Folly and Shame

“If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.”

Musician and producer Rick Beato demonstrated the truth of Solomon’s words in a recent video. He tracked the viewing time of critics of his theories about human creativity. On average, these viewers consumed only 3:47 of a video over nine minutes long before stopping to pound out their (often very well expressed) objections to what Rick was saying.

The problem? They hadn’t heard the last two-thirds of his case.

As it turns out, Beato had patiently explored the very issues his critics claimed he was ignoring, and he’d even gone to the trouble of picking out some visuals to go with them. They were answering before they had heard, and the result was something as close to folly and shame as YouTube has to offer these days. With a big smile on his face, Rick made his critics look like drooling imbeciles.

47 Seconds and Counting

Experts disagree in the finer details about what exactly is causing shrinking attention spans, but all agree it is happening. Some TV commercials are now as short as six seconds. TV and film shot lengths have decreased significantly, to the point that I no longer enjoy Hollywood camera work in most films. Jump cuts in video are common. People listen to podcasts and watch videos at 1.5x and 2x the normal speed. Are these media changes catering to reduced consumer attention spans or are they causing them? Nobody can say for sure.

Gloria Mark, psychologist and professor of informatics at University of California Irvine, author of Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity, measured the average computer user’s attention span at 2.5 minutes in 2004, 75 seconds in 2012 and 47 seconds as of 2019.

So what, argue some. Taking the occasional break from a concentrated activity is good for you. Sure it is. Just depends how you define “occasional”. Attention shifting four times in a little over three minutes doesn’t sound occasional to me. And remember, 47 seconds is the average, not the minimum. Some people’s concentration span is even more truncated.

The Problem with Switching Tracks

As Dr. Mark points out, switching tracks every 47 seconds poses bigger problems than you imagine. The first is stress. The faster attention shifts occur, the higher the heart rate and blood pressure. The University of California team measured their test subjects and found increases in their actual and perceived stress levels. Second, as attention shifts occur, performance slows due to something called switch cost. That can be expensive for employers when multiplied by the number of short attention spans in an organization. Third, people make more errors.

Some errors, like the ones Beato caught, are amusing and largely inconsequential. But I used to work in an industry where a single multi-tasking slip-up could cost the company $45,000. I know, because I did it once myself. Most operators don’t get a second chance to do that.

So then, too many attention shifts can cost you, and it can cost you big time.

Attention Spans in the Spiritual World

Solomon says the man who starts talking before he has processed all the facts is foolish and shameful. He’s an embarrassment. This surely holds true in the spiritual world.

I’m posting this on a Sunday morning, and a good number of our readers will be perusing it after lunch, having heard the word of God taught from the platform this morning. Let me ask you this: Did you really focus your attention to take in and process what your pastor, preacher or visiting Bible teacher had to say, or did your mind wander all over the place? If I’m honest, it’s often the latter, and I’m not a young man anymore.

Worse, if you stopped to offer a gentle correction to some aspect of the speaker’s message on the way out the door (or, more likely, dissected his presentation in front of your family over lunch), are you 100% sure you gave him a fair hearing before launching into your theological critique? Did you really hear what he said, or just what you expected him to say? Did you double down on your listening efforts when you heard something you didn’t agree with, or did you just start composing your response in your head?

A Mind in Flight

How about over coffee? Can you honestly say you heard and reacted to the substance of all the conversations in which you took part? Or did you jump in at first opportunity with a personal anecdote, taking the conversation off on a different track and denying your brother or sister in Christ a chance to express what was on their mind? Don’t be embarrassed. I do it too. But we need to stop doing it and start hearing our fellow believers. If we value them like the Lord does, we’ll grant them that dignity.

How about worship? Can you think something intelligible and useful about the glories of Christ in 47 seconds? Maybe, maybe not. I guarantee your meditations will be increasingly glorifying to the Lord and beneficial to others the longer you can bring yourself to shake off your programming and insist on subjecting your intellect and auditory faculties to your will for the glory of God.

Loving with the Mind

Problems with attention span are not limited to those who use technology for a living. We all have trouble with concentration these days, even when engaged in something as important as listening to the word of God, worshiping or engaging with our fellow believers.

So let me ask you this: Do you love the Lord with “all your mind”? If you aspire to, you’re going to have to really work at it. It sure won’t happen naturally.