Maybe feeling scattered is a reasonable response to a world that keeps asking us to pay attention to everything.
One thing I’m noticing through my own experience and conversations with others is just how scattered our minds seem to be.
I keep hearing some version of, “Why can’t I focus anymore?”
But I wonder how much of what we’re experiencing is connected to the constant barrage of things pulling at our attention.
I’ve been thinking about ways I can reduce some of that never-ending noise.
Maybe our inability to focus isn’t entirely a personal failing. Maybe we’ve created environments where sustained attention has become unnecessarily difficult.
Several years ago, I turned off notifications on my phone except for text messages and actual phone calls. I typically keep my phone on silent, so even those don’t distract me as much. I’ve even started placing my phone in a drawer when I need to focus on other things.
But lately, I’ve found myself needing to set more boundaries.
Closing the email application completely, not just minimizing it, when I need to do focused work. Setting an out-of-office response letting people know I may be slower to respond.
And I’m noticing how many emails turn into long problem-solving threads going back and forth when one video call might help us find a solution much more efficiently.
It has me wondering how much of our scattered attention is something we need to fix within ourselves. And how much is a reasonable response to the amount of noise we’ve allowed into our lives.