Cognitive Hyper-Attention Style

We’ve grown up with mobile phones, in the middle of the never ending consumer battles between big companies like Apple and Microsoft. Because this is our reality we need to be informed about the physiological effects technology has on us. That being said, we can’t entirely change ourselves, but we can be more conscious about how our thinking has developed and understand how we can improve as individuals with technology.

I recently read a research paper by Katherine N. Hayles proclaiming that our generation has experienced a shift in our cognitive abilities from a traditional deep-attention style to a modern hyper-attention style. She argues that this has challenged our abilities to perform at all educational levels. And after silently observing …show more content…
Well, quoting the Wall Street Journal exactly, “The problem, they say, is that we spend so much time maintaining superficial connections online that we aren’t dedicating enough time or effort to cultivating deeper real-life relationships.” We can all agree that our hyper-attention is due to technology and it has affected our ability to perform academically. But we are now seeing it affect our ability to cultivate deep, real-life friendships. See, a deep real-life friendship requires a deeper focus and more effort, we have to be committed to building the friendship overtime, and ultimately not give into something else when we “get bored”. Social media has made this difficult for us. We are used to the easy access of talking to someone who seems interesting, but can be really far away from you. But when we talk to someone in real life and label them as boring, we avoid these people because of our low tolerance for boredom. See, it’s easy to pick and choose on social media who we want to talk to, but in real life, people don’t wear dressed up biographies on them so they can appeal to everyone. Scrolling through someone’s Instagram feed doesn 't mean you know someone. Following each other on Instagram doesn’t mean you are friends. Commenting on or liking each others picture doesn’t mean you have a thing for each other. It takes time to …show more content…
Because of social media and technology we have access to current events in the world and are connected with our real-friends who might be miles away Our educational systems are becoming more technology-friendly where our preference for multiple streams of information can actually thrive. This can mean we’re able to access a ton of information online, and that lectures have the potential to be more engaging by incorporating response clickers to increase our participation. Also, our hyper-attention cognitive style has made us to think quickly on our feet which is important in a job, internship, or any form of interview. I don’t want you to leave here today thinking I’m trying to change your way of thinking one hundred and eighty degrees, but I want to bring awareness to how technology has psychologically both changed challenged us, educationally and socially. In the end, we should strive to become a more educated and genuine person everyday, while using technology and social media in order to grow as individuals. Our future is not determined by whether we have deep attention or hyper attention - but by everyday choices - and that’s in our hands and not in