You Have My Complete Attention: Beyond Continuous Partial Attention

Is continuous partial attention a good thing or a bad thing?

Like so many things, in small doses, continuous partial attention can be a very functional behavior. However, in large doses, it contributes to a stressful lifestyle, to operating in crisis management mode, and to a compromised ability to reflect, to make decisions, and to think creatively. In a 24/7, always-on world, continuous partial attention used as our dominant attention mode contributes to a feeling of overwhelm, over-stimulation and to a sense of being unfulfilled. We are so accessible, we're inaccessible. The latest, greatest powerful technologies have contributed to our feeling increasingly powerless.

How do Linda’s Eras of Ideals and Ages of Attention work?

Since 1945, we have shifted from servant attention and a desire to SERVE institutional opportunity, to multi-tasking, and a desire to CREATE personal opportunity, to continuous partial attention and a  desire to SCAN for opportunity.  Now, we are moving into a new age of attention that will be characterized by uni-focus and a desire to DISCERN opportunity.

For products and services, we’ve experienced this unfolding of values:
1945-1965      products and services are about convenience
1965-1985      products and services are about features
1985-2005      products and services are about ease of use
2005-2025      products and services are about quality of life

Our evolution has taken us from being data workers to information workers to knowledge workers.  We are now moving toward becoming wisdom workers.

Is this theory U.S. centric?

In my research to date, most of the examples and time frames are U.S. centric. However, in looking at other cultures, there appears to be a similar flow from one dominant attention paradigm into the next. We may not all find ourselves in the same attention era at the same time. We are likely to find ourselves experiencing a flow: attraction to an ideal, taking the expression of the ideal to an extreme and experiencing unintended and less than pleasant consequences, giving birth to and launching a new ideal while integrating the best of what came before.

How does this play out with different generations?

The younger generations are always at the leading edge of the next dominant attention paradigm. This is one of the many reasons why the most successful companies are the ones most able to effectively recruit, employ, incent, and manage representatives from every generation and keep an active listening channel toward the ideas and ideals, and the habits and passions of the younger generation.

When I've interviewed 18-22 year olds, I notice that they are often using communications technology in a mode that I call "semi-sync."  It's not quite synchronous and it's not really asynchronous communication either.  Text messaging is often used in a semi-sync way.   

Many in the generation now entering the workforce view phone calls as intrusive and prefer text messaging.  In interviews, orbits of communication are described:   My Space to keep up with a wide set of friends and acquaintances, text messaging for both one to one and one to many communications and, for one's closest friends, phone calls.  Email is not preferred by Millenials (also referred to as Gen Y, the generation entering the workforce).  The email below is a Millenial auto-response to any email received.

Thanks for your email ... to help expedite your inquiry, here's is some useful information:

- The fastest way to reach me during working hours (9:30-6:30 Pacific Time) is via IM.  I use AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and the screenname is 'XYZ'

- If you have changes to your existing content (takedown request, correction, etc.) please email our production group directly at:  content@wxyz.com

- If you have a rights issue/dispute, please contact our legal group: legal@wxyz.com with the relevant info.

- If you have a release priority (exclusive, pre-release, etc.) that you'd like considered for feature, please be sure to forward advance copies to me along with info (UPC, release date, type of release: new, exclusive, etc) a minimum of 2-3 weeks prior to anticipated live date.  That way I will have time to review and schedule for you here.

Any other questions?  You can always leave me a message via email or phone (ttt-ttt-tttt) and I will get back to you as soon as possible.  However, response time with IM is immediate. 

Many thanks!

This response takes the receiver off the hook for responding and lets the sender know, how to resolve issues, in real time or refers them elsewhere.  IM is a preferred communication medium.  Interactions have a clear beginning and end, unlike email.   Finally, and more typical of Millenials, hours at work are “bounded.”

What do we do about it?

We have focused on managing our time. Our opportunity is to focus on how we manage our attention. Managing time is done through lists.  Managing attention is done through intention.  Managing time is all about optimization and efficiency.  Managing attention is all about making choices – deciding what does and does NOT get done.   Managing time is tactical and it’s an action journey.  Managing attention is strategic and it’s an emotional journey. 

We are evolving beyond an always-on lifestyle. As we make choices to turn the technology OFF, to give full attention to others in interactions, to block out interruption-free time, and to use the full range of communication tools more appropriately, we will re-orient our trek toward a path of more engaged attention, more fulfilling relationships, and opportunities for the type of reflection that fuels innovation.

Why care?

As we move forward, we never totally give up what we integrate from eras past.  We simply shift focus and embrace new thoughts of what will bring us that which we have come to long for.
There is a wonderful evolution taking place. Understanding how it's unfolding offers insights into what drives us and what inspires us.

Vocabulary

Ages of Attention
When I talk about my research, I talk about twenty-year socio-cultural eras their accompanying attention strategies.  I've given names to each Era.  I've also given names to each Age of Attention:  starting in 1945, the Age of Servant Attention; starting in 1965, the Age of Multi-tasking; starting in 1985, the Age of Continuous Partial Attention; and starting in 2005, the Age of Uni-Focus.

Attention density
How much attention a certain type of communication requires (for example, a telephone call has high attention density; a text message is relatively low attention density)

Attention foreplay
I can best describe this with a story.  Here you go -- as told to me by a wife and mother in New York City in November 2006.   "Our husbands come home from work, glued to their Blackberries.  They don't talk with us or with the children.  They don't connect with us.   And then, when we go to bed, they want sex.  I don't think so."

Eras (as I see it; related to attention)
Each era is characterized by the ideal that emerges as most commonly held by society at the time.   Ages of Attention are in service to pursuit of the ideals.   Starting in 1945, Era of Service to Institutions (I serve); starting in 1965, Era of Self-Expression (I create); starting in 1985, Era of Connection (I connect); starting in 2005, Era of Protection and Belonging (I protect).

Semi-sync
Communication that is not fully synchronous (like phone calls) and not fully asynchronous (like email).  I.M. and text messaging are often used semi-synchronously.