The Psychology of the Attention Economy

What is the Attention Economy?

Many people think that just because they don’t spend any money when scrolling on social media it is free. However, every time a person interacts with a video or a post they are participating in something called the attention economy. The attention economy refers to a system where human attention has become a commodity. This means that instead of paying with money, people’s limited attention becomes a form of currency. 

In pursuit of engagement and data many companies and people compete to profit from people’s attention. Therefore, social media apps are designed to keep people engaged and make it hard to stop scrolling on the feed. The cycle is one where attention generates data, data can be used for advertising and advertising finances more strategies to keep people engaged. 

Is the Attention Economy bad?

Although companies competing for attention might not seem like the end of the world, the attention economy has been linked to some very harmful results. One study by Florida International University aimed to find whether the attention economy is toxic and found that it is linked to harm on an individual and societal scale. 

On an individual level, the study found consistent connections between heavy social media use and increased rates of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. This is combined with the fact that social media use decreases time for other activities that are linked to positive wellbeing such as face-to-face interaction. 

The attention economy is also harmful to society because it can create filter bubbles. Filter bubbles are digital spaces where people only see information that supports their beliefs. Because of filter bubbles, social media sites become hosts where groups with radical ideas can form and exist with very limited opposition because the sites will connect them with only people with similar views.

Designers purposefully create manipulative systems to try and exploit human psychology. The biggest harm from the attention economy is when these systems harm people’s cognitive agency—the ability to make rational decisions for themselves.

How to combat the attention economy

In order to defend against these systems it would be ideal to analyse every piece of information encountered online but because there is so much information this approach is impossible. One research paper proposed a practical framework for people to protect their cognitive agency with a concept called critical ignoring. Critical ignoring focuses on selecting which pieces of information to engage in rather than analysing every single one. By limiting the amount of information taken in, people can engage with each piece of information more confidently. 

One strategy used in the framework is self-nudging, where people create an environment where it is easier to resist temptation such as by disabling notifications, making their screen black and white and setting time limits on apps. Another strategy is lateral reading, where people verify information by checking other sources before engaging with it. 

In a world where attention has become a valuable resource to engage with a vast sea of information people must be aware of when their attention is taken advantage of. By being selective with where they place their attention people can retain their ability to think for themselves. 

Written by Sean Furniss