Protect Your Attention: It’s the Most Valuable Thing You Own

We all know the feeling: you open up Instagram or TikTok just to delay getting out of bed or putting your phone down for the night. Just five more minutes. A little scroll. And then—an hour is gone. You don’t even remember what you watched. You just feel... foggy.

Every time you open your phone without a clear purpose, you are volunteering to be distracted. You’re not choosing where your attention goes. You’re letting someone else choose for you—someone who profits when your peace is scattered, your focus is fragmented, your energy is drained.

The internet is not neutral. It is a system optimized to make you passive. Algorithms are trained to find your soft spots—your boredom, your loneliness, your curiosity—and use them against you. They feed you rage. They give you the illusion of connection. They whisper, just five more minutes.

But your attention is precious. Not just because it determines what you consume, but because it shapes who you become. The things you focus on, over and over again, form your sense of self. They shape your worldview. They dictate your emotions, your confidence, your sense of possibility.

So when you scroll without thinking, or bounce from tab to tab because your brain is too tired to decide what matters, you are letting your life be steered by systems that do not have your best interests at heart. The cost isn’t just time. The cost is you.

And I don’t say this to shame you. I say it because I need to hear it too. I’ve caught myself checking my Instagram DMs while walking the dog, scanning headlines during dinner, watching my train of thought dissolve because I opened Twitter without meaning to. I’ve picked up my phone to check the weather and fifteen minutes later, I still don’t know what it’s like outside. It’s a disorienting, unsettling feeling.

But there is another way. It starts with something simple:

Set your intention before you pick up your phone.

Say it out loud. Write it down. Make it real.

You’re checking the weather. You’re responding to a message. You’re opening your laptop to write. Anchor yourself to that goal. Let it be your compass. Because if you don’t decide what your focus is for, someone else will.

You don’t owe your attention to the loudest thing in the room. You owe it to your peace. Your beauty. Your goals. Your joy.

Your attention is the most valuable thing you own. Protect it.