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Attensity!: A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement
A rallying cry to fight the commodification of human attention, with the tools we need to reclaim our humanity, by a group of writers, artists, and activists in the vanguard of the movement
“A stirring battle cry on behalf of our shared humanity against the forces that seek to diminish and degrade it. Downright invigorating. Just what the moment calls for.”—Chris Hayes, author of The Sirens’ Call
We all feel something is seriously wrong. Our attention—that essential ability to give our minds and senses to the world—is being trapped, gutted, and sold out from under us by an industry of immense technological and financial power. The heedless exploitation of this vital capacity by a handful of tech companies is harming us all, reducing our very selfhood to that which can be quantified, bought, and sold—and shaking the foundations of our democracy.
To push back against this “human fracking,” we need more than individual willpower or isolated efforts. We need a movement of collective resistance. Such a movement is beginning to bloom, and in this radical, first-of-its-kind guide, The Friends of Attention show us how to join the fight. We meet welders, nurses, poets, and surfers, all of whom are engaged in attentional practices. We learn to seek out sanctuaries—theaters and museums, houses of worship, dance parties—where together we can take refuge from the frackers. Attention Activism takes our apocalyptic present, turns it on its head, and reveals new vistas of human flourishing.
Drawing on a rich legacy of critical intellectuals and the creative wisdom of diverse traditions, Attensity! calls on us to come together to defeat the greedy dehumanizing forces of brute instrumentalization—and re-enchant the world.
“A stirring battle cry on behalf of our shared humanity against the forces that seek to diminish and degrade it. Downright invigorating. Just what the moment calls for.”—Chris Hayes, author of The Sirens’ Call
We all feel something is seriously wrong. Our attention—that essential ability to give our minds and senses to the world—is being trapped, gutted, and sold out from under us by an industry of immense technological and financial power. The heedless exploitation of this vital capacity by a handful of tech companies is harming us all, reducing our very selfhood to that which can be quantified, bought, and sold—and shaking the foundations of our democracy.
To push back against this “human fracking,” we need more than individual willpower or isolated efforts. We need a movement of collective resistance. Such a movement is beginning to bloom, and in this radical, first-of-its-kind guide, The Friends of Attention show us how to join the fight. We meet welders, nurses, poets, and surfers, all of whom are engaged in attentional practices. We learn to seek out sanctuaries—theaters and museums, houses of worship, dance parties—where together we can take refuge from the frackers. Attention Activism takes our apocalyptic present, turns it on its head, and reveals new vistas of human flourishing.
Drawing on a rich legacy of critical intellectuals and the creative wisdom of diverse traditions, Attensity! calls on us to come together to defeat the greedy dehumanizing forces of brute instrumentalization—and re-enchant the world.
- GenresNonfiction
217 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 20, 2026
41 people are currently reading
590 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
January 9, 2026
Thank you NetGalley for this ARC.
I went into this book genuinely excited. With such a timely subject and the promise of exploring how technology is shaping — and reshaping — our attention, I expected insight, research, and meaningful reflection.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t what I found. Rather than an examination of attention in the modern world, this book presents a collective manifesto, with each chapter functioning as a short statement or declaration. While the concept itself is interesting, the execution didn’t work for me.
For a topic of this importance, the lack of depth was disappointing. There is very little scientific grounding or research to support the ideas presented, and the format left no room for nuance or deeper exploration. I found myself wanting the book to engage more critically with the subject, but it remained largely surface-level throughout.
While I appreciate the intention behind this project, the execution didn’t meet my expectations, and I was left wanting far more depth and evidence for such a complex topic.
I went into this book genuinely excited. With such a timely subject and the promise of exploring how technology is shaping — and reshaping — our attention, I expected insight, research, and meaningful reflection.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t what I found. Rather than an examination of attention in the modern world, this book presents a collective manifesto, with each chapter functioning as a short statement or declaration. While the concept itself is interesting, the execution didn’t work for me.
For a topic of this importance, the lack of depth was disappointing. There is very little scientific grounding or research to support the ideas presented, and the format left no room for nuance or deeper exploration. I found myself wanting the book to engage more critically with the subject, but it remained largely surface-level throughout.
While I appreciate the intention behind this project, the execution didn’t meet my expectations, and I was left wanting far more depth and evidence for such a complex topic.
Read
October 9, 2025Had to read for work!
January 30, 2026
This is an explicit and self-conscious call to action to resist the fragmentation of society by the constant siren’s call of the attention economy that isolates and divides us from one another. What action? Mostly, to do things with other people in person in a way that defies what they call “attention fracking”—squeezing ever more moments of monetized screen-based attention from the public. Examples include going to band practice, playing D&D, and growing bonsai trees. I endorse all of this whole heartedly.
It is a real pity that the book is weighed down by the language of lefty activists/academics, much as with How to Do Nothing. To inspire the kind of change this manifesto seems to want, reaching the broadest possible audience is imperative, but they cannot resist drawing analogies that will only appeal to lefties, such as the central “fracking” metaphor, which only really works for you if you believe fossil fuel fracking to be bad. They also approach their subject elliptically, constantly promising that they’re going to explain things and forcing you to wait until much later in the book to find out what they’re talking about (including a long digression about not trusting scientists while insisting that that’s not what they’re saying) instead of just building an argument. Contrast this with The Sirens’ Call, which presents a much more linear, accessible, and compelling account than is rendered here. I think this book does not do much more than rally people already inclined to agree with the authors and who already share, or at least aren’t put off by, their lefty worldview. It’s therefore hard to imagine this book having the kind of Silent Spring–like impact the authors explicitly hope for (though I’ve never read Silent Spring, so for all I know it reads much like Attensity!).
That said, the goals of the authors, to rebuild a society that had been falling apart for decades before social media and AI appeared (as diagnosed in Bowling Alone), align well with my own, and I found reading this book a welcome occasion to reflect on the subject. I think I would recommend The Sirens’ Call and The Anxious Generation well before I would Attensity!, but they are, I think, getting at something important about how attention works. It’s not just our ability to focus on a task, particularly a screen-based one, and the crisis of attention is not just about shortening attention spans but about what we give our attention to and what forms our attention is allowed to take.
I think there is a more precise and more compelling version of this that could be written (and it may already be lingering out there in the vast literature I haven’t read) that disentangles the anti-capitalist aspect of their argument, makes more concrete recommendations, and provides a more actionable definition of attention in the first place, but the authors are engaged in important work, and if this book serves the role they hope it will, that would be no bad thing.
It is a real pity that the book is weighed down by the language of lefty activists/academics, much as with How to Do Nothing. To inspire the kind of change this manifesto seems to want, reaching the broadest possible audience is imperative, but they cannot resist drawing analogies that will only appeal to lefties, such as the central “fracking” metaphor, which only really works for you if you believe fossil fuel fracking to be bad. They also approach their subject elliptically, constantly promising that they’re going to explain things and forcing you to wait until much later in the book to find out what they’re talking about (including a long digression about not trusting scientists while insisting that that’s not what they’re saying) instead of just building an argument. Contrast this with The Sirens’ Call, which presents a much more linear, accessible, and compelling account than is rendered here. I think this book does not do much more than rally people already inclined to agree with the authors and who already share, or at least aren’t put off by, their lefty worldview. It’s therefore hard to imagine this book having the kind of Silent Spring–like impact the authors explicitly hope for (though I’ve never read Silent Spring, so for all I know it reads much like Attensity!).
That said, the goals of the authors, to rebuild a society that had been falling apart for decades before social media and AI appeared (as diagnosed in Bowling Alone), align well with my own, and I found reading this book a welcome occasion to reflect on the subject. I think I would recommend The Sirens’ Call and The Anxious Generation well before I would Attensity!, but they are, I think, getting at something important about how attention works. It’s not just our ability to focus on a task, particularly a screen-based one, and the crisis of attention is not just about shortening attention spans but about what we give our attention to and what forms our attention is allowed to take.
I think there is a more precise and more compelling version of this that could be written (and it may already be lingering out there in the vast literature I haven’t read) that disentangles the anti-capitalist aspect of their argument, makes more concrete recommendations, and provides a more actionable definition of attention in the first place, but the authors are engaged in important work, and if this book serves the role they hope it will, that would be no bad thing.
January 29, 2026
The more I think about this book, the more disappointed I am. The tone was weird, almost infantilizing, and I’m just not sure who the target audience is. I’m fully on board with the whole idea but still found myself distinctly un-rallied by this.
February 2, 2026
I liked the idea a lot more than the tedious execution.
February 4, 2026
Jenny Odell has already written the definitive book about the Attention Economy and how to resist it, and most other books are just reheating her nachos, albeit without the same sharp political critique and action plan. Of the crop of post-Odell books, this is by far the worst.
I was so hopeful about ATTENSITY! because dissatisfaction with the attention economy is reaching a point of cultural breakthrough in America, from frustration with algorithms to a rancid discursive landscape online to record mental health crises among younger Americans. I think it's cool that this organization has managed to pull together the funding to host an actual in-person school and draw a full crowd out to Judson Memorial Church in NYC. I'm someone who would have loved to get involved based on premise, but was turned away by reality.
The vibes of the organization, and book, are strange, white, and cult-ish. Despite having been written by a collective, the tone of ATTENSITY! is the same as its fast-talking white male leadership: rousing, yet somehow condescending and alienating. The book identifies the villains persuasively, and I like the idea of calling out tech companies as "frackers" of human attention. But the book flounders in its politics. Despite insisting that our spoiled attentions are not our individual fault, but the result of extractive technologies, their plan of action is surprisingly individualistic. Rather than calling for us to direct our attention towards regulation (which is often the call-to-action of the environmental movement from which they draw inspiration), the authors insist that ... anything we do, besides being on our phone, is Automatic Resistance. They cite artists, Bible verse reciters, knitters, and gardeners as Attention Activists. I don't disagree that the movement should be broad and inclusive, but do the authors not realize that a lot of those same artists also have high screen times, must compete in the algorithmic economy to sell their art, are having our art co-opted by AI? There's a high-mindedness in ATTENSITY! that brushes away these messy details, occasionally condescending people who are addicted to their phones or worried about their attention spans; you could leave the book, as I did, vaguely activated against tech companies but with zero clear plan of action.
The tone of the book is written to pre-empt a lot of criticism. It raises rhetorical questions and quickly shuts them down with definitive answers. It's strangely slick-talking in its cadence, almost shoving you through the sticky parts before you can ask too many questions, like when a realtor is showing you a faulty house. Probably because of its white male leadership (the only Asian woman on the editorial team is married to the main editor, something he announced onstage at Judson in a bizarrely undercutting way, IMO) the book doesn't brushes past questions of power and difference that impact how attention activists could show up to the movement. I almost think the "collective authorship" is part of that, so we can't write it off as an exclusive project.
I hope the next iteration of resistance to the attention economy is more up to the challenge.
I was so hopeful about ATTENSITY! because dissatisfaction with the attention economy is reaching a point of cultural breakthrough in America, from frustration with algorithms to a rancid discursive landscape online to record mental health crises among younger Americans. I think it's cool that this organization has managed to pull together the funding to host an actual in-person school and draw a full crowd out to Judson Memorial Church in NYC. I'm someone who would have loved to get involved based on premise, but was turned away by reality.
The vibes of the organization, and book, are strange, white, and cult-ish. Despite having been written by a collective, the tone of ATTENSITY! is the same as its fast-talking white male leadership: rousing, yet somehow condescending and alienating. The book identifies the villains persuasively, and I like the idea of calling out tech companies as "frackers" of human attention. But the book flounders in its politics. Despite insisting that our spoiled attentions are not our individual fault, but the result of extractive technologies, their plan of action is surprisingly individualistic. Rather than calling for us to direct our attention towards regulation (which is often the call-to-action of the environmental movement from which they draw inspiration), the authors insist that ... anything we do, besides being on our phone, is Automatic Resistance. They cite artists, Bible verse reciters, knitters, and gardeners as Attention Activists. I don't disagree that the movement should be broad and inclusive, but do the authors not realize that a lot of those same artists also have high screen times, must compete in the algorithmic economy to sell their art, are having our art co-opted by AI? There's a high-mindedness in ATTENSITY! that brushes away these messy details, occasionally condescending people who are addicted to their phones or worried about their attention spans; you could leave the book, as I did, vaguely activated against tech companies but with zero clear plan of action.
The tone of the book is written to pre-empt a lot of criticism. It raises rhetorical questions and quickly shuts them down with definitive answers. It's strangely slick-talking in its cadence, almost shoving you through the sticky parts before you can ask too many questions, like when a realtor is showing you a faulty house. Probably because of its white male leadership (the only Asian woman on the editorial team is married to the main editor, something he announced onstage at Judson in a bizarrely undercutting way, IMO) the book doesn't brushes past questions of power and difference that impact how attention activists could show up to the movement. I almost think the "collective authorship" is part of that, so we can't write it off as an exclusive project.
I hope the next iteration of resistance to the attention economy is more up to the challenge.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I thought ‘Attensity!’ was going to be about what attention is, how modern technologies and the digital age affect it, and actionable ways in which we can reclaim it, both as individuals and as a society. Instead, ‘Attensity!’ reads like the crackpot and often paranoid ravings of someone who is spending way too much time alone in the basement, possibly with a tinfoil hat on their head, desperate to recruit others to their nascent cult—sorry, way of thinking. The random words and phrases in all-caps or italics, sometimes with added bold too, don’t help, and the overall sense I was left with when reading this book was: “You okay, hun?”
Given the importance of the topic and the impact it has on us at every level as human beings, from our basic mental health to the structures of our society, I understand why the writing is so impassioned. However, ‘impassioned’ tips over into ‘crackpot’ when no references are given to back up any of the authors’ claims; even the need for references and research is dismissed with excuses such as “proving causality is hard” and “statistics are a messy business”; even the possibility of research is dismissed by insisting that what we currently define as ‘attention’ isn’t actually attention, and that true attention cannot be defined, and thus cannot be researched and the authors’ claims neither proven nor disproven (convenient…); and we readers are called upon instead to rely on ‘common sense’, though common sense isn’t scientific nor necessarily accurate and would have most people believing the glass is either half empty or half full when it is in fact entirely full, as it is not a vacuum—something that science shows us.
‘Impassioned’ also tips over into ‘crackpot’ when the phrase ‘human fracking’ is repeated every few words.
All that aside, the book is also substantially more filler than content, with many blank pages and with the same central statement being repeated again and again, with a different phrase highlighted each time (before expanding on that phrase with another short and unsubstantiated rant…).
Given how many authors supposedly worked on this book, it’s a shame there wasn’t an editor amongst them. Or someone who realised the importance of coming across as sane. Having someone who could define the concept they’re talking about wouldn’t have hurt, either.
Anyway…
I think what the authors are trying to get at is that the world we currently live in is not optimised to enable us to feel ‘flow’. So instead of reading this book, I would recommend stepping away from your phone, checking out ‘Flow’ by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, then doing whatever it is that enables you to feel flow, and perhaps considering ways in which we as a society might change to enable more people to experience flow. (But please don’t write a fracking MANIFESTO on it.)
Many thanks to NetGalley, The Friends of Attention, and Particular Books for the ARC.
Given the importance of the topic and the impact it has on us at every level as human beings, from our basic mental health to the structures of our society, I understand why the writing is so impassioned. However, ‘impassioned’ tips over into ‘crackpot’ when no references are given to back up any of the authors’ claims; even the need for references and research is dismissed with excuses such as “proving causality is hard” and “statistics are a messy business”; even the possibility of research is dismissed by insisting that what we currently define as ‘attention’ isn’t actually attention, and that true attention cannot be defined, and thus cannot be researched and the authors’ claims neither proven nor disproven (convenient…); and we readers are called upon instead to rely on ‘common sense’, though common sense isn’t scientific nor necessarily accurate and would have most people believing the glass is either half empty or half full when it is in fact entirely full, as it is not a vacuum—something that science shows us.
‘Impassioned’ also tips over into ‘crackpot’ when the phrase ‘human fracking’ is repeated every few words.
All that aside, the book is also substantially more filler than content, with many blank pages and with the same central statement being repeated again and again, with a different phrase highlighted each time (before expanding on that phrase with another short and unsubstantiated rant…).
Given how many authors supposedly worked on this book, it’s a shame there wasn’t an editor amongst them. Or someone who realised the importance of coming across as sane. Having someone who could define the concept they’re talking about wouldn’t have hurt, either.
Anyway…
I think what the authors are trying to get at is that the world we currently live in is not optimised to enable us to feel ‘flow’. So instead of reading this book, I would recommend stepping away from your phone, checking out ‘Flow’ by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, then doing whatever it is that enables you to feel flow, and perhaps considering ways in which we as a society might change to enable more people to experience flow. (But please don’t write a fracking MANIFESTO on it.)
Many thanks to NetGalley, The Friends of Attention, and Particular Books for the ARC.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This book is a manifesto. It refuses to stay at the level of 10-ways-to-stop-scrolling-on-your-phone kind of book. Because the problem we’re facing isn’t going to be solved at the level of individual actions. The problem isn’t personal. It is structural and systemic.
“When your hand reaches, subconsciously, reflexively, for your phone (first thing in the morning, in the middle of a conversation, in the middle of a thought), or when you get stuck in an infinite scroll for an hour when you meant to look for a minute, that is not because you lack the personal willpower to escape. Rather, it is because trillions of dollars of military-grade research and technology, and thousands of the most highly trained and paid engineers in the world, are aligned behind overpowering your intention.”
Individual humans are no match for this infrastructure.
The appropriate feeling is not personal shame, but political anger.
This book is a call to arms, a revolution, a collective movement called Attention Activism.
Chances are, you’re already part of the revolution. You’re a reader. Reading requires a different kind of attention than the one engineered by modern algorithms. By choosing to read, you’re already participating in a collective resistance against the “psychic extraction” that plunders our eyeballs for profit.
But we’re not the only ones. Attention activists (attentionauts or attentionistas) are already around us: amateurs, artists, teachers, home cooks, builders, crafters, caretakers. They are people giving their attention (to each other, to themselves, to their surroundings) in joyful and life-affirming ways.
By the last page, my main feeling wasn’t despair about the attention economy. It was: “Absolutely not. You don’t get to have my mind.” It made me want to treat every act of my deliberate attention as a small act of defiance: a refusal to be fully algorithmisable, fully monetisable.
(Thank you to Particular Books and NetGalley for the ARC.)
“When your hand reaches, subconsciously, reflexively, for your phone (first thing in the morning, in the middle of a conversation, in the middle of a thought), or when you get stuck in an infinite scroll for an hour when you meant to look for a minute, that is not because you lack the personal willpower to escape. Rather, it is because trillions of dollars of military-grade research and technology, and thousands of the most highly trained and paid engineers in the world, are aligned behind overpowering your intention.”
Individual humans are no match for this infrastructure.
The appropriate feeling is not personal shame, but political anger.
This book is a call to arms, a revolution, a collective movement called Attention Activism.
Chances are, you’re already part of the revolution. You’re a reader. Reading requires a different kind of attention than the one engineered by modern algorithms. By choosing to read, you’re already participating in a collective resistance against the “psychic extraction” that plunders our eyeballs for profit.
But we’re not the only ones. Attention activists (attentionauts or attentionistas) are already around us: amateurs, artists, teachers, home cooks, builders, crafters, caretakers. They are people giving their attention (to each other, to themselves, to their surroundings) in joyful and life-affirming ways.
By the last page, my main feeling wasn’t despair about the attention economy. It was: “Absolutely not. You don’t get to have my mind.” It made me want to treat every act of my deliberate attention as a small act of defiance: a refusal to be fully algorithmisable, fully monetisable.
(Thank you to Particular Books and NetGalley for the ARC.)
January 25, 2026
I have quite a few friends that are part of the School of Radical Attention, but I have to be honest that until I read this book, I really didn't have a great grasp of what they actually did. I knew it had something to do with attention (duh), and it was about fighting screen addiction, but I guess I didn't really get how huge an issue it was. It certainly is for me though. I recently had to get off of Instagram to preserve my mental health, but this book really helped me see how widespread the problem is.
The book is super easy to read and chock full of fascinating information with very digestible chapters. It's also a much-needed call to arms. We need to stop believing the lie that individual decisions are going to solve this crisis. Very similar to how we used to think that turning off lights and the faucet when we brushed our teeth was going to reverse climate change, there's a belief if we just "unplug" every once in a while, then everything is going to be peachy keen. This sickness goes way beyond personal care. It's a part of a system that desperately needs to be dismantled.
After I finished the book, I did not feel overwhelmed or hopeless. I truly enjoyed reading this book. I especially enjoyed the "roll call" chapter where I got to learn about the different categories of folx who part of this movement can be (I'm an ARTIST!!!!) and the average people who are currently fighting. At the beginning of the book, the writers draw comparisons between this tome and Rachel Carson's seminal, Silent Spring. I thought it was a bold statement but by the time I got to the final page I realized how accurate it was.
This book is going to inspire a generation to stand up and wrestle their attention back from those exploiting it for money. I can't wait for this to find its to both the syllabi of major universities and the little libraries of suburban neighborhoods.
The book is super easy to read and chock full of fascinating information with very digestible chapters. It's also a much-needed call to arms. We need to stop believing the lie that individual decisions are going to solve this crisis. Very similar to how we used to think that turning off lights and the faucet when we brushed our teeth was going to reverse climate change, there's a belief if we just "unplug" every once in a while, then everything is going to be peachy keen. This sickness goes way beyond personal care. It's a part of a system that desperately needs to be dismantled.
After I finished the book, I did not feel overwhelmed or hopeless. I truly enjoyed reading this book. I especially enjoyed the "roll call" chapter where I got to learn about the different categories of folx who part of this movement can be (I'm an ARTIST!!!!) and the average people who are currently fighting. At the beginning of the book, the writers draw comparisons between this tome and Rachel Carson's seminal, Silent Spring. I thought it was a bold statement but by the time I got to the final page I realized how accurate it was.
This book is going to inspire a generation to stand up and wrestle their attention back from those exploiting it for money. I can't wait for this to find its to both the syllabi of major universities and the little libraries of suburban neighborhoods.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The attention economy is one of my biggest interests, so I was intrigued by this book when the NetGalley newsletter came round advertising it. Attensity! seems to be a book aimed at introducing people to the concept of attention and attention “fracking” as they put it, and (positively) radicalising them to this very important cause. I love the premise!
I consider myself well-read and well-educated, but had to look up quite a lot of the vocabulary used. I appreciate that the book was written by a team of highly intelligent (and passionate!) people, but I fear the audience they are trying to reach may not have as much patience as a dedicated reader like myself to pause reading every so often to look up definitions.
As other reviewers have already said, this book also definitely needed references and a bibliography for the sources; it would have made the anecdotes more authoritative.
I have to say that the final 25% of the book was the most engaging. I most enjoyed the chapters that focused on traditional art, and on specific attention activists and how their careers and hobbies demonstrate positive, deep use of attention. My interest (or should I say attention?!) was also piqued by the chapters about study as a form of attention, how important it is and how else it can be interpreted, and the one about distraction as a valid form of attention. This last quarter of the book convinced me to round up to 3 stars.
Thank you Particular Books and the authors for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I consider myself well-read and well-educated, but had to look up quite a lot of the vocabulary used. I appreciate that the book was written by a team of highly intelligent (and passionate!) people, but I fear the audience they are trying to reach may not have as much patience as a dedicated reader like myself to pause reading every so often to look up definitions.
As other reviewers have already said, this book also definitely needed references and a bibliography for the sources; it would have made the anecdotes more authoritative.
I have to say that the final 25% of the book was the most engaging. I most enjoyed the chapters that focused on traditional art, and on specific attention activists and how their careers and hobbies demonstrate positive, deep use of attention. My interest (or should I say attention?!) was also piqued by the chapters about study as a form of attention, how important it is and how else it can be interpreted, and the one about distraction as a valid form of attention. This last quarter of the book convinced me to round up to 3 stars.
Thank you Particular Books and the authors for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Attensity! is a manifesto for reclaiming our attention away from technology companies through collective action. It is a short manifesto statement, with each sentence then broken down into a short essay to expand upon the ideas behind it, which builds towards a message for people to find out more about the Friends of Attention and make their own action towards getting our collective attention back.
This is written as an accessible manifesto that does engage with some more philosophical ideas, but also practical examples. It is written in quite a specific style, including heavy use of text formatting like uppercase letters and italics, and some parts are more effective than others in, ironically, keeping your attention through this style. Overall, it is quite abstract, because it is talking about most technology and all big tech companies, and all of these specific stylistic and content choices mean that it is likely to suit some people and be a bit annoying to others. I oscillated between the two, feeling by the end like I thought the movement was very interesting, but I still wasn't entirely sure what action we were being called to. Maybe it is more rousing if you don't already read and think about the impact of big tech on our lives, as it is a chance to reflect on the control they have on our attention.
This is written as an accessible manifesto that does engage with some more philosophical ideas, but also practical examples. It is written in quite a specific style, including heavy use of text formatting like uppercase letters and italics, and some parts are more effective than others in, ironically, keeping your attention through this style. Overall, it is quite abstract, because it is talking about most technology and all big tech companies, and all of these specific stylistic and content choices mean that it is likely to suit some people and be a bit annoying to others. I oscillated between the two, feeling by the end like I thought the movement was very interesting, but I still wasn't entirely sure what action we were being called to. Maybe it is more rousing if you don't already read and think about the impact of big tech on our lives, as it is a chance to reflect on the control they have on our attention.
January 20, 2026
This book takes a close look at how our attention is shaped and often exploited by modern technology, arguing that the issue goes far beyond personal habits. It frames distraction as something engineered rather than accidental, and that idea runs through the whole manifesto.
I found the concept genuinely interesting, though the writing can feel heavy at times, with dense language that may be challenging for readers who aren’t already familiar with the topic. I also would’ve appreciated clearer sourcing, as some of the claims and anecdotes would have carried more weight with references behind them.
The final section was the highlight for me. The chapters on art, study, distraction, and the people who practice deep, intentional focus brought the ideas to life in a way the earlier parts didn’t. Those examples made the message feel more grounded and ultimately shaped my overall impression of the book.
Stylistically, it’s bold and sometimes a bit intense, and I imagine readers will either enjoy that or find it distracting. Even so, it did shift how I think about where my attention goes and how easily it can be pulled away.
In the end, I found it thought provoking, uneven in places, but worthwhile for the perspective it offers.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.
I found the concept genuinely interesting, though the writing can feel heavy at times, with dense language that may be challenging for readers who aren’t already familiar with the topic. I also would’ve appreciated clearer sourcing, as some of the claims and anecdotes would have carried more weight with references behind them.
The final section was the highlight for me. The chapters on art, study, distraction, and the people who practice deep, intentional focus brought the ideas to life in a way the earlier parts didn’t. Those examples made the message feel more grounded and ultimately shaped my overall impression of the book.
Stylistically, it’s bold and sometimes a bit intense, and I imagine readers will either enjoy that or find it distracting. Even so, it did shift how I think about where my attention goes and how easily it can be pulled away.
In the end, I found it thought provoking, uneven in places, but worthwhile for the perspective it offers.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.
January 20, 2026
This is a book that highlights an important issue but somehow manages to be less than compelling in delivering its message. It takes the form of a political pamphlet and presents a manifesto which is then broken down sentence by sentence, each of which has an essay presented on it. With multiple writers and multiple styles, some sections came across better than others, and those essays presenting solutions were better than those listing the causes and the problems. Whilst the overuse of capitals and exclamation marks came across as a bit fanatical and “culty”, the book makes an important point, but more needs to be done if there is a desire to build momentum and evolve into a social activist movement. Ironically, it needs to use some of the tools of the technology “attention frackers” it decries in order to capture the attention of the critical thinkers it wants to convert into activists.
A note to the publishers - this does not come across well on a Kindle - it needs to be read as a book or a PDF.
Thanks to NetGalley and the authors of this book for the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
A note to the publishers - this does not come across well on a Kindle - it needs to be read as a book or a PDF.
Thanks to NetGalley and the authors of this book for the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This is a book that examines the impact of technology on our attention. The authors refer to this as "human fracking". This is quite appropriate when you think about it, and the book gradually reveals how and why large companies are vying for our attention through laptops, social media, TV shows, internet searches, and much more.
When we go online, our lives are monitored, ads are changed to become more relevant, and all in an attempt to keep us scrolling. While we are doing this, we are forgetting about those around us. It always makes me laugh to myself that social media is supposed to be a social activity, but while people are focused on a screen, they are ignoring those they can actually talk to.
This manifesto does touch on some of these things, but it also skips over them. The book looks at how capitalism is taking over our attention and monetising it. I think this is what I got from the book. There are times through this that I found myself agreeing with some points, and at other times finding it repetitive. This is, after all, a Manifesto, so there is a message being shown.
Interesting reading and some good opinions and thoughts. This is a read that has mixed reviews, and I am going to sit on the fence with this one. It will be of interest to some.
When we go online, our lives are monitored, ads are changed to become more relevant, and all in an attempt to keep us scrolling. While we are doing this, we are forgetting about those around us. It always makes me laugh to myself that social media is supposed to be a social activity, but while people are focused on a screen, they are ignoring those they can actually talk to.
This manifesto does touch on some of these things, but it also skips over them. The book looks at how capitalism is taking over our attention and monetising it. I think this is what I got from the book. There are times through this that I found myself agreeing with some points, and at other times finding it repetitive. This is, after all, a Manifesto, so there is a message being shown.
Interesting reading and some good opinions and thoughts. This is a read that has mixed reviews, and I am going to sit on the fence with this one. It will be of interest to some.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Attensity The Friends of Attention looks at how our attention has become a valuable resource, increasingly shaped and extracted by large technology companies and powerful financial interests. Rather than focusing only on the problem, the book also considers how people can resist this through local action, shared awareness, and a more intentional relationship with technology.
I did feel my understanding of the subject deepen as I read, particularly around how our attention is engineered, monetised, and redirected. That said, I found the book heavy going at times. I found the writing dense and repetitive, and I wasn’t consistently engaged, even though the chapters themselves are short and clearly organised.
What has stayed with me most is a shift in mindset. Since finishing the book, I’ve been more conscious about where my attention goes and more careful about what I allow to claim it. I received an advance review copy from NetGalley, and this is my honest review.
I did feel my understanding of the subject deepen as I read, particularly around how our attention is engineered, monetised, and redirected. That said, I found the book heavy going at times. I found the writing dense and repetitive, and I wasn’t consistently engaged, even though the chapters themselves are short and clearly organised.
What has stayed with me most is a shift in mindset. Since finishing the book, I’ve been more conscious about where my attention goes and more careful about what I allow to claim it. I received an advance review copy from NetGalley, and this is my honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book.
Attensity is an interesting term that I hope gets brought more into general lexicon as society increasingly grapples with the attention economy.
I had high expectations for this book as I am supportive of the sentiments covered. However as someone already interested in the topic, I didn’t feel that there was a lot of new insight gained from reading it sadly. Perhaps I’m therefore not the intended audience but if it’s meant to inspire and bring new people into a movement, it was a bit too long winded and overwritten rather than presenting the core concepts and takeaways in a clear and engaging way.
The big text formatting for the start of each new section and the gaps/faint unreadable repeated text between each section in the kindle copy was confusing to make sense of at first but I then got used to it after a few chapters.
Attensity is an interesting term that I hope gets brought more into general lexicon as society increasingly grapples with the attention economy.
I had high expectations for this book as I am supportive of the sentiments covered. However as someone already interested in the topic, I didn’t feel that there was a lot of new insight gained from reading it sadly. Perhaps I’m therefore not the intended audience but if it’s meant to inspire and bring new people into a movement, it was a bit too long winded and overwritten rather than presenting the core concepts and takeaways in a clear and engaging way.
The big text formatting for the start of each new section and the gaps/faint unreadable repeated text between each section in the kindle copy was confusing to make sense of at first but I then got used to it after a few chapters.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Brilliant book , I love the way data is packed into the book and how the first 50% appears to be highlighting the problem with " Attention Fracking" and how the rest of the 50% gives a call to action in a more succinct way.
The tone used throughout the book also is not so heavy as to seem like preaching, but it is kept informative and paced with good , straight forwards tips as to how to overcome this problem. " Attensity" also gives an enlightening outlook on how attention can be looked at in different perspectives, which is something I had not really thought about before.. The font from the beginning of each chapter is also interesting, giving a variation in size, which develops the readers interest, almost like reading a newspaper; there also is a collectivised, warm feeling in the writing , which allows the genuine belief, concerning the subject matter to come through and moves the reader to want to take action themselves.
Brilliantly written, thank you for the ARC.
The tone used throughout the book also is not so heavy as to seem like preaching, but it is kept informative and paced with good , straight forwards tips as to how to overcome this problem. " Attensity" also gives an enlightening outlook on how attention can be looked at in different perspectives, which is something I had not really thought about before.. The font from the beginning of each chapter is also interesting, giving a variation in size, which develops the readers interest, almost like reading a newspaper; there also is a collectivised, warm feeling in the writing , which allows the genuine belief, concerning the subject matter to come through and moves the reader to want to take action themselves.
Brilliantly written, thank you for the ARC.
Read
October 19, 2025I'm saying this as neutrally as possible, but reading this book sort of felt like reading a 200+ page Tumblr post. Don't ask me what I mean by that, because I can't explain. It was a very easy, digestible read-- maybe because at this point I've just consumed so much writing/speaking about attention and the digital world already. Attensity! goes the more philosophical and holistic route, rather than in the Here's How To Quit Social Media direction, but I don't think that it did anything particularly exciting. I think I'd probably recommend this to younger readers (late teens/very early 20s) or people who are fairly new to the ideas presented. Still, I enjoyed it enough to finish it and it's really nice to see the work that the Friends are doing!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
From the title and intro I thought this sounded like an excellent book and parts of it are really interesting.
The main problem is it seems to just go round in circles and not really get to the point. The first half of the book seems to try and define attention yet really never seems to achieve this - it makes some interesting points on ADHD and measure and the origins but this was my only real take away from this part of the book.
The book seems to take a long time to say very little and in that respect was disappointing. It talks a bit about devices capturing our attention but this seems to drift in and out of focus in the book.
Overall the book takes a long time to say very little which is disappointing.
The main problem is it seems to just go round in circles and not really get to the point. The first half of the book seems to try and define attention yet really never seems to achieve this - it makes some interesting points on ADHD and measure and the origins but this was my only real take away from this part of the book.
The book seems to take a long time to say very little and in that respect was disappointing. It talks a bit about devices capturing our attention but this seems to drift in and out of focus in the book.
Overall the book takes a long time to say very little which is disappointing.
Read
December 29, 2025thanks to netgalley, the publisher and authors for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
there was nothing in here i disagreed with, and bringing greater awareness to the issue of attention fracking is an honourable intention. it piqued my interest in the work of the "friends of attention".
however, as someone who has read around this topic a bit already, there was nothing particularly new to me here.
the writing style was also not for me. sentences run on and on, italics/bold/capitalisation are almost randomly applied and exclamation marks are vastly overused. by the end of the book it started to give me the impression of a drunken rant at a party that you're too polite to walk away from.
i hope it will spark action in those who manage to engage with it.
there was nothing in here i disagreed with, and bringing greater awareness to the issue of attention fracking is an honourable intention. it piqued my interest in the work of the "friends of attention".
however, as someone who has read around this topic a bit already, there was nothing particularly new to me here.
the writing style was also not for me. sentences run on and on, italics/bold/capitalisation are almost randomly applied and exclamation marks are vastly overused. by the end of the book it started to give me the impression of a drunken rant at a party that you're too polite to walk away from.
i hope it will spark action in those who manage to engage with it.
January 20, 2026
Attensity! is a quick, thought-provoking read that nudges you to consider just how much tech grabs your attention. The book breaks down big ideas into short, accessible essays, blending philosophy with practical examples. The style can be a bit bold, with uppercase letters and italics drawing the eye, sometimes working, sometimes feeling a touch over the top. It’s abstract in places, especially when tackling the influence of massive tech companies, but that encourages reflection. Overall, it’s engaging and challenging, leaving you questioning your own habits and how society steers our focus.
Many thanks to Penguin Press UK, Allen Lane, Particular, Pelican, Penguin Classics and NetGalley for providing this advanced copy.
Many thanks to Penguin Press UK, Allen Lane, Particular, Pelican, Penguin Classics and NetGalley for providing this advanced copy.
February 5, 2026
An important subject told in a distinctive way. Does the tone always work? Maybe not. But it's a call to action. They reference plenty of scholarly work if that's what you are looking for. And there are genuinely moving and poetic moments, particularly in the roll call section toward the end. There are many useful metaphors and interesting historical and contemporary connections that warrant further exploration on their own. View this for what it is - a manifesto - and then go attend to something. Treat it as a primer, and go read the bibliography, but more importantly, reclaim your attention from the human frackers. The book is meant to inspire action, and it offers a lot of ideas worth trying.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Attensity! is a primer on the attention economy, and the way modern capitalism often uses human attention as currency. There are some really insightful and interesting ideas discussed here - the human fracking metaphor is particularly astute - and it is great to see the argument set out in clear and accessible terms. So it's a shame I found the way it's packaged (millennial manifesto! with exclamation marks!) a little grating. There is a lot to admire in the Friends' philosophy; I just wish it sounded a little bit less like a cult.
*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*
*Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review*
December 28, 2025
This was a slog.
I was expecting an interesting study into how technology is affecting our attention span and dragging us into an “online world” as well as advice/suggestions as to how to prevent/avoid this.
What I got instead was incoherent ramblings as well as lots of CAPITAL LETTERS AND EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!
There was no research or studies cited and in some instances research was dismissed completely. Also, their manifesto is repeated continually through the book which, ironically, took my attention away from the content.
Definitely not recommended.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Press UK – Allen Lane, Particular, Pelican, Penguin Classics | Particular Books for the ARC.
I was expecting an interesting study into how technology is affecting our attention span and dragging us into an “online world” as well as advice/suggestions as to how to prevent/avoid this.
What I got instead was incoherent ramblings as well as lots of CAPITAL LETTERS AND EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!
There was no research or studies cited and in some instances research was dismissed completely. Also, their manifesto is repeated continually through the book which, ironically, took my attention away from the content.
Definitely not recommended.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Press UK – Allen Lane, Particular, Pelican, Penguin Classics | Particular Books for the ARC.
January 11, 2026
A lot in this book is of great value for example, how attention is reduced to a “span” when really it is all about allowing ourselves to restlessly circle, about big tech, the power of social movements. I was quite excited to pick it up but at times, it sounds more like trying to understand the perspective of a cult. There was so much potential to be able to cite research, explain more practical ways of working on our attention - instead it felt like it focused on fear mongering some times. A lot of “we” language versus they and them and whilst I understand why the distinction matters, the essence of the topic seems to get lost.
Thanks Netgalley for an ARC in exchange of an honest review.
Thanks Netgalley for an ARC in exchange of an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
⭐️3.5 stars rounded up⭐️
The amount of non-fiction that I read is fairly non-existent, but the concept of how our attention is being stolen my mindless scrolling captivated me. The book is well written and introduces lots of interesting concepts, that I'll be milling over for the foreseeable.
"The work of Attention
Activism includes the delicate and elusive work of staying
absolutely true to the complexity, beauty, and specificity
of our actual experiences-and declining the flattening
simplifications of inadequate vocabulary.."
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
The amount of non-fiction that I read is fairly non-existent, but the concept of how our attention is being stolen my mindless scrolling captivated me. The book is well written and introduces lots of interesting concepts, that I'll be milling over for the foreseeable.
"The work of Attention
Activism includes the delicate and elusive work of staying
absolutely true to the complexity, beauty, and specificity
of our actual experiences-and declining the flattening
simplifications of inadequate vocabulary.."
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
January 24, 2026
I can't imagine a more timely and urgent book. Their critiques of the attention economy are similar (although more conversational and accessible) to those of Byung-Chul Han. But what sets the book apart is their faith in a future movement that turns the monoculture of digital addiction on its head by imagining a world of different kinds of non-commercialized attention. Sure the book can come across as utopian, but it's supposed to be because it's a manifesto. Essential.
Read
January 25, 2026I like this book and there are a lot of wonderful ideas and thought provoking reframing of modern life. The authors are passionate and have identified a very real problem.
But...the authors are narrow minded in their politics. For instance, church is an attention sanctuary already being cherished and preserved by millions of people each week and I don't think they mentioned it at all. Once they mention being embarrassed by having a cousin who is evangelical. They assume the reader finds sincere religious belief cringy.
But...the authors are narrow minded in their politics. For instance, church is an attention sanctuary already being cherished and preserved by millions of people each week and I don't think they mentioned it at all. Once they mention being embarrassed by having a cousin who is evangelical. They assume the reader finds sincere religious belief cringy.
January 31, 2026
Super solid book- i don’t think there’s a more important issue in my life that I’m trying to solve other than my attention.
This builds on the work of a lot of other books I’ve read like Surveillance Capitalism.
Especially appreciated to the analogy of our phones and social media being equivalent to fracking.
What’s scary is that this book, which is not widely read was suggested to me by the Spotify algo.
Also I was disappointed I wanted to get involved with the organization which is based in Brooklyn but saw that a lot of their seminars were very expensive. Not cool
This builds on the work of a lot of other books I’ve read like Surveillance Capitalism.
Especially appreciated to the analogy of our phones and social media being equivalent to fracking.
What’s scary is that this book, which is not widely read was suggested to me by the Spotify algo.
Also I was disappointed I wanted to get involved with the organization which is based in Brooklyn but saw that a lot of their seminars were very expensive. Not cool
August 10, 2025
This short and powerful manifesto is a must-read today. The Friends of Attention encourage communities to band together against Big Tech’s commodification of our humanity. The book’s unique style makes it feel accessible despite some high-level ideas and vocabulary. Its urgent message and thoughtfulness make this a five-star read for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the free eARC. I post this review with my honest opinions.
Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the free eARC. I post this review with my honest opinions.
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