If you asked me “when was the last time you sat down and just focused on one thing”, that would be challenging for me. Our generation has been more privileged than anything before. Everything is easily accessible, and we have so many different options and opportunities ahead of us. We are constantly stimulated, both in the virtual and reality. Stimuli come from big advertisements on billboards down to the multiple notifications on our phones from different social media. Technology is growing at an exponential rate, which has caused a “generational shift” in the way we think and learn. The reading in our first Media 1 Lectorial, ‘Hyper and Deep Attention: The generational Divide in Cognitive Modes’, goes into great detail about the contrast in the learning styles of the previous generations and today’s generation. The writer, Katherine Hayley, touches on many ideas that indicate that I am much more of hyper active learner than disciplined into a deep thinker.

Hayley’s reading considers deep thinking as a luxury that has been developed over time. It has been more apparent in the learning norm for generations prior to mine. This style of learning has definitely overlapped into my early days of being a student. The reading mentions that stimuli such as maths problems require deep attention. This idea is very reminiscent of my days of studying in high school and primary school. The teacher would briefly discuss the task for the day, and then attention towards the writings to the problems in our text books would take over for the majority of the class in silence. From birth to adolescence, I was told to practice a deep style of thinking. However, with the advancement of technology, hyperactive style of thinking became more apparent in the later stages of my life.