Attention must be Mine

Great post at O'Reilly Radar about Linda Stone's talk at Supernova 2005.  I feel like she read my mind - because in an era of newpersuasion, we live with contradiction.

• Technology has improved my life.
• Technology has harmed my quality of life
• I pay full attention to people when they talk to me, when I am in meetings, when I work
• I pay partial attention to what I'm doing and I'm scanning my devices or software for other inputs
• Technology sets me free
• Technology enslaves me

"In 1997 I coined the phrase 'continuous partial attention'. For almost two decades, continuous partial attention has been a way of life to cope and keep up with responsibilities and relationships. We've stretched our attention bandwidth to upper limits. We think that if tech has a lot of bandwidth then we do, too."

She goes on to say that some companies have started email-free Fridays to stimulate face-to-face conversations.  I am all for that.  I love all the information out there, but I'm also being crushed under its weight.  I get to the point where I don't listen to my home voicemail for months at a time.  I figure if it's really important I'll find out about it. 

We tend to forget that our attention is a precious resource.  It's mine and I choose where to focus it.  Technology makes us forget we have a choice because it's everywhere 24-7.  And we need to appreciate when someone else gives us their full attention - I think Linda Stone is right when she says "The aphrodisiac of the future will be full attention."