Everyday Canvas

On Attention

Prompt: “A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” Herb Simon
Why is paying attention and noticing what’s on the outside and the inside of things so important in our time when we have a wealth of information bombarded on us?

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Attention is a precious resource because by using it we flush out the irrelevant information and focus on what is important to us. This takes some discipline and learning and there are several books on the subject. One of them is The Art of Noticing by Rob Walker, which I just finished reading; although this book has many exercises for honing one’s attention, some of them may or may not apply to every person’s attention problems. Still, it offers some help by reminding us to look around, carefully, and notice.

In fact, it is important to train ourselves on the subject. A simple example to untrained attention is the inability of attack victims not being able to describe their attackers even when they have seen them. Mostly, they see the color of the clothing on the attacker, which may not mean much to the police as clothing can easily be discarded.

Usually, starting with me, we are all guilty of focusing our attention, not on people or the buildings or what’s around us, but on our devices and concerns that pertain only to us. It is funny rather tragic that so many people walk on the street looking at their cellphones, and consequently bumping into things and people.

Unfortunately, directing our attention constantly at those computing devices or cellphones can work against us, as their content and messaging, even if informative and entertaining, may not be in our best interest all the time. To begin with, they drive us to distraction, letting us omit what may really be most important for our welfare, be it in difficult situations or with family and friends and other societal give-and-take. it may just be a wise idea to take some time off each day for noticing things in nature, around us, and in our families.