To What Do You Pay Your Attention?

It has been said that attention will be the next most sought after commodity. In the modern world, we have FAR too many distractions. From doctors and psychologists to technologists all warn of the dangers of too much social media consumption. Problems ranging from confirmation bias to truncated attention spans and an inability to concentrate are all blamed on our addition to scrolling.

It helps to recognize the word “pay” in that question.

Attention is a limited commodity. We only have so much of it before we become fatigued, get bored, need to rest or eat, or have other responsibilities intrude on our time. When we’re thinking about what we do all day vs. what we want to be doing, it’s a useful mental tool to recognize that attention, like money, is something we pay – and that once it’s gone, it’s gone. Unlike money, where we can theoretically make more of it, attention is something that can’t be gotten back.

I challenge us to track our social media consumption.

Again, there’s an important word in that statement, this time, “consumption.” Just like a steady diet of junk food and soda makes us sick, a steady diet of junk media clogs up our brains and makes us sick. So what if we were to take the bull by the horns and really work to curtail that scrolling? Is there a way to help technology help us?

Indeed there is, and it’s called a social media tracker or monitor.

Available on both Android and iPhone, many are free. The one I use is called QualityTime. It gives me daily reports on what apps consume the most of my time and is directly responsible for me removing Facebook from my phone altogether. I just don’t need the negativity in my life, and I don’t want to waste the amount of time I was spending on the platform. I’d rather be making something and writing books.

Here are some other suggestions:

1. Moment, available on iPhone.
2. Forest, available on Android and iPhone.
3. AppDetox, available on Android.
4. Offtime, available on Android and iPhone.
5. ShutApp, available on iPhone.
6. SPACE, available on iPhone.

It’s worth noting that there are multiple apps that help us to accomplish the goal of scrolling around less, which should tell us that many people are – rightly! – concerned about it. Social media addiction is of growing concern to mental health practitioners. Even the venerable Mayo Clinic has sounded the alarm, stating that 25% of youth are addicted to phones.  The mental health impacts aren’t just on our attention, either: it’s been linked to increased rates of depression. anxiety, stress, and poor sleep. In fact, they state that it’s even more concerning than substance abuse.

Your Challenge, Should You Choose To Accept It:

Download one of the tracking apps and use it this week. Use it without judgment, just with openness and curiosity. What is your most-used app? How much time do you spend on apps? What would you like to be doing more of?

And I think you’ll find, as I did, that there are many benefits to becoming more intentional about our social media consumption.

Tomorrow, join me for Foody Friday and see what I’ve got up my sleeve for you!