Is it possible to pay attention to TV shows or movies the way you used to? Since technology has given access to dozens of things at a time, it seems understandable that you are likely to be doing more things at once, especially if the activity does not necessarily require all of your attention at every given moment. Daily interests and forms of entertainment, such as watching TV, movies or even reading has taken a turn. Now these activities often share your time with social media updates, online shopping and texting.
The current era of home entertainment is not what it once was, when it occasionally simply shared time with dish washing or laundry duties. With the world practically at your hands thanks to smart phones, the new generation of home entertainment holds a smaller portion of your concentration. Prior to Facebook or Twitter, and most significantly texting, movies, shows and books were your focus. Bedtime rituals of TV or reading allowed you to understand what was going on in the first go around. Sure, there are times today that certain entertainment, such as a favorite show, does attain your full focus, but that is less often.
Beginning with text messaging, you can easily and more subtly communicate with people. You may be reading, but your mom or best friend is texting you; if you hear the alert, you check what is going on. Whether you choose to respond or continue a conversation is your choice, but what often happens is that you see the opportunity to do at least these two things at once -read while occasionally replying to the texts that come in every so often. By sharing your attention for the book with texting, you are not going to grasp what is going on in the story as you would have if your phone wasn’t involved.
More time passed and the subtle communication was then possible with hundreds of people. This reliance on constant communication and updates creeps in on time with not only that book, but most especially with TV time. You are watching a show or movie and feel the sudden urge to check your Facebook and Instagram feed, seeing what other people are doing, which might just be the same as you. In this day in age, Twitter is also very popular during TV show airings, with millions of fans weighing in on what is unfolding. The entertainment experience is thus no longer the same, not only because the majority of your focus is not on what is in front of you, but because you are keeping updated with what other people are doing and thinking.
Not to say that your full-on attention was always on the simple moments of entertainment via books or shows, but in general they attain much less focus today. Maybe once in a while you can go about them as you did in the old days.
Image: Via Flickr/Paul Townsend
