Weekend Musings: The times of shrinking attention span!

‘Multitasking’ has been quite the buzz word for a few years now and with the advent of digital devices, it seems that an opportunity has come up for individuals to test their multitasking capabilities. It’s natural for individuals to find themselves in a situation where they deviate momentarily with the job at hand to catch up with a parallel one. This, I believe is an outcome of the ever-increasing activity between the conscious and the subconscious mind. For instance, it has become almost a habit for us to catch up with our mobile phones every now and then to check for notifications/ updates/ emails. It is hyperactivity of a sort which keeps the brain engaged almost all the time.

Having said that, today I talk neither on ‘Multitasking’ nor on ‘Hyperactivity in the subconscious’, but a potential rub-off of these, which is the ‘reducing attention span’ in all of us today.

While advancing with responsibilities, one tends to juggle with more than few areas and it is quite common for people to think about pending matters to be taken up, a concern waiting to be addressed or simply an idea that crops up while they are already engaged in a task. Even I am guilty of wandering off to my subconscious sometimes while conducting a meeting, reviewing a document, hearing a passionate presentation or even while reading a book. And before you know it, you are either planning the task mentally or completing it physically. And this not only something that you find yourself at work but such situations arise during non-working hours too; like during moments with family or friends, our minds may wander to some work matter. It is indeed an injustice to the agenda at hand and the people involved but it is fact. It simply means that one is not completely present at that moment, owing to our shrinking attention span.

While multitasking is the need of the hour, it is imperative we improve our ‘awareness’ and be involved as much as possible in the present moment. It’s important to see a short attention span not as a problem but as a challenge. A challenge to not adapt to by multitasking but rather solve by developing mindfulness – training our minds to be ready for its hyperactivity. The modern-day work and life requirements do affect our capability to focus on the present task or to live in the moment, therefore it is necessary to ensure we become more mindful and train ourselves to be more present in the moment.

By becoming immune to a short attention span, you not only become more efficient but also learn important skills like prioritization, time management, etc. However, it will require a monumental effort and focus but then monuments aren’t built in a day.