Not that long ago, I began to start my classes by taking a moment to collectively turn our devices to Do Not Disturb. This is paired with a slide image of where to find the Do Not Disturb function on the phone (in case one is not sure). From time to time, it also includes a reminder that my students are paying a lot of money to sit in my classroom (NYU is not cheap), and if I were them, I would want to pay attention and get my money’s worth out of me.
I had thought about banning laptops as some colleagues had started doing, and letting the students take notes the old-fashioned way – with paper and pencil, but that seemed a bit contradictory when I am teaching Digital Marketing Strategy or Social Media and the Brand. So the Do Not Disturb button was my compromise with myself.
Attention spans are at an all-time low
According to Gloria Mark, technology distracts us every 47 seconds.
Let that sink in.
Forty-seven seconds.
My GenZ grad students are more easily distracted and more addicted to their devices than previous generations. But it’s not just GenZ that’s attention-deprived. It’s all of us.
Brands Thrive On Distracting Us
Starbucks announced that its Pumpkin Spice Latte would be available on August 26, six days before Labor Day. They want us to be thinking about falling leaves, sweaters, and Thanksgiving while we’re in the middle of our end-of-summer barbecues.
It’s not just Starbucks. Back-to-school sales started as the last firework went off on the 4th of July, and I have no doubt CVS will have Christmas candy filling the shelves before Halloween is over.
I get it. As someone who spent a career in marketing and advertising, brands are always thinking ahead to the next quarter. But dragging us along when we’re still working on our tans does nothing to help us manage our distraction addiction.
The Breaking News Factor
And then there is the news. When exactly did everything become a breaking news alert?
Monday night, in a rare moment of me watching live television, Jeopardy was interrupted by breaking news. My first thought was, what ridiculousness will this be, and why are you interrupting my show? Turns out there was real breaking and very disturbing news of a shooting in Midtown Manhattan.
But that was an outlier. Every news outlet interrupts with their version of “breaking news,” whether it’s interrupting live television or sending an alert to your phone. Sometimes there is a real reason to take us out of the moment, as was the case Monday night, but most of the time it’s just an unnecessary distraction that someone is making money off of.
We’re not victims here. We do have agency.
While it’s a stretch to think that as one person we can circumvent an entire industry that is built on distracting us so they get our attention, we do have agency in this. Turning on Do Not Disturb at the beginning of one of my classes doesn’t miraculously bring everyone into the moment and distraction-free, but that’s not the point.
The point is I try. I take a small step. For them and for me.
While the majority of my students get it, I have no doubt some ignore me, convincing themselves that I don’t notice the difference between the attention they give to checking an Instagram alert and taking notes. (I do. Reading the room is one of my superpowers.)
Managing our distractions the way we do our diets
Managing technology-related distractions so we are 100% in the moment with where we are has become one of the challenges of our time. It gets in the way of our relationships, our work, our enjoyment, and our learning. It’s contributing to societal rudeness as people walk down the street, immersed in their cellphones as though it was their best friend.
We can’t make the phones go away, nor the industry that is making money by distracting us, but we can learn to manage it in the same way we manage our diets.
If we want to stay healthy, we’re conscious of what we eat and when we eat it. We read labels. We stay away from processed food. We understand that everything in moderation is ultimately what keeps us healthy.
I love chocolate, and nothing is going to make me stop eating it. But I don’t eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and never right before I go to bed. I exercise control.
The most successful diets include changing habits, and the best way to change a habit is to start small. So turn on Do Not Disturb for an hour, read a book and see what happens. It’s a small step, but it is a start.
(This was originally published on Does This Make Sense? on Substack. Subscribe for free!?
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