Introduction
Currently, the world is highly impacted by globalization and urbanization, creating more amenities and comfortable conditions for society. In the face of such changes, the number of people living in the cities increases yearly, with today’s percentage of people living in urbanized areas being more than 55% of the entire population (White 115). This cannot have zero impact on people’s attention and cognitive skills. In my experiment, I endeavored to pay attention to every detail while being in a local coffee shop at 9 a.m. on Friday.
Discussion
The location of choice is coffee shop X since it always has a high number of customers and people of various ages and occupations. The location is relatively small but has areas where customers can sit, chat, wait for their orders, or work, which makes it convenient. The shop offers coffee and tea drinks and baked goods, such as croissants, cheesecake, and others. As I began my observation, I felt excited to see whether I would see anything new since I am a frequent customer and usually pay attention to the details. However, while observing the surroundings of the coffee shop, I saw a new painting that, as one of the employees mentioned, had been hanging there for almost a week.
Moreover, I did not pay attention to their new menu additions. The coffee shop offered pumpkin pie and pumpkin spice latte, which I had not seen, though it is the season for such menu additions, which disappointed me. However, I noticed two other regulars taking their orders to go. As for the behaviors that stood out to me, these included a group of teenagers who were sitting at a table and not talking to each other. There were on their phones and only made a pause to interact with each other to mention that they sent someone a funny video on social media.
Conclusion
After the experiment, I felt frustrated since I believed that I was an individual who always paid attention to details. I think that because I frequently become distracted by my phone or work there at times, my attention is not so heightened. The experiment additionally made me embarrassed of the fact that, at times, I do not value my time and the surroundings by being distracted by social media or technology.
Work Cited
White, Holly, and Priti Shah. “Focus: Attention Science: Attention in Urban and Natural Environments.” The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, vol.92, no.1, 2019, pp.115-119. Web.