiar with Linda Stone and her work/writings on “Continuos Partial Attention? See below. Unfortunately, Linda couldn’t be with us at SU this summer. I think that over the next 3-5 years we will see a backlash and people will start to value in person, personal relationships more than ever. See news today on this subject and how having deep personal relationships and sense of community may be the best longevity tool for all of us.

“Recipe for Longevity: No Smoking, Lots of Friends”
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2006938,00.html

I’ll give you a big hug manana!

Keith

Linda Stone:
http://lindastone.net/2009/11/30/beyond-simple-multi-tasking-continuous-partial-attention/

“Continuous partial attention also describes a state in which attention is on a priority or primary task, while, at the same time, scanning for other people, activities, or opportunities, and replacing the primary task with something that seems, in this next moment, more important. When we do this, we may have the feeling that our brains process multiple activities in parallel. Researchers say that while we can rapidly shift between activities, our brains process serially.

Continuous partial attention involves a kind of vigilance that is not characteristic of multi-tasking. With cpa, we feel most alive when we’re connected, plugged in, and in the know. We constantly SCAN for opportunities – activities or people – in any given moment. With every opportunity we ask, “What can I gain here?”

Why care about the difference between multi-tasking and cpa?

Continuous partial attention is an always on, anywhere, anytime, any place behavior that creates an artificial sense of crisis. We are always in high alert. We are demanding multiple cognitively complex actions from ourselves. We are reaching to keep a top priority in focus, while, at the same time, scanning the periphery to see if we are missing other opportunities. If we are, our very fickle attention shifts focus. What’s ringing? Who is it? How many emails? What’s on my list? What time is it in Bangalore?”

Fede Mendez says:

July 29, 2010 at 12:17 pm

It happens to me quite often, Santiago. Even at school, sometimes, I find really diffcult to stay focus or pay attention to the person is talking. One thing I have been thinking is that nowadays, everybody wants to talk (or tweet or post) and we have the medium, the Internet 2.0. So, it�s very difficult to listen to somebody withouth having the participation of everybody.
I remember reading the evolution of the way the classes were given and the origin of university in the US and is really intersting how it had to evolve, and I think it relates to these…I promise that I�ll look for the author and post it.

Pily says:

July 30, 2010 at 1:29 pm

Santiago,
I was starting to feel bad about the message I sent you the other day. But I have to say that the more I read the comments on this post, the more convinced I am that you’ve become a little bit obsessed with connetivity. Well, haven’t we all?
By the way, thanks to Keith for providing that link to Linda Stone’s blog. I didn’t know about her, and I found her fascinating. I’ll try to get in to it a little bit more.

La cultura Twitter y el fin de la atención says:

January 30, 2011 at 8:32 pm

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