Maybe I’d not noticed it before or seems to be more aware. Did it start with the MTV phenomena? Quick cuts and swipes and everything from music to television shows to commercials to personal communication can not be contemplated, but must trigger anxiety. Some call it multi-tasking and some call its distraction. When was the last time you checked your phone?
Due to the fact I did not take off running at reading and spelling or even telling time, school was boring. With bad eyesight, whatever was chalked on the wall I couldn’t read. The teacher just gave a monotone speech and all the kids sat quietly. There was never any homework assistance so when test came around, I couldn’t repeat the correct answer.
My main pastime was watching black and white television and drawing pictures. I’d carry books back and forth to school and the appropriate class without turning a page.
It wasn’t that I was distracted by something else, I just couldn’t focus unless it drew my interest in. They call it ADHD today, but back then there was not a kid who could wiggle and squirm and bounce for miles in a car but was taught how to follow etiquette proper behavior.
Even after 13 years of passing through the public K-12, repeating certain classes in the summer but still not understanding the meaning of education versus knowledge. Yet I went on to higher learning as a trade teaching philosophy rather than employment earning techniques. Half way through high school pt. 2, I learned how to play the school game. I realized text books were written by the professor who taught the class so the required purchase was just an added salary. The ‘text’ book had very few ideas and thoughts but mostly bias fluff, so speedreading helped me skip the filler. Also at that time, I was working at the city’s public library (which was the closest thing to today’s Internet). I could cross-reference what was stated as the class instruction with alternative ideas. I called the bluff of the professionals and they folded. As long as I met the number requirements, I could get a piece of paper.
Upon starting a career after graduation, I started buying books. Mostly technical D-I-Y books with diagrams and step-by-step instructions to fill in the gaps. Mystery’s, romantic novels, science fiction fantasies or even historical recollections didn’t interest me. The ‘here and now’ was on television and no one spoke soliloquies like Shakespeare. A few could curl up in a soft chair under a warm lamp with a cup of relax and get lost in the words of someone else’s thoughts. I wasn’t one of them.
Then the digital world opened and multi-tasking was the prize. The television was still start, then turn down the sound to turn on the radio (and/or the phono), then the laptop, ear pods and the phone. Grab a fist full of remotes and start scrolling. What a great way to waste time.
If your email doesn’t have the latest emoji, check out social media. There is bound to be a pointer to what you should be watching or listening to or the next great adventure or book or movie or restaurant or event. It will tell you who will be there and what they will wear and who they will be with and what bad habits they will be photographed doing and spread about for all to comment opinionated judgements. You don’t have to think, just follow directions (school?)
What about this focus stuff?
I notice my interest level has dropped to a point where most of what I see on the screen or hear is just annoying. I can’t reference the names because I don’t know where they come from or what they relate to. I can’t follow the music because (at this point in life) it all sounds the same. I do find listening to something that is ancient and I know the tune and some of the words fascinating.
I’ve basically tuned off television and movies and books. I will see what the latest and greatest approach to entertainment is supposed to be, but after a trailer or review, move on. At this time in life, there is no need to follow the headlines of which pop fascination is shaking her booty or who is a couple or de-couple. The politician comedy is more annoying than humorous and in the long run pitiful.
Social media (as they call it) are merely bulletin boards for families to post vacation photos or silly selfies or plates of food or some other nonsense that most would walk away in conversation. No interest in self-diagnosis or travel adventures to sites of crumbling buildings and ancient artifacts that are yesterday’s yard sales, I ponder.
I don’t want to contemplate the universe or the depths of the oceans or why we need a God(s)? I do wonder why we care for life after it is gone? We don’t care about our other trash? Out-of-sight, out-of-mind (until it starts to stink). If we cherish life of the new born (or almost given birth), why do we have wars to officially slaughter them with our latest forms of destruction?
What about the focus?
There is so much I skip over. Even a well written article by an established author or an opinionated piece by a knowledgeable and researched writer can lose my interest halfway through reading. Even the trailers don’t hold my attention because they are too predictable. Until a sound catches my ear, I’ll bypass the reruns. The classics are always available but when did you re-read ‘Great Expectations’?
Today (and maybe tomorrow) I only have to focus on myself. What will I eat? What will I wear? When to do a load of laundry? When to put out the trash? When do I pay the bills?
Still sane enough to know that I can’t stop the wars or end the needs of other humans who can barely cope or cure whatever ails us or keep the dish clean. The daily routine pretty much guarantees I will make it there and back without varying a habitual run in a 5-mile cone of security.
Tomorrow I may forget to brush my teeth at the same time or put my shoes on straight, but that is tomorrow and can’t be worried about today.
Stay focused.
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