Like so many things, in small doses, continuous partial attention can be a very functional behavior. However, in large doses, it contributes to a stressful lifestyle, to operating in crisis management mode, and to a compromised ability to reflect, to make decisions, and to think creatively. In a 24/7, always-on world, continuous partial attention used as our dominant attention mode contributes to a feeling of overwhelm, over-stimulation and to a sense of being unfulfilled. We are so accessible, we’re inaccessible. The latest, greatest powerful technologies have contributed to our feeling increasingly powerless.
I would post some commentary but first I have to check and see if there are any updates to the 215 blogs I subscribe to, and then I have to check my email, and then I have to see if there is any breaking news, and then I have to check that SMS message that came in a few minutes ago, and then I need to check that voicemail that has been sitting there for a couple of days, and then I need to see if there are any new tickets assigned to me at work, and then I need to check the weather to see if I should ride my motorcycle tomorrow, and then I need to reply to that IM that just came in, and then I need to check the east nashville list to see if there is anything important, and then I need to check and see if any new blogs have linked to me, and then I need to post a couple of blog posts that have been in draft mode for a week, but when I go to copy some text from a blog post that I want to reference I see that someone has posted something new in one of the 215 blogs that I subscribe to. Be right back.
