The One Who Distracts Your Attention Isn’t Your Phone! It’s Your Mind
Distraction was always there after all, far before the phone
In the realm of time, attention is your currency.
It is the defining factor of the value of our time.
But have you ever thought of where does your attention goes every day?
To your work? family? friends? or mostly to those interesting videos in your social media feed?
It is easy for us to lose track of our focus, everything around us demands our attention.
Even far back in 1925, a man named Hugo Gernsback invented a bizarre device to keep our focus, “The Isolator”.
But is it really the things around us that have taken our attention captive?
I mean, the one who’s taking the blame now is our phone, especially our social media. But The Isolator was made far before even someone ever thought of bringing a phone in their pocket.
Quoting from what Hugo said from the press release of The Isolator,
“Even if supreme quiet reigns, you are your own disturber practically fifty percent of the time”
It is actually our mind that is taking our attention captive. Wanting to keep looking for new stuff to focus on.
And lately, a lot of things have weakened the focus muscle in our brain.
3 seconds of uninteresting video? swipe!
Going to the toilet? Let’s bring the phone!
Watching TV? Might as well hold my phone, check it every few minutes in case something interesting comes up.
The Mind
It’s not about the things that are happening around us. Or even in our devices.
It’s actually ourselves, letting our attention be distracted, letting our mind weaken from time to time.
Either you choose to take control of the things around you, or you can let those things take control of you, your attention, and your time.
We can use all the focus enhancer apps on our phone, all the Lo-Fi beats every time we’re working, and all types of Isolator, but if we don’t train our minds to focus, it’s all useless.
So, how we can train our minds?
Meditate!
Meditation allows us to:
- Practice keeping our attention on one thing at a time (mainly our breath)
- Strengthen our brain’s focus muscle
- Rejuvenate our brain functions
- Be aware of the distraction around us, and
- Enabling us to choose whether we want to ignore them or focus on them
A simple 5 to 10 minutes of meditation daily is enough for you to regain your control upon your attention, upon your own time.
Our time is limited, it is precious, and where we put our attention will determine the value of our time.
It is, after all, the currency of our time.
