Your attention is one of the most important things to any brand. Your attention sells their products, it keeps them afloat. So what? It may affect you on a much larger scale than you are even aware of. Here is a guide to finding peace, when the world is fighting for your attention.
Social Media
Social Media is very new in the grand scheme of things. It was first created in 1997 and has since become an all-consuming series of platforms that are popular everywhere. Homeless people have access to phones, Facebook is available in third world countries. While it is free, you are paying a price for using it. Although it has its positive aspects, social media is designed to addict you.
In the book stolen focus, it is compared to being up against a magician. You aren’t aware of everything happening in the background when the magician pulls a rabbit out of his hat. They use distraction and play into your mind’s weaknesses. Social media was made to target your minds weaknesses. Have you ever jumped on Instagram, then without realising it you have been on the app for an hour. This is no coincidence.
Social media is designed to capture and hold your attention. It measures everything from what time of day you are most likely to be on the app, how long you linger on certain pictures and what you are searching. Using this information, it creates an algorithm which keeps you on the app for as long as possible.
Surveillance Capitalism
Over time, this creates a virtual voodoo doll. Each time you search up a topic or question it is recorded. Another pin in your voodoo doll. It goes deeper. Your emails and texts are monitored. Key words are picked out and added to your online presence. This is called surveillance capitalism. Your phone conversations are monitored for key words. Your phone monitors your everyday conversations. More pins in your voodoo doll. Have you ever wondered how google is aware of your Italy vacation idea when you have yet to research it at all?
One thing that blew my mind is that google monitors where you are. What coffee shops you visit, where are you going on holidays and where you work. These are also tracked. Eventually the algorithm knows you so well that it can almost always accurately predict what your next move will be.
Mental Health
How does this impact your mental health? The times in my life where I have been at my happiest, I have been present. My mind was not split in 10 directions, I am able to sit and enjoy my cup of coffee in the morning in a state of contentment. I am able to sit and watch the stars in the evening or cook without needed a glass of wine to feel calmer. I daydream more and embrace boredom.
Enhanced Comparison
For me personally, I had worse mental health because I was focusing on other peoples lives more than my own. When I did focus on my own life, I was more focused on how it looked rather than how it felt. I was doing things because I wanted to get a cool photo. My line between what was real and what was not was blurred.
My self esteem was lower because I was constantly comparing myself to other people. I wanted to be doing better than everyone because all of my self esteem came from external validation. When I was doing something “cool” I was happy, when I was at home I felt like an unproductive loser. I still fall into this occasionally, although very rarely now. I am writing an article on external vs internal validation currently which should be out soon if you struggle with this as well.
Fractured attention
When I am online for extended periods of time, I am less able to focus on one thing at a time. I also struggle in the real world because I am craving a device.
When I am checking my phone consistently, more boredom occurs. I feel increasingly mentally exhausted. This has been put down to the myth of multitasking. When you stop what you are doing and check your phone, you are switching your focus. Then when you come back to what you were doing, you have to figure out where you were up to and what your train of thought was. This significantly drops your productivity levels.
In the book “Stolen Focus,” he compares checking your phone at work to being stoned. A study was conducted comparing workers who were receiving phone calls and texts, to those who remained focused without distraction. The result being that their IQ dropped 10 points. This is twice the knock to your IQ as when you smoke cannabis. Therefore, it would be more productive to be stoned at work, than to be checking your phone.
This is hard to wrap my head around, as someone who has been influenced heavily by media since I was 12. I wasn’t aware of these tactics or that I was up against a force much bigger than myself. I remember feeling like a weak person for going on my phone too much. There are some tactics you can use which help with the addiction, such as:
1.Notifications. You may have these turned on so you don’t miss anything. They are sent at strategic times; these are times you are most likely to give in and get sucked into the Instagram vortex. Usually, they aren’t important. For example, someone liked your photo, or your friend posted after a long time off the app. Turning off your notifications can be very helpful. I can confidently say I have never missed anything important. If someone really needs help they will call or email.
2.Identifying triggers that cause you to check your phone. Is it boredom that sucks you into your phone? Are you procrastinating something when you get on social media? Are you avoiding dealing with a negative emotion and trying to feel better? How about when you feel socially awkward or are waiting for a train? Identifying when you are most likely to check your phone can help you become more self-aware.
When you do eventually get sucked in, remember not to be overly hard on yourself. While you have some control, you are also up against tactics from some of the worlds best psychologists aiming to capture your attention. Learn from it, what caused it and try again. Keep trying. Becoming educated on our most normalised addictions can help you overcome them.
Peace
The very definition of peace is freedom from disturbance. I see a majority of social media and technology as a strategic disturbance. This is why I place peace hand in hand with attention. This led to the realisation that others are fighting for my attention and in turn disturbing my peace. I wanted to finish this article with my favorite strategies for regaining a sense of peace.
1.Meditation and mindfulness practices. If you are someone who struggles to sit still, this might be the most beneficial thing you can do. Try 5 minutes a day to start, up it to 7 minutes. For me I particularly enjoy yoga. I reconnect my mind and body, resulting in my thoughts slowing down. A good strategy for me, is booking classes so I cannot back out of it. Otherwise, I also enjoy guided meditation.
2. Digital Detox. Don’t panic! I like to delete social media from my phone and keep it on my computer. This means I am unable to access social media unless I am at home. At work I am more focused, I talk to people or read on my lunch break and am disconnected from being online all day. This has helped immensely as I even avoid the pesky notifications that suck me in.
3. Leaving my phone off for the first and last hour of the day. This doesn’t always happen which is fine. When I have a day off, I love waking up naturally and reading for the first hour. This helps me to feel calm.
There are endless ways to feel calmer and more at peace. When you disconnect from your device, you are able to reconnect to the real world. Sure, media isn’t always bad. This article was to address the times that it is.
