Dr. Samaiya Mushtaq on Substack

We can’t address the decline in empathy without addressing the decline in attention. Empathy requires a degree of sustained focus: Paying attention to an experience someone is sharing Recalling experiencing a similar emotional response Sitting with your own and ... See more

Dr. Samaiya Mushtaq substack.com

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Attention is the precursor to meaning-making. Significances and narratives become difficult to form, let alone sustain, when we cannot attend to our temporal/linear sequences.

We can’t address the decline in empathy without addressing the decline in attention.

Empathy requires a degree of sustained focus: Paying attention to an experience someone is sharing Recalling experiencing a similar emotional response Sitting with your own and the other person’s inner state.

When we are fragmented and distracted, we simply ca

This appears to fit, it seemed to me, with what we see on social media—if you see the world through fragments, your empathy often doesn’t kick in, in the way that it does when you engage with something in a sustained, focused way.

Johann Hari • Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention--and How to Think Deeply Again