Distraction Economy

What if you could be a force for focused and sustained work? A few years ago, people began to observe how, in the Information Age, the goal is to grab and keep attention.

“Advertise your product to our 120 million daily users.”

“The first line of your article must pique the reader’s interest.”                  

“123.7 million viewers witness Superbowl commercials.”

Or consider John Battelle and Tim O-Reilly’s “Open Welcome: State of the Internet” at the 2004 Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco: “Customers are building your business for you,” generating content that be “harnessed” to create value. Then YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and other platforms exploded on the scene; and life online became more than rife with data, it became a gigantic distraction.

The first thing to know is that no one wants to be distracted. Your kids, your employees, your friends…can’t think long or hard about much of anything; and that’s enormously unsatisfying for both of you. We’re all caught up in the distraction economy, yes; but we want to be able to do good, deep work. So, please don’t make folks feel bad and wrong for being addicted to being on their phones. Those platforms are designed to be emotional narcotics.

Instead, offer ways out of “the matrix.”

“Let’s have a work party in the conference room this afternoon, where we all can sink quietly into our individual current projects. No phones from 2-to-4p.”                  

“We keep piling operational tasks on your desk; meanwhile, you’re trying to write a proposal. If you like, you could work from home tomorrow morning; so, you can concentrate.”

“Once you make your first three sales calls for the day, please come tell me what went well and what you’re working to improve upon, before continuing down the list.”

Hold your team (or your family) accountable to accomplish their goals for the day, week, month; and then follow up with, “How could you do an even better job of this next time?” Simple as it is to ask this question, it brings attention to what’s important, acknowledges and maintains that attention through the accomplishment, and sets up the next one.

Practice being fully present with anyone you engage in conversation. Letting go of your incessantly chattering mind, giving the other person 100% of your attention for the brief time you are with them, serves i) to set aside your ego’s hankerings and strife (which feels great), and ii) to give your interlocutor a moment of being heard and understood (which settles their hankerings and strife as well). Both you and they are much more likely to receive inspiration and insight if you surrender the urgent profusion of thoughts for the brief time it takes to truly connect, understand, and appreciate each other.

Be willing to be with each other without stimulation. Ask to sit together (without talking), as a coworker waits for a meeting. Offer to share the work commute with a colleague; and resist the need to scroll or chitchat. Observe your child playing on his screen; inquire what he enjoys about the experience.

The noise will continue to grow and could easily dominate our lives, leaving us unfulfilled, if we do not consciously create time away from the distraction economy, peace between those dives down the information rabbit hole, release from the soul-crushing parade of bandits determined to steal your precious attention.

Sometimes you just have to extricate yourself and endure the edgy transition to breathe in nature, relax the body, and focus on the beauty right in front of you.

Call me if you're struggling with your attention span and depth. Focus is learnable, and the gratification of concentrated work is immense.  

Sincerely, Martin Kettelhut, PhD

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