A culture of distraction

A culture of distraction

Tim Connor

First - a few facts based on recent studies;

-The average person spends over 6 hours a day looking at a screen (cell phone, Computer or TV.)

-The average person spends over 50 hours a week searching the internet.

-The average couple spends less than 26 minutes a week in intimate conversation and sharing (not sex talk).

-The average person spends more money on technology than self-improvement, charity or saving.

-The average person spends more time emailing and texting than talking to friends and family.

-Even though we may have more perceived relationships due to social media we are actually creating fewer value or connection based relationships where we really share and get to know people other than their latest likes, activities or in my opinion, stupid stuff.  Call me out of touch if you want but I believe that all of this stuff is significantly overrated.

Scary? You bet. It’s an indication of an increasing and negative trend or general behavior that will over time contribute sooner or later to shorter and less rewarding and shallower relationships, addiction to technology, wasted time and a loss of a spiritually based life and vague and uncertain life purpose. There are worse things than this that could be the outcomes but I don’t want to be perceived as a negative or doomsayer person.  I’ll let you observe personal human behavior for yourself during the coming months and years so for now just a few thoughts on why I believe we are living in a culture of distraction.

So why the title, a culture of distraction?  Work with me here.

Distraction – disruption, interruption, diversion, disturbance or - something that interferes with concentration or takes attention away from something else that could be more important or valuable.

I could give you dozens of examples that validate the above findings but I’d rather stick with the why’s for now.  But first consider how we are distracted by so many outside forces whether; advertising approaches, internet offers, politicians, short attention spans, the need for immediate action or response, the search for pleasure and the increasing tendency of the need for control, self-absorption and even narcissism.

Are people distracted because; they have short attention spans, need total control of life, let their egos rule their present moments, are always looking for something better, are always in a hurry, have short term or no goals – yes and is there a major contributor to these behaviors or attitudes? I believe so and it is – we are becoming a culture, to use a popular word, of “selfies”.

But I have to say that sooner or later everyone who is distracted and not focused on some specific life areas be they; spiritual, relationship, self-development, career or some higher purpose, it has been my experience over the years that these people when they reach their later years and you can define “later” any way you want, they look back with regret and disappointment.

If I have learned anything during my life and career it’s that the single most important element for success and happiness is focus, concentration and commitment to closure and completion.

This doesn’t mean that everything you start, you will finish but you will never finish if you don’t stay focused and the reason many people lose their focus is distraction.  All this means is that you really weren’t focused or committed in the first place because any simple distraction took your attention off the goal, desire or target.

In this world focus is not easy as there are so many outside things that their purpose is to distract us.  Just go to any website looking for some specific information and I’ll wager that there will be several other things crying out for your attention.  This is specifically why I don’t include any distraction in these weekly articles – stay focused even if it is only for a few minutes.

It’s unfortunate that this idea of distraction is also causing other related issues like; communication breakdowns, assumptions, confusion and misunderstanding as well as shorter careers in certain positions and relationship stress and breakdowns.

If you want to accomplish anything it requires sacrifice, attention, effort, time, courage, commitment, confidence, persistence and yes focus.

Let me close with a quick question- while you were reading this article was any exterior or internal situation, circumstance, worry, need or fear trying to draw your attention away from this brief few minutes?

“Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm.”

Robert L Stephenson