Hyper & Deep focus
N. Katherine Hayles discussed between ‘Hyper attention’ and ‘Deep attention’, types of cognitive function that is currently undergoing a generational shift in her late article in 2007. She explains that technology has changed the way people communicate and interact with each other, to the point where people basically “think”. Hyper attention, where you focus on multiple task, say reading a book while you’re listening to Michael Jackson, while you’re walking to your favourite café, and still managing to avoid bumping the crowd in front of you, was used primarily as a method of survival. Deep attention, focusing on one specific task, closing in on everything else, was a luxury gained when people’s life were not in constant jeopardy. The way the two cognitive learning styles are perceived has changed for the past several years, and now it is being questioned, whether hyper or deep attention is better for students in the present world?
A little bit of googling has found me that nowadays people are blasted with 5,000 advertisements from the moment they walk out of their house until the’ve gone back home, 10 times more than when it were still the 1970’s. According to the New York Times, there was a total of 409 original scripted series on broadcast in America alone. Combine the tv shows in America and Australia, and you would have a life’s worth of binge watching. My point is, wherever we are, advertisements are bound to follow. Because of the media, we crave more and more stimuli, thus making us hungry when we are not fed with one. I realised my need for stimuli when I was running. I need to have my headset on, and if I am running indoors, I would need to watch television. The same case also happens when I am studying. I need to listen to music while making my assignments, or I need to be watching Parks and Recreation.
Many people have conducted that hyper attention (multitasking) is actually less productive that deep attention, because the amount of focus that your are distributing would make the work less efficient. Someone in class argued that we can use hyper attention to get into a state of deep attention, listening to music while you are studying. There are pros and cons to hyper and deep attention, one for example hyper attention is adaptive and flexible to respond to different stimulations, while deep attention can retain and absorb more information and better at problem-solving matters. But Hyper attention gets distracted quickly, and deep attention requires longer time and can be tiring.
I guess when it comes down to people, each have their own preference. I had a friend who is taking her PhD in Biomedicine, and she told me that she needs to be completely silent in experimenting and she actually enjoys silence, opposite from me. Different work environments and different personality requires different cognitive learning style. The important thing is that we are able to achieve our best through our choices, and we can get that high distinction we can only dream about. What cognitive style do you prefer?