Attention please !
Yes, our attention is the scarce resource that the digital media industry depends on. And yes, I just got your attention by recycling a picture that was used in an online ad to do the same. While the volume of content is exploding (300 hours of new videos on YouTube, every minute, 95 million photos and stories on Instagram are uploaded and shared every day…), our attention is a limited resource. No wonder that the the way of catching it has become a science by behavioral psychologist, software developers and user interface designer. Because our eyeballs glued to the screen are the currency that is being sold to the advertisers, the art and science on how to lock us into the longest streak of engagement is the name of the game.
In his TED Talk, the former Design Ethicist at Google gives an excellent overview of how the industry works and what it wrong with this.
I am happy to see the awakening of Silicon Valley pundits gathering to tackle the desperately needed social responsibility of the tech giants on one side and the creation of awareness and consciousness of digital media consumers on the other hand. As I mentioned before, the race for attention is of course only the symptom of the underlying need for growth and profitability dictated by the current economic imperatives. As long as we are willing to trade our attention against „free“ content that in return is designed to hijack our attention, we are in a weak position to ask Facebook and Google to step up to their responsibility.
It is hence the duty of teachers and parents, designers and software developers, shareholders and philosophers to have a honest conversation about how the current state of tech giants are threatening our health, our society and our democracy.