I don't use Twitter and it isn't something that I have ever felt drawn to. I think once, at a Google Summit quite a few years ago, I joined and posted something inane in an attempt to win a prize. I didn't win anything, so having served a very limited purpose I then discarded it. I noticed that throughout the conference the audience seemed to be so engrossed in tapping away on their devices, mostly phones, furiously tweeting, that I wondered how they could be focusing on the presenter and the content. It is common now to see similar things happening in different contexts - meetings where we do a quick Google search to clarify something, send a message, an email or invitation because something has jogged our memory, look up a reference or use the chat feature while someone communicates with us. I do it - except for the chat feature.
We all joke about our abilities to multi-task. I think I'm pretty good at multi-tasking, honed through parenting four children, full time teaching and now as principal in a large school. Why is it then, that I feel distracted by the chat line when I'm on a Hangout or Zoom? It feels sometimes like the undercurrent talk that occurs in a live audience situation, mildly irritating and even disrespectful to the person presenting.
As we work through these unusual times, relying on media such as Hangouts and Zoom for communicating, what is the impact on our cognitive functions as we combine listening and viewing, with reading and writing through chat options simultaneously? I wonder whether we are losing the ability to truly focus and listen. Can we be fully present, hear the whole messages and thought processes of those sharing, if we are dipping in and out of multiple conversations?
I see similar practices in our use of social media like Facebook or other online media. We flip from one focus to another, diverging from our initial interest to follow other links or posts , until sometimes we forget what our first purpose was. Dr Cal Newport describes this as "fragmented attention". He maintains it interferes with our productivity. Our fragmented attention prevents us from fully engaging.
In classrooms we use strategies to ensure that children's attention is fully focused on the teacher when information is shared or feedback is provided to promote learning, so that their attention is drawn away from their device at important times. As adult learners it is our own self-management, rather than the direction of others, that impacts on our capacity to focus, to be fully present. We develop habits that may not be helpful or reduce our productivity. Are we really as proficient as we think we are? Could we be kinder to ourselves by attending to less stimuli?
I had an episode of fragmented concentration this week. I arrived home from school in the early evening to find I had left half the house unlocked in the morning, the lights on and my dog inside. Fortunately my 10 year old dog hadn't left any puddles, or not that I've found, and was very grateful to get outside. Perhaps my brain would benefit from more single focus activities.
