Vortrag: Die Aufmerksamkeitsökonomie
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C1.1 · 24 of 34
Hören: Vortrag mit Detailfragen
Lesson · 3 rules · about 3 min
Folge einem Vortrag über die Aufmerksamkeitsökonomie und erfasse seine Zahlen, seine Quellen und seinen Schluss bei einmaligem Hören.
- 1Nummerierte Befunde → je ein Stichwort
- 2nicht … sondern = die Einzelheit, auf die es ankommt
- 3geht zurück auf, schließe daraus, werde eingehen auf
Why this matters
Ein Vortrag über die Aufmerksamkeitsökonomie, einmal gehört: eine Definition mit Quelle (der Begriff geht auf … zurück), drei nummerierte Befunde (Erstens … Zweitens … Drittens), eine Erklärung (Wie lassen sich diese Befunde erklären?), eine Schlussfolgerung (Ich schließe daraus, dass …) und die Ankündigung des zweiten Teils. Vorlesungen und Vorträge haben genau diese Form, und die Einzelheiten, die sich zu erfassen lohnen, hängen an den Wegweisern: die Person hinter einem Begriff, eine Zahl mit ihrem Jahr, der Vergleich innerhalb eines Befunds (nicht … sondern), der Schluss, der Ausblick. Die Methode: Hör zuerst das Gerüst, denn der Redner kündigt „drei Befunde“ an und nummeriert sie, und schreib pro nummeriertem Punkt ein Stichwort auf, sobald er kommt. Dann musst du bei den Fragen nur noch nachschlagen. Achte auf den Gegensatz „nicht die Menge … sondern die Zeit“ und auf den überraschenden dritten Befund, eingeleitet mit „und das überrascht viele“.
Translation
Ladies and gentlemen, today I'd like to talk about a phenomenon that research calls the attention economy. The term goes back to the economist Herbert Simon, who noted as early as 1971 that an abundance of information creates a scarcity of attention. What was a theoretical consideration then is everyday life today: we live in an environment that competes for our attention – with means Simon could not have imagined. I'd like to highlight three findings. First: the average time an adult works on a task without interruption has, according to a study by the University of California, fallen from about two and a half minutes in 2004 to 47 seconds in 2020. I repeat: 47 seconds. After that we switch windows, check a message or simply look at the phone. Second: it is not the number of interruptions that matters but the time we need to return to the task – on average over twenty minutes. So a short interruption does not cost thirty seconds but half an hour of concentrated work. Third, and this surprises many: people who merely place their phone on the table without using it perform measurably worse in concentration tests than those who leave it in the next room. The mere presence of the device apparently ties up part of our mental capacity, because we constantly check whether we shouldn't check it after all. How can these findings be explained? The answer lies in the reward structure of our brain. Every notification is a small, unpredictable reward, and unpredictable rewards are – as we know from gambling-addiction research – the most effective of all. We reach for the phone not because we are weak but because the device works on a principle our brain has followed for millennia. I conclude from this that switching off notifications is not enough; physical separation is decisive. Anyone who wants to work with concentration must remove the phone from the room – not put it in a pocket, not turn it over, but remove it. That sounds banal but contradicts the widespread assumption that self-discipline is the solution. It is not; the environment is. In the second part I will address consequences for the design of workplaces: what must offices look like in which concentrated work remains possible, and which rules have proven themselves in companies that take the problem seriously? But first a short break of ten minutes – feel free to leave your phone here.
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Exercise
Hören: Vortrag mit Detailfragen · C1.1
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