They tell me that I spend a lot of time focusing on small things in great detail (Macro focus is my best friend) and rarely look out to the bigger aspects of life. BUT while my camera settings may be difficult for me to change, every once in a while I like to sit in a crowded room and "un-focus" my hearing, allowing all of the sound to wash over me without allowing my mind to focus on any of it singularly, but all of it at once instead. The world is alive with sound...
The genius of our design allows us to selectively focus only on that which we feel must occupy our attention. We are built to be able to thrive in Macro Focus. But are we supposed to live there? Along with "un-focusing" my hearing, I also enjoy testing myself to see whether I am observant enough to be able to recall objects in a room once I have left it, or if I would be able to describe someone to a sketch artist. Sadly, this is a test I am yet to pass. It does however, serve to highlight the fact that while I live in Macro Focus, I only focus on things that are of immediate interest or perceived matters of importance to me.This is the basic premise that most illusions are built upon - people focus on small matters of immediate interest to them, and seldom are aware that there is a larger game afoot.
Our Macro Focus default may be affecting our lives in more ways than simply our ability to be duped by illusionists.
It is so easy to know all of the in's and out's of our own industry, or interest group. We feel that connecting via social networking etc. is a way of expanding horizons, and learning about things that we would not have otherwise known about, but truthfully - we all use the search bar to look for things that are relevant to us, or that match with our desires, interests and beliefs. I don't know of many (if any) people who actively search for information on things that don't currently interest them. And I know only one person who actively researches opinions and beliefs contrary to his own so that he can better understand people and form his own thinking from a more balanced perspective.
The only way we tend find out about things that we are not directly involved in, or do not directly impact or influence us, is through face-to-face interactions with those very inconvenient things called people. People, unlike screens, cannot be minimized, and if you spend enough time around them, they will introduce you to their interests. Whether or not those match up are your interests is irrelevant.
Perhaps it is time
to turn off the Macro Focus, and look up from the screens. Three inches
above the safety of the retina display are actual retinas. Flawed
though they may be. We are all around each other. All in our own little
bubbles. living life on Macro Focus, when there are vistas to be taken
in and mountains to be scaled. If we can tear ourselves away from our screens from long enough we may just realise that the world is out there, and it is waiting to meet us.