Numb. Charles R. Chaffin

Numb - Charles R. Chaffin


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of these different scenarios highlight the nature of attention. In the first example, you were familiar with the road and the conditions were ideal for driving. You did not have to concentrate too heavily on the path ahead so you had attention to devote to the meeting on Monday. You were able to develop some concrete plans for the presentation in your mind that will be useful when you return to your desk. In the second scenario, you had attention to devote to your friend's breakup story because the drive was not overly taxing. However, between the drive and your friend, you had little attention to devote to the planning of the Monday presentation. In this scenario, you were compelled to allocate whatever attention you had left over from driving to your friend. Because the road was clear, you could devote attention to your friend's breakup story. However, in the third scenario, when the conditions of the road became dangerous with the storm, you had to prioritize your attention towards driving and limit how much attention you could devote to your friend with almost none dedicated to your Monday presentation.

      Attention is one of those terms that we throw around often. We ask for others' attention. It is asked of us and, in some cases, it is taken away from us through a variety of means. If you ask 100 people the meaning of the word “attention,” you are likely to get dozens of different answers. You would hear words like “concentration” and “focus” but also words that associate attention with the senses such as seeing, hearing, and feeling. Even among psychologists there are a number of different perspectives regarding the actual meaning. William James, in Principles of Psychology wrote, “Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking possession by the mind in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought… . It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others, and is a condition which has a real opposite in the confused, dazed, scatterbrained state.”

      In 1997, Michael Goldhaber suggested that the global economy was shifting from a materials‐based economy to one that was attention‐based. The currency in this economy is attention. In the digital age, there is no shortage of information. It is everywhere, with everyone contributing to it. There are obviously varying degrees of utility for some of this information, but as Goldhaber suggests, economy is based upon what is scarce and information is not scarce in the least. What is scarce is attention. There are times when we need attention and times when we decide to give attention. As babies, we need attention from our parents for basic survival because we are not yet able to take care of ourselves. As adults, we strive for attention as we attempt to navigate a job or career to support our basic needs. As Goldhaber puts it, with attention from others comes all of the material items that we normally associate with elements of success. For example, with the attention of a community, you can encourage park rehabilitation or voter registration. It isn't that your message or whatever product you are designing and developing is not important. Rather, it's that none of that matters if attention from others is not paid. We pay with our attention on our smartphones every day. We sit through advertising on apps if we do not want to pay an extra fee (that's me when it comes to Words with Friends) and at a more fundamental level, we dedicate our attention to technology at the expense of many other aspects of our lives. Given that attention is a valuable commodity that each of us possesses (with only a finite amount available), attention is being paid – and it is a high price.


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