Architectures of Attention

We’re surrounded by affordances.

Invitations from objects and spaces to enact some behavior.

A chair is an invitation to sit. A path is an invitation to walk. A piano, an invitation to play.

Our attention moves from object to object throughout the day. Much of this movement is habitual. Some of it is novel and creative.

Over time, these invitations become familiar. Attention learns the routes available to it. Repeated movement forms grooves. Desire lines of attention.

Your attention has moved many times in the last few minutes. Many of these movements were not chosen - they were invited by the environment, accepted before any conscious decision could intervene.

Some grooves are accidental. Some are inherited. Some are deliberately cultivated. Some are designed by people and institutions whose interests are not our own.

We’re embedded within architectures of attention that can be changed.

Attention can move through time and space in more wholesome and fulfilling ways.

The quality of our lives is determined by the quality of our attention.

What would it mean to design attention as if it were sacred?