Episode 7 of my monthly column for WIRED Italia, Mr. Bit, opens with the notion of "Continuous Partial Attention", coined by Linda Stone in the late Nineties. Stone described the quintessential mode of interacting with new media, i.e. devoting bits of attention to a multitude of visual stimuli. Here's Stone's definition:
"Continuous partial attention describes how many of us use our attention today. It is different from multi-tasking. The two are differentiated by the impulse that motivates them. When we multi-task, we are motivated by a desire to be more productive and more efficient. We're often doing things that are automatic, that require very little cognitive processing. We give the same priority to much of what we do when we multi-task — we file and copy papers, talk on the phone, eat lunch -- we get as many things done at one time as we possibly can in order to make more time for ourselves and in order to be more efficient and more productive. To pay continuous partial attention is to pay partial attention — CONTINUOUSLY. It is motivated by a desire to be a LIVE node on the network. Another way of saying this is that we want to connect and be connected. We want to effectively scan for opportunity and optimize for the best opportunities, activities, and contacts, in any given moment. To be busy, to be connected, is to be alive, to be recognized, and to matter" (Linda Stone)
It seems to me that this practice has become pervasive in an age where screens are proliferating and multiplying. And these screens do not demand our unmitigated, exclusive attention, like cinema. These screens are not to be watched, but looked at. We glance at our visual displays: our eyes constantly scan the multiple windows and pop-ups that appear on our computer monitors, tablets, personal internet viewers, smartphones, and game consoles. We float in a sea of information that is never really calm but never really stormy either.
If you're interested in Stone's research, I cannot recommend enough this talk: "May I Have Your Attention?" (2009). I also strongly recommend Anne Friedberg's outstanding book, "The Virtual Window. From Alberti to Microsoft" (MIT Press, 2006).
Click on the thumbnail below to read the full article (in Italian):
link: Mr. Bit
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