Notes from the Exit: Why I Left the Attention Economy

Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are engines of distraction and cultural rot. They stand in front of the more difficult but more rewarding aspects of life: deep work, intimate connections with friends and loved ones, focused attention for hobbies with intrinsic rewards. By training users to crave constant novelty and the immediate approval of an... See more

 Attention is a finite resource, and how we choose to spend our attention online is, in some ways, a direct reflection of where human culture has gone in an era where access to information is basically unlimited. We are very much in our teenage years—that is, we suddenly have all these new capabilities and it’s really easy to just run wild. Bu... See more

how the attention economy works to juice up provocative points of view while ignoring information that is weighed down by the burden of nuance and moderation.

I’ve come to realize that these mass-market feeds, driven by algorithms, erode the quality of my attention. And attention—what I focus on, what I give myself to—shapes everything. It’s how reality is experienced. How life is lived. I want more agency over what enters my awareness, because what I consume shapes how I think, how I feel, and ultimatel... See more

By portraying our opponents as beyond persuasion, social media sorts us into ever more hostile tribes, then rewards us, with likes and shares, for the most hyperbolic denunciations of the other side, fuelling a vicious cycle that makes sane debate impossible. We mustn’t let Silicon Valley off the hook, but we should be honest: much of the time... See more