attention is sacred
exploring the sacred nature of "attention"
sari and
attention is sacred
Short-form content captures attention and brings immediate gratification, but it sacrifices lasting enrichment.
Watching a bunch of reels doesn’t match the full immersion of a movie.
Reading a series of posts doesn’t rival the depth of insight of a book.
Long... See more
Adam Grantx.com
The fastest growing sector of the culture economy is distraction . Or call it scrolling or swiping or wasting time or whatever you want. But it’s not art or entertainment, just ceaseless activity.
The key is that each stimulus only lasts a few seconds, and must be repeated.
The key is that each stimulus only lasts a few seconds, and must be repeated.
Ted Gioia • The State of the Culture, 2024
Instead of movies, users get served up an endless sequence of 15-second videos. Instead of symphonies, listeners hear bite-sized melodies, usually accompanied by one of these tiny videos—just enough for a dopamine hit, and no more.
This is the new culture. And its most striking feature is the absence of Culture (with a capital C) or even mindless entertainment—both get replaced by compulsive activity.
Opinion | Chris Hayes: I Want Your Attention. I Need Your Attention. Here is How I Mastered My Own. - The New York Times
Chris Hayesnytimes.comBeing with somebody for an hour is much easier than paying attention to somebody for an hour. The former requires only physical (or virtual) proximity, and we do it every day. The latter happens only rarely. It requires us to donate all our emotional, spiritual, and intellectual energy to being with another person. I can recall only a few occasions... See more
Michael Austin • The Sacrament of Attention
And yet: as much as the Fediverse is different (the governing structures, the incentives, the moderation, the absence of ads and engagement tricks), so much of it is also unsettlingly familiar—the same small boxes, the same few buttons, the same mechanics of following and being followed. The same babbling, tumbling, rushing stream of thoughts. I... See more
Mandy Brown • Coming Home
Normally, when we pay attention to someone or something, we undertake what Weil calls a “muscular effort”: our eyes lock on another’s eyes, our expressions reflect the proper response, and our bodies shift in relation to the object to which we are paying attention. This kind of attention flourishes in therapists’ offices, business schools, and... See more
Robert Zaretsky • Simone Weil’s Radical Conception of Attention
muscular effort vs reflective attention
“What I need, what I am trying to build, is — I coin this phrase by analogy to a memory palace — an attention cottage . ... When I sit down in a chair with a book in my lap, a notebook at my side, and no screens within reach or sight, I am dwelling in my attention cottage.
The great artists and thinkers cultivate a systolic/diastolic rhythm, tension... See more
Alan Jacobs • 1, #86 - How to survive in a world of distraction
how do we survive in a world of distraction?