Okay, let's be honest. When we see a page filled with text the first thing that comes to mind is "How can I avoid reading this?" often accompanied with a dull aching sensation around the heart region.
On who can we blame this disposition? Obviously not ourselves, because we are all innocent victims of society.... right?
Truth be told, the reason I ask is because someone suggested to me that my blogs were a bit on the lengthy side.
So after we'd finished our fist fight and cleaned up some of the more serious wounds, I came to the realisation that perhaps they were right.
Why is it that the virtue of concentration is rapidly evaporating from our culture? I even struggle with two-part text messages, let alone encyclopedic blog entries. It's not uncommon for my mind to wander off while speaking with someone, and don't get me started on con-calls. (http://jiwanrai.blogspot.com/2010/02/state-your-name-after-tone.html)
Have we been conditioned to think and process in short messages? Since using twitter, I've started to think and experience in 160 character thoughts.
And if I have to click the "more" button on someones Facebook I think thoughts like "Why didn't they just publish a novel instead"
And if I have to click the "more" button on someones Facebook I think thoughts like "Why didn't they just publish a novel instead"
Maybe if we spent more time concentrating on a few things, we'd learn a whole lot more than just skimming through 100 of them!
Now that I'm in my 7th paragraph I realise I've already lost about 80% of my readers, so to you who are left -
Thank-you and congratulations.
Good article G. I didn't get to the end but the first paragraph was good.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right about being conditioned to short messages. But what's the solution? Everything that surrounds us supports this type of lifestyle: food is fast, time is short and Mobil is on the run. On top of all this I work for a business who try to ensure I keep up my busyness. I think we could plot a linear graph of busyness vs lack of concentration.
ReplyDeletePossible solution:
What if we turned away from media more to enjoy the people that surround us?
Good thoughts Brovning.
ReplyDeleteI think we get so guilty about not achieving a million things in a day. We've set our expectations to accomplish 5 things in the time it would take to do 1 thing really well.
Media seems unavoidable, but it doesn't mean we need to depend on it.
Are the important things in life the bits that more often than not get squeezed out of our schedules?
Maybe we need to be intentional about spending time on those things?
Good G. For me the key word is the same as what you've used: intentional.
ReplyDeleteAnd priorities.
Put those together and who knows what you'll end up with. Possibly better relationships.
Just putting it out there for discussion...
G - the comments are too long..
ReplyDeleteI lost interest.
boom.
Okay Al, I'll start a blog aimed at children and send you the link. I'll use bigger fonts, with smaller words like 'cat' and 'happy'.
ReplyDelete