Unfocused: Are you doing what you want to do?

     I continue to be an old-style “classics” cartoon person. In spite of the extreme predictability, I love watching Scooby-Doo. But one aspect calls out to me more and more. If they are trying to protect something, why do they hold it up in the air to be grabbed? If I were to want to protect something I had, I would put it under may shirt and hold on to it with both arms — make it as hard as possible to grab. It’s not just Scooby-Doo, of course.

     Or watch a movie. Someone is driving along and they turn their head and talk to the passenger (or someone in the back seat) for a couple of minutes (even if it were to be ten seconds, it would be way too long). Shoot! They SHOULD be in an accident. If not, it is definite proof of someone, or something, watching out for them. If they do get in an accident one can only say — “of course. Why did they want to behave that way?

     It doesn’t have to be as brazen as looking a different direction while theoretically in control of a 2500 pound cage of metal. It can be walking along on the sidewalk while looking at the little box that society seems to currently mandate we all be manacled to. Crossing streets? Walking on a sidewalk with potential open personhole covers? Approaching an unsafe area of town? Walking onto, or off of, a wharf and into the water? Whoops.

     Once upon a time, in the modern “dark ages”, I was called by a survey person who wanted to know how much I would pay per month to carry a phone around with me to be in constant contact with the world (this was before anyone envisioned a mobile computer as part of that phone). I replied that I was willing to pay $20/month to be without that “privilege”. I could (and did) look into that and see an invasion of work into my everyday life and a disconnection from society and possible privacy. Not that this situation HAS to be — but avoiding it while possessing a “smartphone” requires a much greater degree of self-control than most have (and I will admit to personally taking out my phone at the table, while eating out, to check an incoming message or settle a question on a topic of the table).

     If you ask people to write down a list of things important to them — and the priorities thereof — they will probably be able to do such. But, if you then ask them if they actually follow that list, they may well look “sheepish” — even more so if you start asking for specifics.

     In a novel (or movie), the characters are told that “time is of the essence” and then they spend minutes talking among themselves about things which are not central to the time-restricted thing. Have you ever watched a movie where they had five minutes to disconnect the bomb and then spent 15 minutes of film time doing other things before they disconnected the bomb with seconds to spare? Of course, this is a problem with the continuity monitor on the film but a similar thing happens in real life where focus is lost in time-critical situations.

     If you are supposed to protect something, protect it the best you can. If you have a small amount of time to do something, do it — do other things after the time- critical item. If your focus should be on one task (with penalties involved for not focusing), then focus and isolate other non-critical items. If conversation and social interaction are truly important, don’t let other items get in the way.

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