Attention Residue

The part of your focus that stays behind on the last thing you looked at, and quietly taxes the next thing you do.

Every unfinished loop — an open notification, an unresolved argument, a half-read feed — keeps a portion of your mind employed. You feel it as fatigue without output. The remedy is closure rather than willpower: finish the loop, write it down, or decide consciously to abandon it, so your attention is returned to you before the next task begins.

Also called: residue · attention leak · divided attention