In this episode, he and I dive deep into attention: what it is, when it became commodified, why it is so easy to steal, where industry is looking for new supplies, and how the harried and distracted can defend themselves from the onslaught. PDF transcript Active transcript.
Hello, everyone. This is Volts for January 29, β which I'm still getting used to saying β "Chris Hayes on the attention economy. There is little that is more personal to each of us than our attention. Our lives are composed on a moment-to-moment basis by what we choose to pay attention to. What draws our attention creates our world in a very real way. But, attention has also become a commodity. And not just any commodity, but the central commodity of the modern economy.
The attention economy has eaten the real economy, and now all of us, from the biggest brands to the most obscure social media posters, are in a war of all against all: everywhere you look, all the time, everyone wants your attention.
That makes it pretty tough to use it wisely. I've known Chris a long time, I've been on his podcast and he's been on Volts before. I'm keenly interested in this subject of commodified attention, and this new book of his really got my brain revving, so I am super excited to talk to him all about it. Seattleites: Side note, if you can't get enough of Chris here, catch him live at Seattle's Town Hall next week, on February 4th. Thank you. I appreciate that. I appreciate your loss for words.
I think that's good. I'll take that as a good review. I feel like modern life β whatever you call modern life, the puzzle of modern life β you've grabbed a big chunk of it here, I think, so I'm excited to get into this. But I want to start at the most focused, specific level. Let's just talk for a minute about attention itself before we back out into the social and political stuff.
