Early this year I heard an NPR "On The Media" story about the future of video gaming. Now, I'm not a big gamer. I can handle Mario but if a game requires shooting or strategy it's pretty much a lost cause. But the implications of the story are far reaching and both cautionary and optimistic.
Listen to: "The Future of Gaming"
One of that show's guests, Jesse Schell, said about the future of gaming and it's influence on society: "...so many people are going to be competing for our attention. I often think of it this way: The 21st century is going to be a war on the attention of humanity. Where civilization focuses its attention, I mean, that's what defines what the civilization cares about."
We've seen the momentum of this competition growing over recent decades, especially the increase in advertisements everywhere we look. A 2007 New York Times article reports that "Yankelovich, a market research firm, estimates that a person living in a city 30 years ago saw up to 2,000 ad messages a day, compared with up to 5,000 today. About half the 4,110 people surveyed last spring by Yankelovich said they thought marketing and advertising today was out of control."
In the short time since that article, a dramatic increase in smart phone and portable electronics usage keeps us connected and allows ads to follow us everywhere we go. Each one with a convincing argument as to why we need to spend our money and our time with them rather than their competitor. Always at our heels or attached to our waists- begging for our attention.
In the NPR piece, gamers speculated how electronics in the form of gaming will see cross over into our daily lives. A future where we may be rewarded on a national point system for viewing ads and doing the right thing. A future where gamers will band together to solve real global problems with the same intensity that currently unites them in fantasy worlds.
The future of gaming is speculatory, but the race for our attention is real and now. We are not just experiencing it as consumers but probably contributing to it as wage earners. If you own, sell, provide, offer, practice, make or grow, chances are you rely on people's attention to make a living. And let's be fair, aren't I competing for your attention at this very moment? Thanks!
Short of joining an indigenous tribe, a monastery, or otherwise living off the grid, it's our new and growing reality. Even the smallest towns have their billboards, junk mail and telemarketers. I think we must all find ways to give our minds and bodies a rest from time to time, otherwise risk information and sensory overload. Ever experienced that?
What does this all mean to you? Does it feel overwhelming or have you adapted to the reality? Perhaps over the next few days you can try being conscious of the ways in which people are racing to grab your attention- text messages, shouts on the street, and, eh-hem, perhaps gestures while driving?
Then think about what you can do to get some reprieve. Sleep? But what can you do during your waking hours to give your eyes and mind a rest? Do you have any white space left in your environment to rest your eyes away from the ads and your ears away from the blinking, beeping and buzzing? Can you clear even 5 minutes in your day to put your head down, be mindful of the present, and wipe the slate clean?
Today, make some space to pause from the race.
©2011, Brad Waters - designyourpath.com
