"The most desired gift of love is not diamonds or roses or chocolate. It is focused attention."
When I read this quote, I had one of those epiphany moments. I'm realizing how true it is that we desire focused attention; but the thing that really stands out to me personally, is how rare focused attention is these days. Focused attention is so rare that I fear being the center of someone's attention. When I'm in a group and I begin to tell a story or state an opinion and suddenly, all eyes are on me, I have a mini panic attack inside. All of those on me, listenting to what I'm saying.
Now a days, we are so used to having distractions. Mainly, our cell phones. Cell phones have so much packed into them now that you could be on your phone for hours without even realizing. I will be the first to admit, that I spend more time on my cell phone than I should. I know that. And I hate that it's true. It's funny how we always justify our time used on our cell phones and laptops. I'm not going to tell a lie and say that I could live life well without my laptop. I am absolutely a laptop addict. I check facebook daily, just because it has become so routine at this point that it's second-nature. I browse pinterest for inspiration for studying, the future, anything really. I write, I blog, I keep in touch with friends. I wouldn't say that spending a lot time on my laptop is necessarily a bad thing. It just really depends on what I'm doing. Sure, 5 hours of netflix isn't a wise use of my time. But for me, writing, which I do quickly and more efficiently on the computer, is theraputic for me. It helps me to develop my writing skills and to express myself. I think the same way about certain sites that I browse as well and blogs that I read.
The point I think I'm trying to make is that these distractions leave such little room for focused attention. I can name multiple times where I haven't given someone my full attention because I was distracted by an incoming text, or my instagram feed, or twitter, or a game on my phone. It's ridiculous to think that just because we have that wifi connection, our real, personal connections are dwindling. So, I'm deciding to scale back on certain social media and electronics. Little things that you do every day become routine (like checking facebook) but it takes 21 days to make or break a habit. Making small changes can greatly impact the way we live. Some changes I am going to make in order to focus my attention better are: signing out of facebook instead of keeping it constantly logged in and waiting for me, deleting certain time-consuming aps off of my phone and putting my phone away when I'm with friends/company.
Yes -- social media, cell phones and laptops are great and even necessary in this world but I want to encourage you to take a step back. I can gaurentee, I'm still going to spend time on my laptop every day for school, blogging, writing and probably a little netflix too. But it's those small changes, and the awareness that we are lacking personal connection because we have a wifi connection, that should encourage us to make those changes in our lives.
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