on protecting my attention
It's fair to say that the majority of people on Bear don't like social media, every other week or so there's a post on trending from a writer who explains how they have had to come away from the performative, cheap and boring slop that now floods their 'feeds'.
It's funny how we call them 'feeds' given how this diet of 'content' is what is essentially killing our attention, the same way that too much ultra-processed food is bad for us from a physical standpoint.
I got rid of Instagram years ago, I occasionally reactivate Facebook to keep in touch with family, I deleted X about 3 weeks ago now and that leaves me with LinkedIn, which I'm also on the verge of deleting after seeing the same 'a designer isn't a video editor, marketer or anything else' post for the 100th time.
In truth though, it's deeper than that. I've noticed it more now that I've come away and started trying to find interesting things to read and how much I struggle to actively sit and absorb. I find the topics interesting and yet after a few minutes, I find my mind wandering and I sit there wishing there was a quick round-up or a summary I could quickly skim over.
Even when watching YouTube, I find myself getting bored or speeding it up halfway through.
There seems to be so much stimulus and I feel like I've been rewired to have as much different 'content' in as short a timeframe as possible without ever learning anything. I feel like I'm being made a slob who sits and scrolls while learning nothing.
My attention is one of the most valuable things I can give. I want to gift my attention to 'feeds' that supplement my mind; that give me something to truly digest and absorb.
This fixation on optimising and making sure that everything we post has 'value' to our audience had become the same as adding all these extra additives and other chemical shit in the hope that it will feel good enough for you to keep coming back.
An entire world's worth of information and history is available at our fingertips and we're competing over who can provide the best TLDR version of it because 'who can be bothered focusing on that'.
There's a quote I'd like to end on and it's this:
βAttention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.β β Simone Weil
My attention is generosity, but it's also power. It's power that we're constantly giving away to undeserving individuals and companies because we're tricked into thinking it's worth it.
The best thing I can do to protect my attention? Is to start being selfish with it and I hope that you start being selfish with yours.