Attention spans and... hello?

People's attention spans aren't getting shorter. It's just simply not true. I watch people pay intense attention all the time to things for relatively long periods of time. It's not that our attention spans are getting shorter. It's that we just don't care about most of the stuff put in front of us most of the time. We simply don't care enough, because we've learned it doesn't really matter. 

People don't pay much attention to things they don't care about. It's that simple. If marketers say you've got 8 seconds (or less) to capture somebody's attention, but at the same time people are binge watching the latest series, then it's not that attention spans are shorter; people are just very quickly prioritizing whether what you've got to say is worth paying attention to or not. 

It makes sense! In a world of constant noise, we humans have learned pretty quickly to stick with only the things that stand out as a real signal, as really important or relevant to us. 

We pay attention to those things we're dedicated to, to what captures not only our superficial interest, but what captures our hearts. I guarantee you - I've seen it - a person will devote immense periods of time and focus to something they really care about, to something they are dedicated to. The problem isn't a lack of attention span, the problem is a lack of vision and meaning. Being immersed in constant noise inhibits the ability to dream big and care about something. The problem is lack of heart, and the solution is greatness of heart — magnanimity — to dare greatly and achieve magnificent things.