“Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are.”
One of the most profound shifts in our culture in the past twenty years has been our relationship to information and the way it impacts our attention.
Prior to the 24/7 media news cycle and the explosion of broadband online, we had to seek information. Now, however, information finds us. In fact, both the public and private space is increasingly saturated with provocative headlines, clickbait, and intentionally disruptive alerts. (Most of this isn’t even substantive information.) The default setting is no longer the solitude of our own thoughts. We must opt-in to ourselves.
Learning to direct our attention requires mindfulness and willpower, but the return is substantial. When we opt-in to ourselves, we opt-out of reacting to news cycles, thoughtless purchasing, and needless anxiety. Make no mistake, there are powerful economic forces with a vested interest in making distraction completely effortless.
Opting into ourselves means opting into our personal priorities, projects, and genuine human connection. So much of our world view depends on the stories we digest and the characters we allow into our lives. Choose for yourself or they will be chosen for you.
