Attention and Sex: 5 minute video
June 6th, 2007
At the last Seattle Ignite event, I did this talk, based on this essay, about the changing nature of human attention and how great creators have controlled their attention spans. Check it out.
Ignite seattle uses the following talk format: you get 5 minutes, but most have 20 slides and each slide can only be on screen for 15 seconds. I hacked the format, as you’ll see in an interesting way.
You can find other videos from Seattle ignite here.
Subscribe via RSS 
Excellent presentation and a very interesting insight.
This presentation and your essay on the same topic tell a great message. Sadly, I feel that only a rare few in society are actively aware when their attention is half engaged, or aware of the effect it has upon them.
I believe that the fracturing of our attention begins in earnest around age six, when we are compelled to enter grade one. For the next 12+ years of our lives it will be considered disobedient, reckless, and deviant to spend more than one class - an hour of our time - on any one topic. Our joy, curiosity, and engagement are given no quarter. We are compelled into a system where staying at home to read a book, to spend our time how we desire, to learn, is illegal.
Hopefully, understanding the true value of our limited attention in an ever-accelerating world will make the absurdity of such situations obvious.