In recent days I have read multiple studies and seen various reports of how hard it is for our society today to pay attention. We suffer, as a nation, from attention deficit disorder, to varying degrees. “Our attention spans are so limited now days” we are told over and over again. We are saturated with a rather powerful stream of data that confirms this belief. We are told that the influences of 30 minute sitcoms, the visual stimulation of 3D movies, the blitz of info splashed on the screen of any ESPN and MSNBC program, and the instant gratification of video games, and so forth have so programmed us that we can no longer handle long lectures or lengthy, systematic arguments laid out in books. To this pile we can add a host of other contributors. The usual suspects being the instant data devices like cell phones, iPods, and the internet (email, Wikipedia, blogs, Youtube, Facebook, etc.).
We are told that our communication must fit into this mold if we want to be heard. We must content ourselves with bite sized portions and even then we need to glitz it up for the listener. Now all of this finds relevance to me as it comes down to the church. "Preaching and teaching in the church has to change accordingly" it is proclaimed. And churches must likewise cater as much as possible to this cultural reality (of short attention spans) or face extinction!
I don’t buy it.
I hear the data, I see the reports – just like anyone else – but I refuse to believe it. You might think I am cramming my fingers in my eyes or shoving my head in the sand but just hear me out. I will readily admit that we may dig ourselves into a hole with these afore mentioned things but the fact of the matter is if you are addicted to something, if you are obsessed with something, your attention span is nearly boundless.
Toenail Polish – hmm Interesting.
You meet a girl. You fall in love. You could gaze into her eyes for a month before you came back to earth. Time is flying by you and sleep is an enemy you wish you could pummel. You have no problem whatsoever paying attention to her. She could talk about toenail polish and you would be on the edge of your seat! Maybe I exaggerate a bit – but not much!
If this is a little too girly for you to relate to then just think of any recent infatuation in your life. If it was a video game then you played it until 3 in the morning. If it was a website you clicked on every link and absorbed all you surveyed. If it was a song you played it over and over again until you could sing it in your sleep.
It is interesting to note that at the same time we are being told that “we cannot pay attention to things like we used to” we have had the 2 biggest movies in over a decade come out. Both the Dark Knight and Avatar are over 2 and a half hours long (which doesn’t even count the ridiculous amount of previews before the show begins)! That’s a long time to sit in a goofy chair that doesn’t lean back, in a smelly room, with a group of total strangers. And yet people are come out in droves! Are our attention spans really that deficient or are we finding sources that excuse and justify our laziness? And here is a crazy little fun fact: less people get up to go tinkle in a 3 hour movie than they do in a 40 minute sermon! If you are that guy then you got to ask yourself, “is the preacher really that boring or am I just that disinterested?”
Access Granted.
I think what is more to the truth is that today, in our society, we just have easier access to our addictions than we ever did. We have more ways to inject what we love into our systems – but that’s it. We can feed our addictions relentlessly, in which case, if the Bible is right, only leads to a greedy lust for more – more of that which cannot satisfy (Ephesians 4 & Ecclesiastes should suffice as enough proof text)!
I will certainly admit that we are much quicker to “shut off” when we are not interested but that is because there are presented with so many other options. Why would I bother listening to this guy or read this long book when I can just hop over and buy the cliff notes or look up the Wiki-version?
It this Guy for Real?
I was talking to a salesman the other day – I should say he was talking to me. Like a salesman does, he was trying to get me to buy some junk he thought was important. He had his pitch down to the letter. He had his “pause for effect” moments and his little sales chart that showed me how much money I would save…blah, blah, blah. By the end he probably thought I was a chump that he had nearly reeled in. What He didn’t know is that I had made up my mind about 3 seconds after he started. If that was the first time I had been around a slick sales guy I would have been more inclined to listen. But I’ve been around the block enough to know that this guy was just yammering.
I think this illustrates our current cultural predicament more than the idea that “people can’t pay attention like they used to.” We choose much quicker to shut people off, mentally, because we know there are other options. When we bored with the current subject we briskly run off to some other field of interest – which we can have instant access to through our various (demonized) avenues. This means that Facebook isn’t the devil, and neither is the internet, movies, cell phones, video games or TV; but they do afford us an opportunity to visibly see, as it were, where our interests lie. That cable TV line coming into your house is just the conduit, the syringe, that you use to inject your desires into your bloodstream.
Just Blink Man, Blink!
One of the funniest things that happens to people when they play video games is that their eyes dry out. And why does this happen? Because they are so fixated on what they are doing that they refuse to blink! I call it their “Nintendo face.” Their whole body is reacting to the thing they are doing. They are transfixed. They are glued. They find what they are doing compelling, fascinating and engaging.
Now then, if you can play “Super Mario whatever” with such intensity that you allow your eyes to dry out rather than miss one stimulating moment, then I don’t think you have an attention span problem – you have a problem with what you are interested in.
