I’ve been sat here staring at my screen for a while not wondering what to write about. A blog post, not a reflection of the lectorial or tutorial this week, but something that relates to media somehow, perhaps to something touched on throughout the week. Being lazy and unmotivated, I came up with nothing, as I took to my phone in search of a distraction. Then I realised that by simply doing that, I had something to write about. Everything you do is surrounded by distractions of media, social media, just phones in general. Anything that can prevent you from doing the task at hand.

This sheer and obviously idiotic realisation lead to me thinking of yesterday as I sat watching The Hunger Games : Catching Fire. Having already seen it at the cinema after its release, my second viewing consisted of a constant throng of sitting on my phone, then engaging in the film at an exciting part, then returning to my phone when I was no longer interested. Just thinking about it makes me question how much entertainment at once will ever be enough. Surely watching a well executed film is enough to keep me focused? Usually i’m enthralled by film, obviously in this case I wasn’t.

This weeks reading;  ‘Hyper and Deep Attention: The Generational Divide in Cognitive Modes’ explores some  completely valid point, hyper and deep attention are two completely different things and I for one, have the most inadequate focus the world has ever seen. Hyper attention is defined by Hayles as “switching focus rapidly among different tasks” contrasts with deep attention, preferring multiple information streams, seeking a high level of stimulation, and having low tolerance for boredom.” Whereas, deep attention is noted to be “concentrating on a single object… ignoring outside stimuli while so engaged, preferring a single information stream, and having a high tolerance for long focus time.”   It is obviously a “generational shift in cognitive styles”, as myself and my thirteen year old sister both sat with our phones out and our eyes facing down, whereas my own mother, whom never has any idea what is going on in a film with a somewhat complicated storyline, was enticed, even instructing us to pause it when she went to get a drink – when she usually leaves it playing and returns without the faintest clue of what is happening. So yes, perhaps it is really due to generation, and perhaps we have too many sources to fuel this hyper attention for our own good.

 

Reading :  N. Katherine Hayles (2007), ‘Hyper and Deep Attention: The Generational Divide in Cognitive Modes’, Profession, pp.187-199.