Talk 10

Attention economy

Human attention is a scarce and valuable resource.

Companies, platforms, creators, and advertisers…

Compete for limited time and focus.

Success in the Attention Economy

Acquiring interest fast, keeping users engaged, encouraging repeat visits, and turning attention into profit, influence, or data.

Ethical Critique

Attention-driven systems can reward distraction, outrage, virality, and shallow engagement over depth, accuracy, autonomy, and long-term democratic thinking.

Structure/Context

Explains why media workers may feel pushed toward ethically questionable tactics even when they know better.

Key Question

How far a communicator may go to get it before the tactic becomes manipulative or socially harmful.