Focus

I started to listen to an interview with Tom Hiddleston; like his voice, and the way he speaks, and plays with words in such a clear and rich way. In short, something really mindblowing would have to happen to drag me away from the speakers.
Yet, after half a minute (!) I find myself scrolling through mails, deleting the ones I no longer find applying, checking whatsapp, oh and yes, I was supposed to see where I am with my monthly mobile data usage... Hang on. What's happening? When so many people, and clearly me included, lost the ability to focus on one activity for longer than few seconds?

I know, having children helps. I am in the middle of reading a book, for example, and the main character is about to do something extraordinary... And then I hear call for help. And usually get a bit angry, as here I am with this book and I wish I could just put ear plugs on, and keep me in the zone... But then I recall that thought, the one that keeps me going for quite a while: in 10 years time I will miss these calls and that need for help, I will miss that like crazy. So I sigh, put the book away, and go...

Then again, I strongly believe children do make a great excuse. And sometimes it is just a sort of lazy line you come up with: I cannot do this / I cannot go there / I am not able to focus because I have children to attend to... Yeah, right. You are just on your well-worn, and well-known path, which is equally boring and cosy.

So maybe that's it - we are not challenging our minds enough? And they just get stuck and fit into ever-shrinking option? Where time is precious beyond extreme so we rather count seconds but in fact loose years on counter-productive activities?

Sometimes I honestly wish I had no phone...