Two Weeks
Much has been made about our destroyed attention spans, and the effect it’s had on all aspects of our culture, from schooling to art to interpersonal life. I’m less interested in litigating if it’s real or not (it is) than I am in simply figuring out what should be done about it. It’s something I felt in myself a few years ago, leading me to rededicate myself to my meditation practices, and most recently make a new commitment to reading. I’m still early in this journey, but it’s been incredible to me how much of an impact it’s made not only in my ability to focus, but also my ability to think clearly, and the depth of my thoughts.
Recently, I came across this tweet which struck to the core of something I felt was important:
As somebody who has gone back and forth with this, you really only need like two weeks replacing screen time with reading to get your attention span back
— yung zoë (@yungkitty404) January 12, 2025
You’re not permanently fucked and resetting is easier than you think. Put down your phone and pick up a book.
I think it’s easy to think about problems like our own attention span, or larger issues like global warming, as systemic (they are), or so big they can’t be addressed. But with this sort of grumbling, I want to start with the question: So what have you tried? I’m prone to this tendency, too, but it seems the answer is often, “not much.” I get the instinct, but I think the answers are there, and even better, the solutions are closer than you think.
I don’t think my attention span was obliterated compared to some people, and certainly I don’t possess the ability to read, think, or focus as well as other yet. Even so, it’s been truly remarkable how much of an improvement I’ve felt over the past few weeks, simply though a small about of dedicated reading time.
This goes beyond just reading, just focusing. I stumbled across this YouTube video not long ago, whose thesis is that in the context of any given math class, the “worst” student could catch up to the “best” student over the course of two weeks of work. I’m not in any math classes, and might never be again, but I think the message is applicable to make facets of life. I’ve heard the same about one’s circadian rhythm—that a weekend of camping and following the Sun is enough to get back on track. Is it easy? No! But it is simple. You just have to put in the work.
The intention to change something is the first step in doing so.
Of course, this is the hard part. We can identify the problems well enough, but get into loads of issues debating what the correct solution is, let alone actually doing the work. I’m not saying you should leave thinking at the door and just dive into something from the jump, but action is the means by which things get better.
It’s amazing to me that we can think about something, want to change something in ourselves, and then make it happen; in fact, that intention to change something is the first step in doing so. Whether it’s learning a language, gaining the ability to focus more, or simply sleeping and waking with more regularity, there’s room to grow; I never want to take that for-granted. It’s the most amazing thing about people. Honestly, it bums me out to hear people talk about things as “just the way they are.” I’m hardly the first to notice this, but it turns out almost everything is more flexible than it seems! We can change ourselves, in turn changing systems, changing society around us.
No, it’s not easy, and there are often multiple solutions; isn’t that great? But if you want to get stronger, there’s really no substitute for working out. The writer Blake Butler wrote an article about maximizing time for reading, and noted that the ability to read difficult works in not some talent bestowed only to the gifted, or accessible only to those privileged enough to enter academia. The way you become able to read Ulysses is to sit down and open it up. No, you might not understand everything right away; try reading it again!
We do a lot to try and talk ourselves around doing the thing in itself, but there’s no substitute. More often than we think, the problem and the answer are the same. We want to focus more? Well, what have you tried?
