The Attention Economy

This is the Attention Economy:

1. We are in a new reality and it’s called the Attention Economy. It is as transformative and disruptive to society as the industrial revolution.
2. The attention economy is almost totally decentralized. Attention goes wherever it spreads.
3. Whatever can produce the most attention, the most consistently has the most influence over people.
4. Up until now, companies and organizations could buy and to a very large extent, control people’s attention through bombardment.
5. The human brain has become and is increasingly becoming rewired to ignore bombardment and seek constant stimulation, resulting in a loss of personal and environmental awareness.
6. The way we record and share the human experience is becoming increasingly distorted choosing to optimize for attention over authenticity.
7. The most universal human need is to be heard.
8. As more people awaken to the power of the Attention Economy, an increasing number of people and organizations are choosing attention over most things or — at worst — everything.
9. The Attention Economy has no in between. It creates only into positive and negative responses. Attention kills nuance. Attention is easy to weaponize.
10. There is no barrier to entry to win at the Attention Game. Anyone can play, anyone can win. And if we accept the conditions of the game, we all lose eventually.

I hope to expand on observations that map to each of these core tenants of the Attention Economy. We are at the beginning of a profound shift in society.