Outsourced Attention

Every time you open a book, watch something on TV, read the news, or scroll through a social media app, you're choosing where to place your attention. But in some of those cases—especially with social media—you’re not just choosing what to focus on. You’re handing over the steering wheel. That might sound dramatic, but it’s true. Most platforms are designed to choose for you—based not on what nourishes you, but on what keeps you engaged. On what keeps you scrolling. And while we all know this intellectually, we often don’t feel the emotional cost in the moment, and in some ways, it can feel like we’re no match for it, there’s not much we can do about it. But, and Attention is finite. And what you pay attention to becomes your experience. So when we give that attention away—when we let an algorithm choose what fills our mind—we are, in a very real way, outsourcing our emotional state. Now, I’m not saying you need to quit social media or delete apps, but I would encourage you to become more deliberate. Notice where you are placing your attention and how it makes you feel.