Spotlight, starlight, and daylight

In his book Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention, Johann Hari explains why we have lost our ability to focus, the causes, and how we get it back. He makes mention of James Williams and his distinction of the three lights of attention that are undermined by distractions in our lives. They are spotlight, starlight, and daylight.

The spotlight of attention enables us to focus on our immediate goals, such as writing an email, tidying up the house, and caring for a friend. However, we fracture this form of attention when we get interrupted by online notifications or distracted by an advertisement. A study conducted at the University of California, Irving, indicated that it takes, on average, 23 minutes to refocus. Due to the frequency of distractions, some of us, in fact, never reach a deep form of attention.

Starlight shines on our medium-term goals, such as learning an instrument, improving our health, or completing a project. With average social media use at over two hours a day, one can only imagine the range of thwarted achievements.

Finally, daylight supports us to “want what we want to want”. This is the light of our values and long-term goals. Williams warns that undermining our daylight may be the most serious and unnoticed consequence of constantly disrupting our attention.