Jessica Stockholder Quotes

What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.

Attention is the material I work with.

My concentration span is truly that of a gnat. Some people have this ladder, and that's all there is - the ladder. I have the ladder, too, but there's a building around it with scaffolding, and lots of windows for me to peek into. Then suddenly I'll remember, 'Oh, there's the ladder. I should be concentrating on that.'

What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients.

You're a wise person if you can easily direct your attention to what ever needs it.

As adults, when we attend to something in the world we are vividly conscious of that particular thing, and we shut out the surrounding world. The classic metaphor is that attention is like a spotlight, illuminating one part of the world and leaving the rest in darkness.

Focusing isn't just an optical activity, it is also a mental one.

I have an attention span that's as long as it has to be.

We are all amateur attention economists, hoarding and bartering our moments - or watching them slip away down the cracks of a thousand YouTube clips.

The only factor becoming scarce in a world of abundance is human attention.

[…] a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.

I'm good at separating things. When I'm in my classroom, I'm totally there. When I'm at an event, I'm totally there. And when I'm with my grandkids, my total attention is on them.

Men don't pay attention to small things.

I think getting people's focus, getting people's attention on anything has never been harder, because the media has done everything in its power to try and dissolve people's attention, shift it round absolutely all the time.

I can multitask very well. But I know exactly when to block off anything coming in from the outside and just stay focused on the film.

Multitasking divides your attention and leads to confusion and weakened focus.

I have a terrible attention span, so if something can keep my attention, I know that that's at least a great start.

Your field of focus determines what you find in life.

It's hard to get people to focus on one idea.

Giving something your time isn't the same as giving it your attention.

If I think of something, half-way into it, I can throw it in there and it won't be so far down the line that it would be insignificant. However, I also like to completely focus on something for a certain period of time, and then be able to move on to something else.

The entire ball game, in terms of both the exam and life, was what you gave attention to vs. what you willed yourself to not.

These distraction-oholics. These focus-ophobics.

Surely there is something to be said for drawing a circle around our attention and remaining within that circle. But how large should this circle be?

The ability to focus attention on important things is a defining characteristic of intelligence.