One of the books I read this summer, “How to Do Nothing” by Jenny Odell. The subtitle is ‘Resisting the Attention Economy’ just so you know it’s not condoning laziness. It pointed me back towards more mindfulness. However, Odell helped me understand ‘context collapse’, a term coined by social media scholar, danah boyd (Odell spelled her name without capital letters) and Alice Marwick who’s 2011 study described context collapse as the creation of “a lowest common denominator philosophy of sharing that limits users to topics that are safe for all possible readers. Situations are presented in a way that flattens past, present, and future into a constant amnesic present. The order of events, so important for understanding anyting, gets drowned out by a constant alarm bill.”
A pleasant noticeable outcome for me had perfect timing. With plenty of time off this summer, I was able to pay less attention to the ‘noise’ of daily news and relax and lean into life as it came to me. I watched less screen and engaged more intimately with nature around me. I don’t get hung up with, ‘ am I wasting time?’ I’m enjoying time, a precious commodity for all of us.