Have you ever heard the term “continuous partial attention” before? I haven’t either, but it apparently was coined way back in 1998 by former Apple exec, Linda Stone. Who remembers much of anything from 1998 anyway?
Well, we should both care about it a lot because it’s how we dole out our attention almost every waking moment. One might call it the default state of mind for our times.
Continuous partial attention could also be described as multitasking’s evil twin.
While multitasking is an attempt at being more efficient, continuous partial attention was spawned from the fear of missing out (a.k.a. – FOMO).
(By the way, the effectiveness of multitasking has been disproven if you haven’t read that memo. Remember memos? We were getting them back in 1998).
[Continuous Partial Attention] is an automatic process motivated only by “a desire to be a live node on the network” or by the willingness to connect and stay connected, scanning and optimizing opportunities, activities and contacts in an effort to not miss anything that is going on.”
— Wikipedia
Sounds a little “sci-fi” doesn’t it?
Or, is it just another fancy term to describe our modern-day state of being?
We all know we’re distracted. We’re distracted by distractions because we’ve convinced ourselves we can’t afford to miss any of them.
Because one of them might-actually-have-something-good—and we wouldn’t dare miss it. No matter what.
tick, tick, tick—Beat by beat, tick by tick, our brains are constantly scanning our surroundings like mini search engines.
Hey, we’ve become little walking Googleheads!
So, what can you do about it? About this continuous partial attention affliction?
Well, for starters, stop chasing squirrels and shiny objects. Then focus on only the most import task at hand and forget about the rest. But it’s not that easy. Our brains don’t work that way.
The idea is to start training yourself to say “No, that’s not for me” to nearly everything. YES!—to everything!
Greg McKeown, author of the bestseller Essentialism: The disciplined pursuit of less is a big fan of saying no to nearly everything. He explains that after all, no matter how hard you try, you will miss most things.
So why bother? We’re worried about missing things that don’t even matter to us.
Work on getting really, really, stingy with your attention and focus. This is one time a little selfishness might play a healthy role. Make the world earn your attention. You don’t just give your money away to anyone who asks for it, why are you so free and easy with your attention?
What if we engaged some of the emotions that drive our interests? Hang with me here. Simple, rational thinking processes haven’t been able to stop us. We humans always give in to more primal desires.
Tap into some of those deeper, more protective emotions
In his post, The next best click, Seth Godin asks, “Of all the buttons and all the swipes and all the scrolls on all the websites, is that one you’re going to click next the very best thing you could be doing right now?” — Seth Godin
That works for a while. Until puppies or kittens pop into view. Then we turn to mush… Ohhhh, look at the cute little puppies.
Don’t allow it to stress you out. Puppies are hard for anyone to resist.
Remember though, it’s still your choice… be a little stingy with your attention. Make ‘em earn it. And make it worth it—to you!
Be untucked.
p.s. One last thing, if you enjoyed this post be sure to share it with a friend. Use the Share-Buttons at the top or the bottom of the post. Thanks, I owe you one.
Copyright © 2021 Jeff Meister – All Rights Reserved
One of my personal goals is to eliminate all the non essentials in my life. You are speaking my language! Great post!
That’s a goal that’ll serve you well. Let me know how you do!