Do any of you feel like you are in your own little world when you are on your phone texting someone. I do and I hope I am not the only one! Many times when I am texting someone my mom will start talking to me and I know she is talking to me, but I do not comprehend what she is even saying to me. She gets very frustrated and I actually have to stop texting to listen to her and respond to what she is saying to me. She tells me I cannot multi-task, but after learning about the selective attention process, I think that is what is occurring. The selective attention process is the process by which we are able to select stimuli from our environment for further processing at the expense of other stimuli that are present (Wede, Josh). Attention is the filter that allows certain information through, while others are not (Wede, Josh). So, what is happening is since i am focused on whatever i am saying to the person i am texting i am not paying attention to the other present stimuli being my mom talking to me.
This goes for the same as texting and driving. When you are texting your attention is focused on the keyboard and saying the right thing, not what is going on in your environment around you. Texting is something that is used day to day but when you think about it, it is very dangerous to be doing in certain situations because it takes up so much of your attention, that you cannot focus on anything else around you while putting your attention toward that. Therefore, make sure to be aware of how much attention is being focused on one thing because it can hinder something else in a negative way.
Reference: Wede, Josh. “Lesson 4 Attention.” N.p., n.d. Web. 9 June 2015. <https%3A%2F%2Fcourses.worldcampus.psu.edu%2Fsu15%2Fpsych256%2F001%2Fcontent%2F05_lesson%2F01_page.html>.
Selective attention is a very interesting and important ability that our minds possess, which aids us in simple day to day tasks, as well as important tasks that require a great deal of focusing. I can relate to what you said about texting because I find myself doing that all the time. I am absorbed in the conversation I have on my phone while someone else is talking to me, and then I have to ask them to repeat themselves.
This applies to a variety of tasks that we do everyday. Something that comes to my mind is how I study for these online courses amidst so many distractions. My family can be very loud at times, and sometimes the dog barks or starts ripping apart a sock, or just all kinds of sounds from the neighborhood and the television.
It helps me a lot during meditation where the point is to really focus on something and block out any other thoughts that come to mind. I find that with practice, it becomes easier and easier to focus on one thing. This sets humans apart from animals, where we can actively chose which stimuli to respond to and animals cannot. However, this also means that we do not absorb everything in our environment and I can’t help but wonder what we might be missing out on in our everyday lives.
Selective attention is a very interesting and important ability that our minds possess, which aids us in simple day to day tasks, as well as important tasks that require a great deal of focusing. I can relate to what you said about texting because I find myself doing that all the time. I am absorbed in the conversation I have on my phone while someone else is talking to me, and then I have to ask them to repeat themselves.
This applies to a variety of tasks that we do everyday. Something that comes to my mind is how I study for these online courses amidst so many distractions. My family can be very loud at times, and sometimes the dog barks or starts ripping apart a sock, or just all kinds of sounds from the neighborhood and the televhttps://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/central/ision.
It helps me a lot during meditation where the point is to really focus on something and block out any other thoughts that come to mind. I find that with practice, it becomes easier and easier to focus on one thing. This sets humans apart from animals, where we can actively chose which stimuli to respond to and animals cannot. However, this also means that we do not absorb everything in our environment and I can’t help but wonder what we might be missing out on in our everyday lives
Selective attention is a very interesting and important ability that our minds possess, which aids us in simple day to day tasks, as well as important tasks that require a great deal of focusing. I can relate to what you said about texting because I find myself doing that all the time. I am absorbed in the conversation I have on my phone while someone else is talking to me, and then I have to ask them to repeat themselves.
This applies to a variety of tasks that we do everyday. Something that comes to my mind is how I study for these online courses amidst so many distractions. My family can be very loud at times, and sometimes the dog barks or starts ripping apart a sock, or just all kinds of sounds from the neighborhood and the television.
It helps me a lot during meditation where the point is to really focus on something and block out any other thoughts that come to mind. I find that with practice, it becomes easier and easier to focus on one thing.
I completely understand what you are saying about texting and having a conversation at the same time. I’ve even noticed that I know when you say “uh-huh” or “yeah”, even though I never really heard what was being said. I’ve gotten so good at this, that sometimes the person actually thinks that I’ve heard them and then later I’m in trouble because I have to confess that I have no idea what they said.
I think that these are all prime examples of automatic processing. According to our book, this process is often completely unintentional and only takes a small amount of our cognitive resources. I assume that I can pay enough attention to pauses and inflection to know when a response is required, but am unable to give enough attention to comprehend what is being said. The book is right in that I don’t even intend to do this, and afterwards, I often wish that I hadn’t. This really makes you wonder how often we are really being listened to versus receiving an automatized response because the person we are speaking to is lost in their own thoughts.
I’ve got to say that even though automatic processing can be a useful function in many situations, it may be hindering communication on a grand scale. How much more peace and understanding would there be if we could turn this process off and really listen to one another? In the digital age, with more and more distractions creeping into our lives at every turn, I wonder if automatic processing will continue to evolve. A lot of food for thought in this blog post!
References
Goldstein, B. (2011). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience, Third Edition. Belmont, CA. Cengage Learning