We survive by filtering some parts out. It’s as if every form of input has a volume knob, and ours are all the way up by default—so we turn some down to compensate, but can’t control which ones. And here’s what creates the variety: Different people filter out different kinds of information. Then, what we don’t filter out becomes our focus. It’s comforting, and often necessary, to drown out the noise by turning all of our attention to one thing at a time, which has been called “Monotropism.”
