The Battle for Attention

Saved by Mihai and

RelatedCollectionsHighlightsNotes

We can explore the ways in which our attention is generated, manipulated, valued and degraded. Sometimes attention might simply be a lens through which to read the events of the moment. But it can also force us toward a better understanding of how our minds work or how we value our time and the time of others. Perhaps, just by acknowledging its pre... See more

nytimes.com • Opinion | Michael Goldhaber, the Cassandra of the Internet Age - The New York Times

ATTENTION AND will are so closely linked, then we have even more reason to worry about an entire economy and information ecosystem preying on our attention.

Jenny Odell • How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

What we need to survive is more than mere attention: we need care. But attention is a necessary precondition for care. In this way, we are creatures whose very survival depends on attention. We perish in neglect. As part of that inescapable inheritance, we will forever be invested in other people paying attention to us. We are creatures that pay at

"The real scarcity isn’t content anymore. It’s attention."

Gaby Goldberg • Curators Are the New Creators

Attention is a bit like the air we breathe. It’s vital but largely invisible, and thus we don’t think about it very much unless, of course, it becomes scarce. If that’s the case — to extend a tortured metaphor — it feels as if our attention has become polluted. We subsist on it, but the quality has been diminished.

nytimes.com • Opinion | Michael Goldhaber, the Cassandra of the Internet Age - The New York Times

Because attention is scarce, it is valuable. Every media organization — big or small, reputable or untrustworthy — is using every tactic at hand to engage us.

They need our attention to sell ads and subscriptions, to create value for their brands so we will become loyal consumers of their products.