FOCUSED ATTENTION AND ATTENTIVE LISTENING...ARE WE LOSING IT?

The idea for this discussion came out as a direct result of our business development plans during the past few months.

I attended few seminars for small business owners in our area and there was a common thread in all their presentations. They kept saying..."You only have 15 seconds to grab people's attention...if you don't do you will lose them."

Then I have noticed that in conversations with some people they do not maintain any eye contact while chatting. They look away, gaze around and it is as if they are not capable of focusing on anything or anyone for more than a couple of minutes...if you even get that long.

Then there are those who can't wait for others to finish a sentence before they rudely interrupt, change the subject or override the person who was speaking only a moment before.

My next example are those who do make eye contact but you can tell they are not really listening. It is abundantly clear that they are far more involved in their own thoughts than anything anyone else has to say.

Even on discussion forums there are some members who present themselves and their ideas with a seemingly genuine interest in learning more about others. Then there are the little flip one liners that make many of us wonder...why bother?

Our work as life coaches often involves families members and teachers. They express concern about how young people are decimating languages with short form words that many do not "get." They see young people more involved with their blackberries and chatting to a variety of friends on line rather than getting out and connecting in person.
David and I experienced the same from some people when we asked them to read content on the website and give us critical feedback. Not all, but some said there was too much content for them to read...even though each link is approximately one page long.

Being that we market services...not a tangible product we feel it is important for prospective clients to be able to read who we are and what we are offering. The same thing used to happen when I posted longer discussions on Mylot. Too long discussions...can't read it...make them shorter and then I will reply. Again not everyone said that...but there have been enough over my two years there to make me aware that it is a growing mindset.

Now there is Twitter where people have a minimum number of characters to respond and that is shortening focus and attention span even more.

All these incidents are just observations of mine. However, I am curious if any of you are finding similar dynamics in your exchanges with people? If these examples are becoming the "norm" for modern society what does that say about us? Are we really making enough time for who and what matters to us?

So if our attention span is decreasing then what does it represent and where is it leading us? Are we so caught up in our own lives that there is no time to stay present, attentive and caring to friends and strangers alike? None of us can change what we are not aware of...so are you aware of these observations too...or is it just my perspective?