The attention economy seems to have run amok. Early on in the attention economy, media and other companies would vie for people’s attention so that they could advertise products or they would keep us engaged so that we spent more time using their service. Yet, consumers felt that they were giving attention to these platforms or services voluntarily. The idea of “stealing attention” only makes sense when a person owns the commodity.

Today, media and other companies are still vying for people’s attention, but it no longer seems as if people are consciously choosing to give it over. Rather, people are distracted more and more. Attention spans are not only decreasing; the focus of attention has become largely out of people’s own control. Passive consumption has become the norm, and social media has become the screen through which we engage the world. The “War for Attention” is no longer between consumers of media and the media industry. It is now between different media companies, and people are simply the territory to conquer.

For example, in his latest book, The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story Of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds And Our World, Max Fisher describes the tactic Youtube used to reach 1 billion views per day by 2016. Rather than provide the best information available given the search request, YouTube’s algorithm prioritizes videos that pique people’s emotions by conveying a sense that the community of which they are a part—and therefore their own identity—was under threat. For YouTube, the goal is not to satisfy customers’ interests, it is to increase the number of videos watched. The emotional toll to viewers is simply the most effective means to keep their attention.

The ferocity of the attention economy has led to a decline in people’s ability to maintain strong relationships and engage in deep thought. Moreover, distraction and multitasking hurts both personal and company productivity. Despite the belief that it is possible to do two things at the same time efficiently, multitasking reduces productivity, causes stress and could ultimate cause burnout. In a 2020 study, The Economist Intelligence Unit found that in the United States 28% of working hours in knowledge work are lost to distractions. This is about 581 hours per knowledge worker annually. According to Udemy’s 2018 Workplace Distraction Report, 36% of millennials/Gen Z reported spending 2 or more hours per work day on their phones for personal reasons. The cost, however, doesn’t only come from social media usage at work. Employees lose attention through other types of interruptions as well, whether they be personal or office-related.

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