Attention economy
To ascribe our woes to a society-wide attention-deficit disorder is to make the wrong diagnosis.
Which is unfortunate, because our relationships to our smartphones are far from healthy. The mediascape is becoming a stormy sea of anxiety, envy, delusion, and rage. Our attention is being redirected in surprising and often worrying ways. The... See more
Which is unfortunate, because our relationships to our smartphones are far from healthy. The mediascape is becoming a stormy sea of anxiety, envy, delusion, and rage. Our attention is being redirected in surprising and often worrying ways. The... See more
Daniel Immerwahr • The Attention Crisis Is Just a Distraction | The New Yorker
Opinion | Gen Z Has Regrets (Published 2024)
nytimes.com
Turning to the ultimate test of regret versus gratitude: We asked respondents to tell us, for various platforms and products, if they wished that it “was never invented.” Five items produced relatively low levels of regret: YouTube (15 percent), Netflix (17 percent), the internet itself (17 percent), messaging apps (19 percent) and the smartphone (21 percent). We interpret these low numbers as indicating that Gen Z does not heavily regret the basic communication, storytelling and information-seeking functions of the internet. If smartphones merely let people text each other, watch movies and search for helpful information or interesting videos (without personalized recommendation algorithms intended to hook users), there would be far less regret and resentment.
Sublime is an ethos-driven company.
Here is what we believe:
Intention > Attention
The destruction of our attention compromises our ability to make sustained progress on anything worthwhile.
You don’t need to go live in a cabin or swear off Netflix. You just have to live more deliberately.
We are entering the post-information age. The barrier is no
Intention>Attention: Observe where I don’t have intention and focus on the addition of intention over just broadly subtracting things that take my attention
Daydreaming is a central experience of being alive and also a casualty of the attention age. Years ago, podcasts came to fill my ears during my walks, conditioning me to feel a little panicked without one. But as I’ve spent more time thinking about attention, I’ve begun to force myself to just walk and let myself be with my thoughts. I’ve also... See more