Paying Attention to Paying Attention

Sometimes, it seems, that paying attention to one thing can draw your attention to something else entirely different. Although that may just be my ADHD, I think there is some worth to be found in further exploring this idea. Not to say that this is some sort of phenomena or anything like that, or even that this is remotely relatable, but hey, this is just my experience.

Pay Some Attention

Before this little experiment, I had never really thought too hard about where it is that I am directing my attention, and that is especially true whilst using social media. Although I would not consider myself to be one that is fully and wholly consumed by social media, and do not actively participate in it too often, I certainly do use it. During those times that I would use social media, I never really thought about why. It was always something that I sort of just did, and never gave it so much as an afterthought. But after keeping this little log of how I was directing my attention while using social media, I think I have an idea as to why.

Social Media and Me

The trend that I found while keeping this log overwhelmingly hinted at boredom being the leading cause of my social media use. It was most often that I would do these logs towards the end of the day while I was sitting on my bed with nothing else to do, and I do not believe that to be a coincidence. Nearly every time that I use social media, it is because I cannot find anything else to do. I almost use it as filler throughout my day when I am waiting for something more important. This, I believe, had its hand in contributing to my near thoughtless use of it. The reason that I never gave it any afterthought is because I was never really paying attention to it in the first place.

Some Afterthought

Well, since I never did it before, I guess now is as good a time as any. I am not saying that my use of social media is the correct one by any means. In fact, there are many ways in which social media can be beneficial, and using it as “filler” is certainly not tapping into its full potential. If anything, I would hope that this exercise will enable me to better utilize social media in a way that is advantageous to me. The networking and learning tools that are offered are practically endless, and using it as I was is, at best meaningless, and at worst detrimental.