Focus vs Distraction

I recall as a child using my imagination creating board games, creating highways in the dirt for my hot wheels and playing pretend which I believe all nourished my creativity and imagination.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
Albert Einstein

Growing up I remember tinkering with things such as a broken toy, or better yet braking my toy in order to figure out how it worked and to rebuild it better. At least that was always my goal. I remember sitting in silence listening to my mind and ponder. I remember having discussions on certain subjects in my mind. I specifically remember math always being a great contemplation in my mind. I didn’t mind having discussions with myself. I believe these examples nourished and fortified my critical thinking skills.

I can recall when I could read and naturally be able to focus. Only agter the 90s did i begin to have to re-read pages often. I still find myself having to do this. I remember riding my bike for what seemed like ten hours at a time on the weekends. I remember sitting up on a guava tree for hours doing homework after school. I remember playing with my dog for hours. I believe these examples built and reinforced focus and kept distractions at bay.

According to a study conducted at the University of California, Irvine, it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to regain focus after an interruption. This means that even if you’re only distracted a few times a day, you can lose an hour of work.

When Bill Gates first met Warren Buffett, their host, Gates’ mother, asked everyone around the table to share the single most important factor to their success. Gates and Buffett both gave the same one-word answer: “Focus.”

Imagination, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Focus are extremely important skills one should exercise in order to maximize ones potential and fulfillment in life.

As much as I love the information age for it has given us the ability to have knowledge at our fingertips literally, i fear we’re slowing our progress as individuals. I remember learning something through a book and springing into action, becoming inspired by it. Now, I find myself reading something and because there such a vast amount of information on it i fall deeply into a rabbit hole of endless information and the distraction doesn’t even allow action to come to mind. By the time I realize this, its 3:00 a.m.

Back in the days we sat around the table and talked, played cards and monopoly. We would go on walks, interact with other people and build strong relationships. I fear the zombie apocalypse with handing my children computers, cell phones, handheld game devices and such to keep them busy rather than spending time with them.

If you died and god gave you 48 hours to go back, would you allow your kids to be on those devices a single minute? Would you waste a single minute on your cell phone?

I listen to an interview with several artists the other day and they brought up the point that only two industries call their customers Users, drug dealers and social media. Another pointed out that folks pray to their devices, hence why they hold it with two hands and bow their heads. To put it more simply the last one pointed out the name a phone has, cellphone because we are imprisoned by it.  Scary stuff really.

I am not speaking from a high horse. I am just as guilty as anyone else. I just have to work it out in my mind, on paper, and create awareness of things in order to go into action.

I can see much more negative than positive on spending copious amounts of time on the devices. I do believe that electronic devices and the type of video games nowadays teach you how to multitask. I used to even think critically while playing Mario Bros back in the days to try to figure out how to pass the levels. Now my kids have YouTube opened next to them to think for them. I think its all just numbing. Thankfully we don’t depend on devices to teach our kids to teach them critical thinking but many parents don’t teach them.

Unfortunately, many if not most parents depend on schools, daycares, churches, and babysitters to teach their kids how to think. The thing is that education away from the parents will teach kids What to think. We as parents need to not only filter that but it is our responsibility to teach them How to think. The problem is that we’re so distracted by our own devices and because we’ve conditioned our brains to be filled by anxiety and multitasking that we can’t even realize how we are literally damaging our own children.

I tried to find one quote on multitasking but theres so many valid ones that i had to pick several to make my point.

“To do two things at once is to do neither”

“Multitasking is the enemy of focus”

“Multitasking divides your attention and leads to confusion and weakened focus”

“The irony of multitasking is that it’s exhausting”

“Multitasking is merely the opportunity to screw up more than one thing at a time”

“Many people feel they must multi-task because everybody else is multitasking, but this is partly because they are all interrupting each other so much”

“Multitasking is a myth. People don’t do things well simultaneously, the best we can do is momentarily distract ourselves from task #1 with task #2”

“Multitasking lowers productivity, slows task completion, decreases task quality, creates stress, and leads to burnout”

“Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance because your brain can only focus on one thing at a time”

“It’s possible to become so absorbed in juggling multiple tasks at once that you lose focus, make mistakes, or neglect important details”

If multitasking is the one thing devices and video games nowadays are teaching our kiddos we are in a heap of trouble. I’m sorry i went on such a rant over our children. Honestly, that wasn’t even a thought when I began writing….. I must have gotten distracted.

My initial thought was on why would we go to an ATM, withdraw a huge portion of our money and throw it in the trash? I feel that’s what we as Adults do with our Imagination, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Focus by carrying around our devices and paying attention to nonsense when we could be making deposits into our minds, bodies, and souls by doing virtually anything else. The kiddos came to mind because we influence the next generation 20 Xs more than we can imagine.

Let’s get back to our natural evolution fortifying our Imagination, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Focus in order to flourish. Lets use the devices as a tool. Don’t allow yourself to become a tool because of the devices.

Thank you for attending my TedTalk lol

Love y’all