Stolen Focus

attention economy

A system in which human attention is treated as a valuable resource that technology companies compete for. Platforms are designed to capture and hold users' attention as long as possible.

endless scroll (also known as infinite scroll)

Design feature on social media and website where content continuously loads as users scroll. Designed to keep people engaged for longer periods of time by removing natural opportunities to leave the platform.

surveillance capitalism

Business model in which companies collect vast amounts of personal data from users to predict, manipulate and profit from their behavior.

brain hacking

How tech companies manipulate psychological vulnerabilities to make their platforms addictive. For example, personalized content, notifications (also known as "fracking").

negativity bias

The psychosocial tendency to pay more attention to negative experiences or information than positive ones. Social media and news organizations exploit this to keep attention: "If it's more enraging, it's more engaging" (Hari 131).

algorithm

A set of calculations on tech platforms to decide what to show users. These can improve efficiency but also are used to maximize engagement and promote content that captures attention.

demographic data

Measurable characteristics of person -- can include age, gender, income, education, occupation, and geographic location; A person's characteristics used to segment a market and create targeted marketing campaigns.

psychographic data

Information about a person's psychological characteristics, such as their values, interests, and behaviors. It's a combination of the words "psychology" and "demographics", and is used to segment a market and create targeted marketing campaigns.

whistleblower

Someone who exposes wrongdoing, fraud, corruption, or illegal activities within an organization, often at personal risk. This can include reporting unethical behavior in government, corporations, or other institutions to authorities, the public, or the media

watchdog

When the media acts as a check on government, corporations, and powerful institutions by investigating and exposing corruption, misconduct, or abuses of power.

B.F. Skinner

American psychologist whose work shows that you can train a living thing's attention and control its focus through a system of rewards and reinforcements. This person's theories are the basis of the design of many tech platforms.

flow state

A deeply focused and immersive state of consciousness where you become fully engaged in an activity, losing track of time and self-consciousness.

rewards

Psychological incentives that drive human behavior on digital platforms; examples include likes, notifications, and free plays.

monotasking

Choosing to focus on one cognitive task at a time, giving the brain a chance to process the task with some depth and focus.

multitasking

The myth that the human brain can produce or focus on more than one thought process at a time.

switching

the act of rapidly shifting attention between tasks; is confused with multitasking, which is a myth

acceleration

The sensation of the world speeding up because of the increase in the volume of information

the science of interruptions

When a tech design or algorithm sends incentives to a user to pull them away from what they are currently doing, drawing them back to a particular platform. This is a tool used in "The Attention Economy."

the switch-cost effect

Constantly switching between tasks degrades a person's ability to focus because it has to reconfigure; performance and processing speed suffer as a result.

the screw-up effect

Switching between tasks forces the brain to backtrack and make errors. Thinking is more superficial as a result.