One of the challenging aspects of life today is glaring hyperbole. Statements of "this is the most important discovery" and "this is the only best way to do something". Headlines scream at us minute by minute demanding our attention.
All of this glaring wording of attention grabbing headlines and statements to shock and impress seems to be training so many people ignore things. To ignore most things.
The emotionally stunted among us get into it. Their attention goes from glaring headlines into the blaring notification to whatever comes up in their attention next and they give their attention to it. Some run to it and beg for more, overstimulating their glands so that more dopamine than our brain would see in a lifetime is squirted into our circulatory systems during a videogame session.
All of this is having an effect on the public discourse that our modern society requires. Discussions quickly descend into name-calling sessions and insult-infused pieces telling people where they can go right from the beginning. Some people's ability to stab someone harshly with their words into something to brag about and they practice it hourly or even more
Shocking is what all of this becomes. "Your attention, please" is a statement ignored by almost everyone in an airport or some other public venue. Because our attention is focused on something else that preys upon it.
I struggle against this myself. I've had to change my tastes and input preferences so that my brain is not so overstimulated. It still is over stimulated, my life right now is such that I can't turn that off.
So many people look at pictures or listen to self-help guides and wish that they could go and sit Zen-like in a quiet place. People pay lots of money to go and sit in silence and then get very upset when someone else's phone disrupts that silence.
Choose where you focus your attention wisely. You train yourself to focus on certain things and that training goes on for a long long time.
Please be careful.
