In the 90s, it was trendy in media studies to think very deeply about the phenomenology of “zapping” between channels. You might recall that this was the era when the last of the single-station nations gave way to satellite television. Some predicted “a state of confusion and cultural shock” as the public lost its metronome. Others saw it “as characteristically postmodern in breaking up linearity, or subversively anti-capitalist.”
I remember reading these texts about a decade later and finding them hilarious; how could what we did with our remotes have caused so much alarm?
And yet, that’s the image I get when I try to find words to describe the whiplash of hopping from happening to event. Our remotes have turned into screens we carry around with us; every zap spawns a new channel and timeline.
ZAP.
“Is there a limit to the multiplicity of splits of attention? I argue that such a limit exists but it is relatively high and can be heightened through training and exercise.”
ZAP.
x
“When talking about attention, several verbs can be used. Lately scholars have analyzed the use of the verb “pay” in the context of “attention economy”. … When attention is used with the verb “focus,” it usually refers to a single figure that is distinguished from a certain background, roughly equivalent to “concentrate.” For example, I focus my attention on a conversation I conduct on the cell phone, while ignoring the surrounding. When attention is used with the verbs “shift” or “turn,” it entails a searchlight that is turning towards one object and then towards another. I can turn my attention towards a cell phone conversation, and then towards the passenger next to me. [There is also] a third way, possibly with the verb “draw,” that allows the existence of multiple attentions, like multiple lines composing a drawing. The example is driving while talking on the cell phone. The three modes of attention fit into a genealogical account of technologies, in which traditional technologies such as a book and a hammer best operate in a single attention mode, television and radio are optimized for the searchlight approach, and Internet and cell phones call for multi-attention.” [Galit Wellner, ‘Multi-Attention and the Horcrux Logic’]