The attention economy
We often talk about money as something we spend. We spend it on things we need, things we enjoy and sometimes things we never intended to buy. We notice when something costs us money because there is usually a number attached to it. Attention is different. We give it away throughout the day without necessarily noticing. We give it to conversations, work, entertainment, people we love, the news, our surroundings and our own thoughts. Increasingly, our attention has value to other people too.
Something worth having
Many of the things we use online are free to us. We can read an article, watch a video, listen to music, search for information or keep up with friends without paying for each thing we consume. But free doesn't necessarily mean without value. Our attention can be part of what makes these services valuable. The longer we stay, the more we see, and the more opportunities there are for something to catch our eye.
This doesn't make technology bad. It simply gives us another way of understanding the environment we are spending our time in. We are not only using technology; technology is also asking something of our attention. When our attention has value, there is an incentive to attract it, hold it and bring us back.
What gets noticed
When attention has value, being noticed matters. A notification needs to stand out. A headline needs to make us curious. A photograph needs to catch our eye. A video needs to give us a reason to keep watching. There is nothing particularly new about trying to get someone's attention. Newspapers have had headlines, shops have had signs and advertisers have always wanted us to look.
What has changed is the scale and speed. There can be thousands of things competing for our attention, and many of them can reach us wherever we are. We don't necessarily have to go looking for them; they can come to us. Our phones can bring messages, news, entertainment, recommendations and reminders into the smallest spaces in our day.
A crowded attention landscape
Perhaps this is why it can sometimes feel difficult to settle into one thing. We may sit down to read and receive a message. We may begin a task and remember an email. We may open our phone to check one thing and find ourselves somewhere entirely different a few minutes later. None of these moments necessarily feels significant, but together they can create a day in which our attention is continually being invited somewhere else.
It is also worth remembering that this isn't simply a matter of personal discipline. We are living in an environment where attention is actively sought. That doesn't mean we are powerless, and it doesn't mean that everything competing for our attention is harmful. It simply means there is more happening around our attention than there was before, and perhaps more worth noticing about the way it affects us.
What is worth our attention?
If attention has value, perhaps it is worth becoming a little more thoughtful about where we give it. I’m not suggesting we need to protect every minute, or because everything competing for our attention is something we should avoid. We don't always need to choose the most productive thing. Some of the things that deserve our attention may be wonderfully ordinary: a conversation, a walk, a meal, a book or a moment of doing nothing at all (something I’ve practiced for years!).
Sometimes what matters most isn't what captures our attention, but what we choose to keep giving it to. Although that choice doesn't have to be made perfectly, we can notice where our attention has gone, pause for a moment and decide whether we want to stay there or return to something else.
Our attention will drift. It always has. But in a world where so many things are asking for it, perhaps caring for our attention begins with simply noticing that it is ours to give.
What is worth your attention today?