A is for Attention

MAY 21, 2025

What was I just thinking? doing? Help!

One of the casualties that arose for me during COVID and has persisted since then is a changed attention span. It is shorter, choppier. Sometimes it feels like some other little people are climbing into my brain, begging me to pay attention to the news or goods that they are sharing. Of course that's not the case. I have control over what I attend to... but it is not always easy.

Scientists and journalists have been looking at our declining attention span - two interesting books are Johann Hari's "Stolen Focus" and Chris Hayes' "The Sirens' Call." Their review of the science confirms that I am not alone.

When friends and I talk about our news consumption in these increasingly troubling times, the conversation inevitably turns to our struggles to balance taking in the latest news with guarding our mental health - and SLEEP! by being thoughtful about the what, when, and how of news intake.

Did you know that the word "doomscrolling" evolved in 2020 during the pandemic, and was added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 2023? Scientists and physicians describe several physical and mental health costs of obsessively consuming negative news which we do in an understandable attempt to stay aware and safe. Some examples of these costs are worsening depression and anxiety, existential anxiety, panic, headaches, poor sleep, and higher blood pressure.

How are you managing your intake of news? Does your sense of well-being fluctuate with how you are taking in the news?

Katie Noel is a bright young woman who has figured out what she will focus on during our trying times. I met Katie when I was Director of Graduate Psychology at Chatham University and she was the Admissions Counselor for our program. Katie always showed patience, professionalism, creativity, and good humor when she worked with our sometimes chaotic department. She has worn many different professional hats since leaving Chatham. Most recently, she threw another hat into the political ring, running for her local school board (she made it through the primary!).

Last night she shared this with me:

"One of the main reasons I decided to run for school board in my district was to create a ‘healthy’ distraction for me from the national news. I knew if I did something local in my community it would help me to find a purpose in all of this."

Katie went on to say that "we aren't well." Amen. And yet she has been able to move from her recognition of this sad state by focusing beyond the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad daily news - to serving her community.

Have you been able to make this shift, even occasionally? I am a work in progress for sure - it feels like a seesaw sometimes - overwhelmed, then learning and acting, then feeling despair, then getting up again to do something. Just to do something.

One of the solaces I discovered during the pandemic was macrophotography. I developed a daily practice of going out into the woods where there were very few people and risk of contamination was low to take pictures of the teeny tiny beautiful parts of nature. Some days I would walk into the woods feeling very heavy. Then, by shifting my focus, my attention, to what was living right before my eyes, I would find myself leaving the woods much lighter and more hopeful.

The life I found "out there" was mysterious, miraculous, and wondrous. It was very reassuring to me to see how life goes on, in and out of seasons, of centuries, of millenia. The mosses and fungi and lichen, the may apples and milkweed and wild honeysuckle, the bees and butterflies and dragonflies - they live and die in community, sharing resources, with new generations always waiting in the wings. Taking photos of these life forms is such a joy. I bring the pictures home with me that I can look at to restore my calm, that I can share with others, encouraging all of us to just breathe deeply for a bit.

This practice is one of the habits I have developed to keep my attention on what is healthy, life-giving, soul-filling. I then have energy and inspiration to engage in other more community- and political-focused acts.

I have learned, though, that it takes a commitment to shift my attention to more healthy thoughts and behaviors. I have to be intentional. To be honest, there are days of doldrums when I am not able to do this, but in the back of my mind I know that I am capable of doing so, and I get back to it.

What helps you turn away from doomscrolling, toward light and life?

Photo: Oh! A Dragonfly! Taken in North Park, summer 2024.