The Attention Economy  

We live in a time where giving something your attention is almost as valuable as giving them your money. Attention is sparse. In the time between this post being started and published, I have checked numerous blogs, Twitter, Facebook, replied to text messages and talked to people in the real world. Each of those things probably only took but a few seconds of my time, but because it was shared amongst so many tasks, I couldn’t spare much more than that.

James Shelley notes that “in 1971 that Herbert Simon suggested that “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention,” and this is becoming increasingly evident in the world we currently live in. Information is consistently available at our fingertips – some of it useful, some of it useless – and we are literally consuming it without swallowing.

Instead of possessing knowledge, we task our smartphones with knowing the answer for us. To avoid forgetfulness, we rely on technology to remind us of things from our friends’ birthdays to what their actual names are. In lieu of mastering skills, we learn the ‘tl;dr’ version. Worse even, instead of giving the things that should matter in life the attention they need – such as those we love – we choose to stare into the ever alluring glow of the screen.

“If everyone has everyone’s attention the value of attention is nullified.” #

Now that technology has such a firm grasp on our lives, and devices that pop, ding, ring and vibrate are constantly fighting for our attention, to avoid ‘mental bankruptcy’ we will have to be as concious of our time and attention as we are with that which is closest to us; our money.

In the future, ever single one of us is going to have to be wary of what we invest time in. Do I waste five minutes checking my Twitter feed, or five minutes talking to my girlfriend? Do I read ten different technology blogs and browse Reddit for the afternoon, or do I go and breathe some fresh air? Do I read five blogs and then work, or just get straight to work? Despite our best efforts, we all only have the same amount of time to work with until we die.

Attention is the new currency. Everything is wrestling to steal it. If yours had a monetary value, would you be considered broke, middle-class or well-invested?