Attention Economy Quotes

“You grant companies access to your attention so that they can alter your choices in exchange for entertainment. You identify with groups and grant them the ability to choose for you which problems you will be most concerned about. You listen to a friend when they care about something, and then you care about it too. One of the most powerful traits of your system is how ardently you believe in your individuality while simultaneously operating almost entirely as a collective.”
― Hank Green, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

“The most sophisticated software in existence is tasked with figuring out how to keep you from leaving a website.”
― Hank Green, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

“Nu ar trebui să ne bazăm pe validările celorlalți mereu, este necesar să ne asumăm și noi deciziile pe care le luăm și acțiunile pe care le facem, fără să ne comportăm ca niște prințese nesigure, inocente, mereu aflate în căutarea atenției celorlalți.
Pentru că nu e realist și nici fezabil să trăim așa.”
― Andrei Cristian, Epoca îndreptățirii

“Attention, as well as being a commodity that can be monetised through digital platforms, is a psychological wage. We know this from when we are children: think of the heaven of basking in the glow of an attentive parent or
teacher. To be recognised is to be told that you matter, that your life has worth and that you have a place in the world. There’s nothing unhealthy about that. But our media and politics leverage the psychological wages of attention in a way that is utterly corrosive and warping.”
― Ash Sarkar, Minority Rule: Adventures in the Culture War

“I know I've got self-worth issues. I just found out I was chosen as an emissary by an alien envoy to represent and protect the human race, and still I spent the afternoon searching for validation on Twitter.”
― Hank Green, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

“In recent years, the lives we live seem to be getting busier and busier. Technology has increasingly made its way into every part of our existence — nearly everyone has powerful smartphones in their hands, pockets, or somewhere close. Economic and societal pressure has increased the need, or at least the perception, that we should always be doing and striving for more.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“Our devices don’t have feelings (yet!) — if they did, they would be equivalent to the needy narcissistic partner for whom no amount of attention is ever enough. They superficially appear to care about you, give you just enough positive feedback to keep you interested in them, but never genuinely ask how you feel about your relation- ship. You doubt that you should get more serious, but it’s too easy to stay.”
― Thatcher Wine, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better

“We mustn't let Silicon Valley off the hook, but we should be honest: much of the time, we give in to distraction willingly. Something in us wants to be distracted, whether by our digital devices or anything else - to not spend our lives on what we thought we cared about the most.”
― Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals

“Consider the telling expression ‘pay attention.’ Attention, as I see it, is the original currency. If you look closely enough at this divine sense with your sixth sense, you can actually see its powerful current flowing. And let it be noted that you almost always end up seeing whatever you’re currently paying for.”
― Sol Luckman, Get Out of Here Alive: Inner Alchemy & Immortality