Attention to the bold (or bolded, at least) advice

I've occasionally ranted about the need for people to pay attention, just to one's life in general. The explosive increase in stimuli has ignited a debate (not literally, though that would be fun), on what constitutes attention. Is it focus, implying attention to a single thing? Or is it, I don't know what the word for the opposite of focus is aside from blur? Blur implies that no one thing is more in focus than anything else, so I can go with that. What it refers to is attending to multiple stimuli concurrently.

My generation as a whole thinks that blur is bad and focus is good, but I'm not ready to accept that this isn't an archaic idea. How do we know which is better than the other? Maybe the best is to be able both to spread your attention and to focus, depending on what is required of the moment.

The best example I can think of where blur is superior is driving. No, I don't mean driving with blurry vision. That would be bad. I mean playing attention to many things simultaneously.

The objective of driving, let's remember, is to get from one place to the other without bumping into anything. Necessarily, this elevates giving attention to all potential bumpees at all times. I've spread this advice around before, but I'll repeat a bit here.

First of all, stationary objects require the least amount of attention. Trees, lampposts, buildings and the like can have their position noted and avoided, no more. Cars and pedestrians, on the other hand, have a tendency to move around and are therefore much more likely bumpee candidates. So the safest way to drive is to do everything possible to avoid them.

I'll tackle cars here (again, not literally and not even potentially as entertaining as igniting a debate), since there tend to be more of them on the road, at least around where I live. The good thing about other cars is that they are big, recognizable (as cars) and easy to spot. The bad things about other cars are that they (1) do not sit still and prone to changing speed and direction, and (2) are controlled by someone other than you and therefore somewhat unpredictable.

Since most people can recognize the presence of cars pretty easily, you should use that information to keep away from them in every way possible. This entails leaving as much space as possible between your car and the others. Since a car is pretty rectangular, that means there are 4 sides, all of which must avoid the other cars. Front is easy because it's right there- you just have to look straight ahead, something even the most attentionally challenged can do if they're not texting. Don't follow another car closely. Cars have a nasty habit of stopping or turning without giving you advance notice.

The rear is accessed my a mirror. A taxi driver once told me that the front of the car was his problem, the rear was his insurance company's problem, and that's true. If someone hits you from behind it's almost never considered your fault if you weren't breaking the law (see the above note about not following closely). I check the rearview mirror occasionally, but mostly to see if someone is getting closer to me. I do, however, always check the rearview mirror when I brake, because I don't know either if the car behind me knows I'm braking or if they're unable to stop for some reason. I've avoided accidents of both sorts by checking, one of which probably would have been fatal to people in the other car. (By the way, that thing they teach you in driving school about not turning your wheels when stopped and waiting for a left turn but instead waiting until you stop moving is very good advice. I know from potentially disastrous experience).

The sides of the car are tricky because you can't check them both at the same time and because there are typically places you can't see at all without moving your head around. Cars on the side of you are more likely to hit you than cars either in front or behind, because they potentially can't see you either. Therefore. they should be avoided at all costs. It's fine to clump up at a traffic light when you're not moving, but otherwise, if you're driving on a multi-lane road, do not drive with another car next to you. This will (1) avoid another car hitting you, and (2) give you an escape path if something happens in front of you. I can't count how many accidents this has saved me. If traffic is moving slowly and the spacing doesn't permit this, try to place yourself at least slightly in front of the car next to you. This makes you much easier to see.

There's way more to it than this, but it's a start.