Light level / 04

What Remains After the Event

The message has been read. The conversation is over. The purchase was not made. But attention still returns to that place.

Attention OS calls this an attention tail: a remaining connection with an event, person, thought, expectation, or decision.

An attention tail does not always need to be closed immediately. What matters first is seeing that it exists. After that, it can be released, written through, consciously left on pause, or returned to later.

The event has already passed, but part of attention is still there.

Conversation

You are still answering the person in your mind, even though the conversation is gone.

Waiting

Attention keeps checking something you cannot influence yet.

Purchase

The desire remains visible, but the decision has been consciously postponed.

More about attention tails in practice