Attention Is Where Life Happens

Lately I've been noticing how often I reach for my phone without thinking. Not because I need something. Just because there is a small gap in the day — waiting for the kettle, standing in a queue, sitting beside my son while he plays. The movement happens before the decision. I don't think this is a social media problem. I think it's an attention problem. For years I've trained myself to fill every quiet moment with input. A headline, a timeline, a notification. The strange thing is that none of it feels satisfying. The scroll promises novelty but mostly delivers fragments — enough stimulation to keep moving, rarely enough to feel fulfilled. The result isn't that I spend all day on my phone. The result is that I struggle to be fully present anywhere. A book competes with ten other possibilities. Even small moments with family compete with the urge to check something that probably doesn't matter. The internet felt different when I was younger. Back then it felt like a place. You would…