Attention - Seeking

 "Attention is the new money."  - Ezra Klein on the Ezra Klein Show

Sociologists have observed the shrinking attention span of modern Americans, most obvious in teenagers but impacting adults, as well. Horrified by my own increasing phone usage, I vowed to reduce it in the new year and succeeded for a whole week before the "time on your phone" stat crept up again. As I'm in the thick of it with high school swimming I tell myself that it's just swim times and playlists, but I can't quite pull the wool over my own eyes (such is my preoccupation with swimming, though, that I first wrote "pool" instead of "pull").

Any increased phone usage is not spent on news doom-scrolling, I guarantee you, since my peace of mind can't tolerate more than thirty seconds of the current headlines. My first venture back into non-frivolous podcasting (i.e. NOT "Call Her Daddy" or "Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce") was my listen to Ezra Klein's show last week. 

Klein's statement "attention is the new money" caught me off-guard while at the same time hitting home. He noted that the oligarchs now on podiums and in seats of government are not your standard billionaires but the ones who control the flow of information via websites, newspapers and social media sites. Those who control information can alter reality for users of their platforms. As Klein noted, one party seems to understand this and one does not - to their great detriment.

I will leave further political observations to the experts but remind myself that Klein's concise summary runs parallel to familiar exhortations "Where the mind goes, energy flows" and the Biblical "Where your heart is, there your treasure will be also." I am trying - for now - to focus on the positive and fill my brain with positive possibilities instead of negative outcomes. I want my energy flowing to life-affirming actions that I can control. These include music I listen to, books or articles that I read, and to helping the young people I coach.

My current favorite playlist has "sun keeps on shining" (almost monday), "Life is Beautiful" (Tim McMorris) and "Feeling Alive"  (Earl St. Clair). The upbeat, positive music sinks in so much that some days I wake up singing "Life is great, life is beautiful."  Good books keep me focused on the positive power of words, and affirming young swimmers helps them reach goals. If attention is the new money, I want to build up my resources and spend them well.