Age of Distractions

Our age is age of distractions. Instant messages, notifications, breaking news, endless stories, cute pet videos, random comments on social media are all distractions of one form or other. These distractions are dividing our attention which is already in short supply. Due to this, anything real like relationships, our own problems and issues, our thoughts and ideas forever remain on back burner. We don’t have time to sit with our own thoughts and ideas. How can we be healthy if we remain disconnected from ourselves?

We distract ourselves with shorts, reels or some random series on a streaming platform. We desperately want connection with real people but settle for fictional characters. Binge watching helps subsume the pain of truth. Truth that we should be working on our own problems, developing new skills, building strong relationships with real people. Somewhere in the back of our minds we all are well aware of this. We know all these distractions are sucking happiness out of our lives. But instant gratification wins over real hard work. “What are you talking about, Rohan? I can easily stave off distractions”. Maybe you can but I have found it incredibly hard thing to do. Maybe that’s just me but something tells me I’m not alone.

Large corporations have poured billions to ensure as many eyeballs as possible remain active on their platforms. Why is notification on every social media plotform, red? Because we humans associate red with danger, something that needs our attention. That is why traffic light for stop is red. These large corporations have discovered numerous such hacks and they employ it without any regard for users well being. For them our attention is worth billions. The real question is how much our own attention is worth to us? What would we achieve if we could direct all our energy into our own well being?

So how do we focus on ourselves? Well the first thing is to identify these distractions. It may be the most crucial step. Once we identify distractions it becomes easier to block them. The blocking process can involve using browser extensions or apps that block access to certain websites with fixed time slots. No solution is full proof. You will go back and forth between blocking and unblocking. What is important is you enable blocking every time you unblock. Think of it like this: blocking distractions is like building a muscle in your brain. The more you practice the stronger it becomes. Doom scrolling is what they gave us and took control of our time. Blocking is our way of fighting back and taking back that control.