The Cost of Attention

In N. Katherine Hayles article Hyper and Deep Attention: The Generational Divide in Cognitive Modes, the supposition is leveled that humanity is shifting from one form of attention to a very different form. The first form, deep attention, which is used most often in higher education, is “characterized by concentrating on a single object for long periods (say, a novel by Dickens), ignoring out-side stimuli while so engaged, preferring a single information stream, and having a high tolerance for long focus times.” While this form of attention is seen as being traditional, Hayles notes that, evolutionarily, the more chaotic hyper attention preceded its patient counterpart. This more capricious form of attention is “characterized by switching focus rapidly among different tasks, preferring multiple information streams, seeking a high level of stimulation, and having a low tolerance for boredom.” There is a sense that the two have to coexist with in each of us, as we are mere animals in the eyes of biology, yet we have situated ourselves comfortably atop the food chain, enough so that we are able to enjoy and reap the benefits of utilizing (the admittedly less practical) deep attention. Though there are fewer than there once were, there are still dangers present in the world, and we must be able to draw ourselves away from Dickens on occasion (no matter how captivating), to ensure that we may continue to enjoy such a “luxury.”

            Hayles’ description of hyper attention seems quite relevant to Frank McCormick’s poem Attention Deficit Disorder. The first stanza provides an especially insightful vision of life through the perspective of an individual who cannot focus in any way other than through hyper attention. The first line, “I guess I paid attention to the wrong things,” suggests a) that there is a qualitative value applied to the things on which one chooses to focus (which may well be true) and b) that the speaker feels his attention is not at his command, for if it were, he would have likely made an effort to pay attention to the right things. The following lines depict the minor details to which the speaker did pay attention, including the “empty space between the words,” the “silent edges of the textbook,” and also the physical characteristics of the teacher (i.e., shape, color, wrinkles). Despite being able to only focus sporadically and on miscellaneous objects, the speaker, in the final line of the stanza, remarks that he remembers them vividly, even claiming the capacity to “re-draw them in my sleep.” It could be read and interpreted to mean he has vivid, almost lucid dreams about the random subjects of his hyper attention, but either way, waking or dreaming, the stanza as a whole suggests that, while a Dickens novel may be cumbersome, in small doses, what hyper attention lands on is locked into the memory with a tenacity that is formidable.