Attention training reveals the many distinct ways one can fail to notice something
Evidence
Every three sessions, I had my visual acuity evaluated with a different kind of exercise. Sure enough, my score improved each time I was evaluated. But more than improvement, using the app became a rigorous reminder for me of the many ways it’s possible not to see something. I became fixated on the moments where I would know (intellectually) that there was something on the screen and that I couldn’t for the life of me see it, either because it was too faint or I was looking in the wrong place. — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 390
Categorization
Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims
- SEED: An essay angle: ‘not seeing’ is not one failure but many — faintness vs. looking in the wrong register — and the same taxonomy applies to political blindnesses.