SHOOTING FROM THE LIP Who knows how to grab our attention – and keep it?

HAPPY Monday Morning. What’s going on? What do I need to know? 5am: As the rooster cockadoodledoos, my first click’s my WhatApp group, “Patrollers Only” – our neighbourhood watch. Making sure all’s okay in the ’hood – my neighbours were all safe, through the night.

Last night’s patrollers filed their short reports – anything they spotted which contributed to “unsafeness”. We practise “kaizen”, the Japanese term for “continuous improvement”. This is our NHW’s forte: our ability to constantly learn, together. Every night.

Second click? It’s pretty random, to be honest. Most of us stumble around various online and social media platforms, as we scratch the sleep from our eyes. News, weather, pix of an arbitrary friend on some rock-star holiday.

There’s also an army of advertising genii trying to slither into our consciousness. Masters of crafty commerce.

And then there’s what governments believe is important. Fascinating to look around the world. For example: the Chinese state’s latest news: geographic pockets for girls, particularly from marginalised groups such as scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and Muslim minorities, on specific gender-related education indicators.

“India has achieved high enrolment rates for girls at primary and upper primary levels of schooling. However, at the secondary level girls’ enrolment remains low. That all girls are not attending school yet is reflected in low rural female literacy rates.”

Two governments with combined populations of about 2.6 billion people are choosing to talk about incentives and smart tech to improve the economy and education.

Some in SA believe these should be at the forefront of our national dialogue too. But, far too often, what’s really crucial gets lost in the noise. Our most valuable national conversations are usually chaotic, making collective progress near-impossible.

Do we plan our digital diets deliberately enough? Or are we at the mercy of who can reach our little screens most deviously?

Who best understands our “r-word”: Relevance? Who dominates the debate?

And with what agenda?