luamere

(to gradually wear down)

Right now I am reading “The World Beyond Your Head” by Matthew B. Crawford. As far as I have read, Matthew discusses focus and the amount of it required to attain mastery in a field. He sees attention as a resource, something I have not considered or heard from any other work. His main reason for classifying it as such is that it is a finite thing, there is only so much of it in the world. And right now I believe there is an attention deficit in the world.

“World” is a very general term and I am sure what I am saying does not apply to the entire population. Definitely not. I should say I am talking from the perspective of my world. Social media, specifically short term media like tik-tok, Instagram reels, and Youtube shorts, have had such a detrimental effect on society. Especially those around my age and younger. There is a large portion of people that have had their attention spans absolutely fried by this type of content. I have also seen symptoms in myself.

The youth’s ability to focus is being eroded, and has been for quite some time. I see it in my little cousins. Always buried in a phone. I see it at work. Every time we have some time to catch our breath, majority of my coworkers open their phones and begin scrolling. I see it in on my college campus. Walking from class to class there is always so many people walking on their phones in the short time they have between classes. I see it in the dining hall on campus. So many people alone at tables watching something on their phones. Of course I am no different. To completely exclude myself from this behavior would be ignorant.

Now it is not all bad. I have seen more and more people start to realize this as a problem as well. More people have been making efforts to fight all the bad habits degrading our attention span.

Just makes me wonder where we will be within the next 10 years or so. What will the world look like? There are also so many negative effects of social media that are their own separate topic. But I believe that the number of people waking up to this is growing. It has to start with us because all the little kids do not know any better. Can’t let them be brought into a bad future they are not aware of yet.

There is also another great audiobook that I have been listening to called “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt. This book goes into far more detail about the peculiar ways in which social media has affected young people and I really recommend it to all of those are interested in this subject.

He does end off the book by highlighting some strides that some public schools have taken to eliminate phone usage and give children more opportunities to play and develop healthier social skills which I think is a step in the right direction.

But this type of action should also be applied to us as well. Please take care of your attention and try to help others around you that may to latched on to social media.

See you again soon.