Focus and attention
Focus and attention concepts describe how people move between tasks, hold context, recover from interruptions, and sustain demanding computer work.
Context switching
Context switching is the act of moving attention between different tasks, applications, documents, or conversations, where each move requires loading a new mental context. It is a normal feature of computer work that becomes costly mainly when it happens frequently or interrupts work that needs continuity.
Attention residue
Attention residue is the leftover mental pull of a previous task that lingers after attention has moved to a new one. It describes the way part of your thinking can remain attached to what you just left, so the next task does not receive your full attention right away.
Deep work
Deep work is sustained attention on a cognitively demanding task carried out with minimal interruption. It describes work that benefits from continuity, where the value comes from staying with a single hard problem long enough to make real progress.
Flow state
Flow state is a condition of deep absorption in an activity where skill, challenge, clear feedback, and attention come into alignment. It is often experienced as effortless concentration in which time seems to pass differently and the activity feels rewarding in itself.
Focus fragmentation
Focus fragmentation is the breaking of attention into many short blocks that are too brief for sustained work. It describes a pattern where the day is divided into small pieces by switches and interruptions, so demanding tasks never get a continuous stretch of attention.
Multitasking
Multitasking is the attempt to handle multiple tasks or information streams within the same period of time. In practice, for cognitively demanding work, it usually means switching rapidly between tasks rather than performing them at the same instant.
Reactive work
Reactive work is work driven mainly by incoming requests, alerts, messages, tickets, or interruptions rather than by a planned agenda. The order and content of the day are shaped by what arrives, so attention follows external prompts instead of a set list of intentions.