The Markedly Best Methods to Save Yourself From Attention Holes

Your attention has never before been this readily available to other people, apps, and systems.

As soon as you watch that exciting video of your choosing, YouTube will barrage you with a slew of enticing recommendations to keep you from leaving their endless rabbit hole. 

A new video, and another one, and oh ― here’s an extra one free of charge just for you, kind sir.

Ere you notice it (I’m told ere is a real word), you have spent three nonsensical hours on stuff you admittedly weren’t interested in in the first place, including Flat Earth, chemtrails, lizard people, and the likes. 

And I’m being moderate here because some YouTube videos even teach girls how to be the thinnest versions of themselves, leading them to notorious levels of anorexia and a host of eating disorders. 

You weren’t merely imagining it, YouTube is after your attention, not your well-being.

How Attention Holes Ruin… Well, Everything 

Consciousness and attention aren’t identical, but two distinct mental states. In other words, you can be conscious of something without paying attention to it.

Let’s put it this way: You’re driving on a high road for hours, and it seems that you were asleep for most of the monotonous journey, although your eyes were wide open. While you involved your consciousness in the drive, thereby stopping you from killing yourself or running into somebody, you didn’t pay attention to your moves and thoughts during the ride. You were on autopilot. 

Something similar happens when you scroll through social media or watch your favorite Facebook and YouTube stars. You are conscious of your actions, but you are also wasting your valuable attention by clicking, reading, scrolling, and otherwise engaging with the content. 

In other words, you are diminishing your attention budget.

You know what you’re doing is damaging, but you still do it. Well, that’s a new one for the human species.

The 5-Second Timer

Per the words of Tristan Harris, famous co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, big tech companies are continually pushing the boundaries against your attention. When Netflix introduced the 5-second timer between two episodes, other streaming services and tech businesses rushed to emulate this feature, additionally encroaching on our crumbling attention span.

This wouldn’t be a problem if it was only associated with your time spent online. However, when was the last occasion you gave your undivided attention to a conversation with a coworker or friend? 

Even if you did your best, you probably ended up compulsively checking your email or social media feed or looking to the left or the right of your friend, who is desperately trying to summon your attention. While seeking entertainment elsewhere, instead of focusing on what your interlocutor is saying, you jeopardize your social life big time.

Practice Social (Media) Distancing

Although there aren’t any clear-cut solutions to your social media addiction, the digital minimalist Cal Newport and other authors offer some valuable insights into handling your habitual online behaviors.

Firstly, pick a day during the week to completely disconnect from your online activities. Yes, that implies not using your phone, except for emergencies.

Secondly, use only the channels, apps, and systems that benefit you spectacularly, either privately or professionally. Don’t spend time on tools or social media that devour your time and attention without offering anything valuable in return.

Thirdly, ruthlessly delete all apps that you only use once per month from your phone. You can still access them via the browser if you can’t live without them, which surely isn’t the case.

Fourthly, hide your phone from yourself, and place it in distant spots hard to access. To put it simply, create friction so as to make you have to invest some effort before you reach your phone. Usually, you will give up most of the time before you get the chance.

Although social media aren’t the only attention suckers, they sure tend to gorge the vast amount of our conscious lives. 

In my case, email is as problematic, if not more, which is a good thing for me since I never intended to be the slimmest version of myself, meet any lizard people or find out the Earth is flat.

Sometimes, ignorance is indeed bliss, if you know what to be ignorant about.

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