Attention: The new drug.

Have you ever noticed what people give a high beyond measure, no it is not LSD, not heroine, not ecstasy. The drug is called Attention, it reminds me of a monologue from Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham - “Yeh kaun hai jisne mudh k poo ko nahi dekha” (ha ha ha). Attention is not sold and manufactured in the market, it is produced by us only. It is the most powerful feeling, imagine yourself being in a boardroom meeting with fairly 15-20 members, who are listening to you. Doesn’t it sound like being powerful to get the attention of all? Sure, it is (only if you are normal). 

However, there is another powerful thing, it is paying attention. This works entirely opposite to getting the attention. If you look and understand closely, getting the attention works in favour of one, who is craving for it. On the contrary, paying attention, works for a team, it helps you collaborate and be a part of something bigger than yourself. Paying attention helps focus you to focus, to see the bigger picture. It enables you to concentrate, and when you pay attention to something you come up with out of the box ideas, you come out with something creative, it could be a solution to a longing problem, it could be a new idea for a human kind, which would make lives more simple. 

With the recent technological developments in every field, the human need to get attention has also risen, though these advances have made life better but have also made us prone to this drug. This has led to a reduced ability of being creative or it is almost to an end by the need of getting attention. The need to get attention is because of two reasons, one for money and second it makes you feel worthy - kind of gives you a high. In first stances, tech giants like Instagram are buying and selling your attention to advertisers, making a lot of money. For instance, we all want to be a part of daily lives of our favourite celebs, their accounts aren’t private and have millions of followers. Whenever there is a post, followers hit like but like a machine. The account holder has created a source to get attention and the company using algorithms double up the view on the post, ever noticed there is an option “based on pages you have visited”. Attracting other users to follow other celeb, the more traffic on the post the more attention one would get, the more attention Instagram would be able to sell to advertisers and the more revenue the user would generate. Let’s take non-celeb cases, people are posting the content, which is hardly an any content, I mean if you are helping a needy then what is the need to post that online - for attention, if you are dressed up then what is the need to post it online, if you have a good physique, why you need to show if off online, all is because to get the attention and money. The second type of attention is personal, it doesn't go online. These are those people, who are subconsciously engineered in such a way that they don’t want to go unnoticed. They want you to notice them, which gives them a kind of high. They feel important, valued, validated and think they are worth something. And, any amount of diverted attention, would make them feel zero, absolutely nothing. 

Paying attention, not only increases your ability to come up with something new, but to understand the other human being well. Whether, a person belong to a group of people, who would be interested in getting the attention or from one who would pay attention. The person, who would pay attention would notice even miniscule details you share, it is not the case with one, who wants to get the attention. They think they are the whole picture, whereas the other ones would link they are part of the whole picture. People who want the attention are in continuous demand for it and even getting enough they won’t be able to pay any. On the contrary, the ones who pay attention share something very unique to them.