Are You in Charge of Your Attention?
⏱️ Read time: ~4 min
A few days ago, I was cycling through one of Zurich’s busiest transport hubs when an e-scooter rider nearly hit me.
He was moving quickly, faster than the permitted 25 km/h, with one hand on the handlebar and the other holding his phone. His eyes were on the screen, not on the road, not on the cyclist directly in front of him. I swerved. Luckily there was no car beside me. So nothing happened. This time.
But I have not stopped thinking about it.
Not because of one distracted e-scooter rider. Because it felt like a concentrated version of something happening everywhere.
People crossing busy streets while watching TikTok videos. Cyclists scrolling while riding. Headphones in, eyes down, attention somewhere else. We move through the physical world, but our minds are constantly being pulled into a digital one.
What's happening here?
Digital technology did not create this pattern. But it has made it much easier to live inside it.
Every app, notification, feed and message offers something to react to. Every open slot in the calendar gets filled. Every quiet moment becomes an invitation to check, scroll, reply or consume.
No one forces us to give up our attention all at once. We do it in tiny handovers. One notification. One quick look at the phone. One meeting added to an already full day. One more task accepted before we have decided whether it even matters. And then, at the end of the day, many of us feel exhausted, scattered and strangely disconnected from our own priorities.
That is the part I find most unsettling.
We are more connected, informed and technically also more productive than ever. Yet many people no longer seem to have enough space to think their own thoughts, notice their surroundings or have a proper conversation without being pulled elsewhere.
Then AI enters this picture as an amplifier.
Sure, it can help us work faster, generate more and reduce friction. But if we are already letting the outside world dictate our attention, AI can simply make that cycle more efficient.
In organizations, I see this all the time. Calendars are already full, packed with back-to-back meetings. People are sometimes not even sure why they have been invited, and there is certainly no time to process one conversation before the next one begins. Then AI licences are added on top, perhaps with a short introduction to the tool, and an expectation to become more productive. But people are not given the time to process any of it. No time to reflect on a specific task, clarify what a good outcome looks like or work out how AI could genuinely help.
So they use it anyway. And, unsurprisingly, out comes slop: generic output that looks productive but does not solve the actual problem. Or worse, output that is factually wrong.
I recently saw a senior person at a global company put data into Claude and quickly turn it into a presentation for a small group preparing for performance reviews. The result was neither on-brand nor factually accurate.
That is not just embarrassing. Depending on the context, it can put an entire brand at risk.
And there is a deeper cost. Thoughtless AI use does not just create weak output. It trains us to accept the first plausible answer instead of asking better questions, checking the facts or applying our own judgment.
Over time, that is how critical thinking gets outsourced, too.
Why do we let technology take control of our lives?
Or more importantly, where have we stopped leading ourselves? Protecting our attention before someone else claims it? Choosing when to be available, what to respond to and what deserves our energy?
If we do not create space for reflection, real exchange and intentional decisions, someone or something else will fill that space for us.
This week, notice one small moment when you automatically reach for your phone, open another tab or say yes to something that does not matter.
Pause before you do.
Not to be more productive. To practise being in charge of your own attention again.
Elena
