Your Attention is Worth Something

I think even the most optimistic observer has to be looking at the current information landscape and admitting to themselves that things are looking pretty bleak. I know I am. Between democracy being under threat, environmental disasters, AI generated content flooding the internet, and enshittification continuing on its race to the bottom, it would be easy enough to use my allotted 800 words just to rant against the state of information and technology right now.

But me ranting doesn’t really add anything helpful. You can easily find a never-ending commentary on Meta removing any rules governing hate speech on their platforms, fake AI chatbot accounts, and the outsized influence of tech billionaires on world politics, the public square, and many other aspects of our lives. I think rather than me repeating all of that, it’s more important to find the “so what can we do about it” in the situation.

I’ve struggled with that part of it over the past little while. What can we do about it? There is so much we don’t have a whole lot of control over. But there are things we can do, in aggregate and individually, to make a difference in our current circumstance.

Our attention in today’s economy is worth something. It is the fuel from which the advertising machines that are masquerading as social media companies make billions of dollars every quarter. Public Health expert Timothy Caufield in his book The Certainty Illusion, describes the information economy as not driven by a quest for any kind of truth, but by the accumulation of attention. More eyes on what algorithms feed you means more eyes on the ads businesses buy from companies like Meta, which means Meta can sell more ads.

The damage this causes is two-fold. First, when our minds are overloaded, we become exhausted and unable to act on the information we need to. Second, it makes us doubt all of the information we’re presented even if it is reliable. When our attention is commodified and exploited, we need to add that factor to our evaluation of the information we are receiving. However, that takes time and energy that we don’t have if we’re constantly engaged the way social media platforms want us to be – which by design is an endless scroll of emotionally fraught content. An exhausted mind leaves us unequipped to deal with the challenges of our time.

Author and educator Hank Green put what we can do about that very succinctly: “Take back your attention.” We need to balance being informed with also having the brain-space to evaluate and act on the information we need to. One way we can do this is to ensure we are giving our attention intentionally and being selective of what information we ingest into our brains.

Conspiracy theory researcher Abbie Richards provides some good advice. She suggests moving our bodies before going online to remind our brain that it is more than an information sponge, finding moments to zone out, and setting aside designated social media time. David Moscrop, political scientist and commentator, uses a similar designated time approach to news and social media consumption. He argues that while it is important to be informed about what is going on in the world, the level to which 24-hour news networks and social media capture our attention is more harmful than useful.

To be clear, I’m not advocating we look at the big and difficult problems of our time and put our heads in the sand. But being in a constantly reactive state, like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off, is not much better. We need to build in processing time to evaluate and understand the information we are confronted with. We need time to come up with the “so what can we do about it” of it all. We don’t have the capacity for that processing when standing in the full spray of an information fire hose.

Another strategy we can use is actively seeking out information sources that don’t rely on our constant attention. This can include having a handful of reliable news sources you read either in print or directly on their website (rather than through a link you find on social media), emailed newsletters, and reading more longform content. Remember, though, no matter where you get your information, you still need to use your information evaluation skills. Seek out information given to inform, empower, and that gives you some kind of action you can take.

Remember, our attention is worth actual money to the tech giants that want to capture it to fuel their advertising machines. But as much as our attention is worth to them, it is worth more to us. Give it away wisely, because we’re all going to need it.

Learn more

Take Back Your Attention. 2025. Hank Green. (TikTok) Last accessed 2025/02/07.

Tips for Reducing Scrolling. 2025. Abbie Richards. (TikTok) Last accessed 2025/02/07.

Preparing for the Newspocalypse. 2025. David Moscrop. (Substack) Last accessed 2025/02/07.

Correction log

Nothing here yet.