It seems like most of us pay little attention to how much our focus is dispersed—and how much that depletes us.

Working in Slack is perhaps the most attention-draining experience I’ve had in years. It’s been a while since I used it regularly, and now, in a new role where everything runs through Slack, I find myself disoriented. It’s charming at first—emojis, reactions, all the digital confetti—but beneath the surface, it’s pure chaos.

cute but chaotic

Slack has become the de facto workspace tool. But why?

• Inbounds constantly flying in
• Threads scattered across channels
• Direct messages demanding instant replies
• Zero built-in structure unless you create your own system of Slack links and personal tracking

It’s an organizational nightmare. There’s no enforced clarity, no pause, just endless context switching and visual noise. And somehow, we’ve all normalized it.

We respond immediately to the nearest ping. We juggle emoji-filled replies with unspoken expectations about tone, speed, and acknowledgment. It’s reactive, not reflective.

deep work dilemma

This mode of work feels directly at odds with what many high-skill roles demand—especially engineering or any role requiring sustained, focused thought.

When you're in a sales or support-style role, passing information between parties and following up constantly, it can feel like death by a thousand notifications. There’s little room for structured thought, let alone strategy.

Sometimes, the only way to get anything meaningful done is to work when others aren’t—like early Sunday mornings—just to escape the barrage. Only then can you:

• Catch up on follow-ups
• Organize meeting notes
• Make sure people are acknowledged
• Summarize your value and work clearly

It shouldn't be this hard to work well.

When Chaos Becomes Culture

The bigger the organization, the more chaotic the environment—unless structure is forced. No wonder large companies eventually wrap themselves in layers of process and protocol. The alternative—each person fending for themselves—is simply unsustainable.

But in smaller, fast-paced teams? There's often a culture of always-on responsiveness. Everyone’s chasing the latest shiny thing. And it's hard to know where value is actually being created. What gets rewarded? Whose opinion matters? Sometimes, it feels like it's just based on someone’s arbitrary sentiment.

living on the surface

What I do know is this: A distracted mind doesn’t shut off at the end of the workday.

It bleeds into your life. You stop thinking deeply. You skim instead of studying. You tweak slides instead of refining ideas. You react instead of reflecting.

The practice of discipline—of focused, meaningful work—starts to feel like an artifact of another era.

I worry about that. Because living on the surface is deeply unpleasant.

reclaiming depth

I don’t have all the answers. But I wonder: Is there still space for deep, focused work in a world that prioritizes immediacy?

And if not, can we reclaim it anyway?