Can Attention Be Trained?

The claim that our attention span is collapsing has become almost a piece of common sense. It is repeated so often that few people stop to ask what evidence would count for or against it.

「我们的注意力正在崩塌」这个说法，几乎已经成了一种常识。它被重复得太频繁，以至于很少有人停下来问：什么样的证据才能支持或推翻它。

The honest answer is that the research is more divided than the headlines suggest. Some studies find measurable decline, while others find that people can concentrate perfectly well when the task genuinely interests them.

诚实的回答是：这项研究的分歧，比新闻标题所呈现的要大得多。有些研究发现注意力确实在下降；另一些则发现，只要任务真的让人感兴趣，人们完全可以长时间专注。

What has clearly changed is not the capacity for attention but the competition for it. Every service on a phone is designed by teams whose salaries depend on how long we stay.

真正发生变化的，不是我们的注意力容量，而是围绕它的竞争。手机上的每一项服务，都是由「工资取决于我们停留多久」的团队设计出来的。

Training attention is therefore less like building a muscle and more like arranging a room. Removing the most persuasive distractions tends to work better than relying on willpower at the moment of temptation.

所以训练注意力，不太像练肌肉，更像布置一个房间。把最有说服力的干扰挪走，效果通常好过在诱惑出现的那一刻硬靠意志力。

The encouraging part is that such arrangements are within our control. The discouraging part is that no arrangement removes the need to decide, again and again, what deserves our time.

让人乐观的一点是：这样的安排是我们自己能掌控的。让人泄气的一点是：无论怎样安排，都省不掉那个要一次次做出的判断 —— 什么才值得占用我们的时间。