This content is summarizing from the podcast Is Your Attention Span Shrinking? by Freakonomics.
Many believes that modern people attention span is shorter than it used to be. Due to the amount of distractions from phones, social media, the internet, etc.
I still remember as a child, I used to get on some web game where I can grow my own crops and taking care of cattle. I can sit there for hours, even forgot to have lunch or dinner, and just by playing that game without even switching or multitasking. Now, the same me would switch tabs every 2 minutes just so that I can gather information for literally nothing. Just to keep my brain busy all the time. Does it count as my attention span has shrink?
According to the podcast, our attention is a resource, and when we pay attention to something, it has our awareness. It was actually one of the Cognitive Bias called Inattentional Blindness, we actually missed things when we focus on something else. This demonstration video was showed to me during a lecture at Budapest University of Technology and Economic, you can check it out through this YouTube link.
They constantly using the word “buffet” as a metaphor for information. Stating that the choosing, watching, consuming is like having a buffet at a restaurant. There are so many things for the customer to choose from. They always ended up choosing the one with the most eyes catching meal. Which likely to be some fried, or with bunch of sauces and salt to make you eat more of it. This is how a buffet restaurant making profit, the same with how companies are making profit nowadays by offering catchy content.
Lesson and practice to have after this: “Be present”.