Two Different Worlds

Imagine that you are an assistant manager, much like Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears
Prada. Your boss calls you into his or her office to talk about upcoming events and things that
they need you to prepare for. Suddenly you are pushed from concentrating on the details of the
conversation to having to note down everything your boss says and then having to go type it up
into a google document to then copy and paste it to a mass email and go through several ideas of
marketing plans that your boss sends to you all to be done within the hour. Suddenly your focus
is on ten things at the same time, the clock is ticking. Are you going to be able to get it done?
Your focus is split and you no longer can maintain going through every motion in a linear
manner. Then you're confronted with a situation that often times you weren't confronted with on
a daily basis at school. Did they really challenge your hyper attention? As defined by N.
Katherine Hayles in Hyper & Deep Attention: The Generational Divide in Cognitive Modes,
deep attention is a cognitive style that is characterized by concentrating on a single object for
long periods, ignoring outside stimuli (Hayles 187). While hyper attention is a cognitive mode
that is often characterized by an individuals ability to shift focus rapidly. Hyper attention is not
something that should be feared but accepted and implemented in educational institutions to
further prepare students for their careers.
Hyper attention is an untraditional cognitive mode that educators tend to move away from,
but in doing so they are leaving students at a disbenefit. Presently, educational institutions are
having difficulty coming to terms with hyper attention. Educational institutions elaborate on deep
attention skills but condemns skills that pertains to hyper attention. Recent generations are
moving away from deep attention and immersing into hyper attention. Educators often blame the
rise of hyper activity on the rise of technology and the explosion of media. They often joke and
suggest that students cannot read a book cover to cover. Hyper attention carries a negative
weight, but it isn't all bad. Hayles argues that this generation is less capable of maintaining deep
attention than previous generations, but it also is important to note that students are held at
different standards by employers and the outside world. Educators emphasize that this generation
refuses to read Dickens cover to cover, but they fail to come to terms with the fact that the
message Dickens is attempting to convey does not always resonate with the advancements that
students are faced with in todays technologically driven society. In higher educational
institutions, professors are able to create an ambiance where students have to experience both
deep and hyper attention. They train minds into accepting the reality of both cognitive modes.
Educators want to engage students and reel them into course material but they also need to
reform curriculum into accepting hyper attention tasks as a method of preparing students for
what employers demand; employees that can deal with multitasking.
Present work fields hold an expectation for employees to be able to actively manage
hyper attention. Our culture embraces the concept of fast pace everything. Fast pace cars, food,
music, and technology. This has trickled down to impact the way that we, as individuals, take in
information and perform. A large disconnect exists between this culture that we have embodied
and our educational classrooms, especially those in grades K-12. Employers require that

employees be able to shift from a state of independent focus where there is only one stream of
information but also to a state of mind where they can handle multiple information streams
where they are actively seeking a high level of stimulation, and having a low tolerance of
boredom (Hayles 187). For example, STEM fields require just that. They demand to have
researchers and engineers that can zero in and count small groups of bacteria and pay close
attention to the small changes that can occur on a petri dish or be able to understand the
mechanics behind building a robotic arm. But they also require that researchers and engineers
know how to code multiple things at the same, and connect research to multiple outlets, thus
shifting their focus back and forth in order to complete a lab or assignment in a timely manner.
Educators should be pushing students into developing and solidifying the skills needed to be an
essential part of the real world by strengthening hyper attention skills.
Hyper attention has become part of our culture. It has become an aspect that cannot be
ignored. Educators are afraid of approaching hyper attention and implementing skills that would
allow students to shift from deep and hyper attention into a classroom setting, but when they do
not do this they are inadvertently limiting students. Jobs in the twenty first century demand these
skills, and it is imperative that as upcoming employees they can satisfy their standards.
Engineers, teachers, politicians, detectives, etc., are all careers that require skills related to hyper
attention. Instead of fearing hyper attention, educators should embrace its importance and its
contributions to success.

Works Cited
Hayles, Katherine N. "Hyper and Deep Attention: The Generational Divide in Cognitive
Modes." MLA Journals: 2007 (pp. 187-199). Modern Language Association, 2007. Web.
08 July 2016.
PEER REVIEW:
PROPOSITION: Hyper attention is not something that should be feared but accepted and
implemented in educational institutions to further prepare students for their careers.
PARAGRAPH 1:
Says: educational institutions are having trouble accepting hyper attention learning.
Does: it contextualizes the topic through an anecdote.
PARAGRAPH 2
Says: there is a shift from deep attention tasks to hyper attention ones.
Does: tries to connect to the proposition
PARAGRAPH 3
Says: teens use Aderall when demanded of hyper attention tasks and that employers demand
hyper attention tasks and therefore, it would be more beneficial to prepare them for these tasks in
schools.
Does : Connects more directly to the proposition/ offers a reason.
HI AMANDA,
I just left really detailed comments at the specific places they are relevant. I tried to
incorporate criticisms as well as proposing ways to fix them. Overall, your essay introduces a lot
of different ideas that can stand as propositions on their own, and I think its because of your
proposition which is a bit bifurcated. The specificity component of your proposition is well
written however. Your essay lacks coherency however. Sentence by sentence, each one can stand
as its own propositions. I think you should explain the connections to the proposition more and
less on the sentences themselves. Once that is achieved, your essays unity will follow. You were
able to incorporate sources really well to back up your claims however, so please keep that up.
Also, the grammar and spelling is well too, so I didnt have trouble reading your essay. Your
topic is very interesting and calls attention to an opinionated stance that I believe many people
can agree with. Good job!