Continuous Partial Attention

Continuous Partial Attention

On Slashdot this morning, I ran across an interesting and true piece submitted by ubercombatwombat on what is called "Continuous Partial Attention," a syndrome brought on by a high-tech age in which you can count on people who should be paying attention to you discreetly (or indiscreetly) using one or more mobile devices while you speak. The article he links speaks mainly of conferences and business meetings, but I can see this happening in college, too. Laptop keys chatter incessantly (especially in a class like philosophy), and I know they can't all be taking notes the whole time. Even the tables at GPC, which are generally 6 inches shorter than that class's textbook, can hide a cellphone at waist level for the purpose of txt msgs.

While answering my softphone and checking my mail simultaneously I ran across the following article by Steven Levy. In it he writes about a speaker named Linda Stone and something she called "Continuous Partial Attention." I finally had a phrase for the reason I turn off wi-fi, asked people to turn off their cell phones and put away their crackberrys when I am speaking to a group. I suffer from this too. Starting today I am going to do something about it, brb.

Isn't this how we all look at it? I can sit and wonder why people are instant messaging during math class (and sharing the screen with their neighbor, too), but I still walk up to the bookstore counter with iPod earbuds in my ears—whether I have the music up loud or not. Americans today are always trying to keep the plates spinning. And, if I can take my non-multi-tasking self as any example, the majority of the time, the most annoying task wins over the others.

Maybe this is why we can't sit still in church. Maybe this is why 8-hour sermons would kill a church faster than the preacher showing up with a nose ring. Maybe this is why people have to be reminded to silence their cellphones. Maybe this is why this generation can't enjoy a silent movie, but a shirtless, rectangular sponge constantly screaming in the soprano range is deemed entertainment. Maybe this is why we can plug a sermon podcast into the rush hour drive but can't sit and directly read Scripture for an hour.

What have we lost? What is the cause of this phenomenon? That will take some more thought on my part and on yours. My duty of dredging up the symptoms is done: now we all have to figure out the cause and, in true Barney Fife style, nip it in the bud. We're losing the ability to be still, and you know what comes next...

And is it any coincidence that the TLA here is CPA? I think not.