The weaponization of the attention economy
The term “attention economy” was coined in the late 1960s by Nobel laureate economist Herbert A. Simon. The idea is that attention is a limited resource that companies compete for through advertising and marketing.
How it works
Companies use marketing strategies to capture attention and keep users engaged.
Users pay for services with their attention.
Social media companies collect data about users' thoughts and behaviors to influence their decisions.
Companies then sell that influence to advertisers.
Simon’s idea predated the Internet, which has brought the issues around attention into prominence. By directing (manipulating) attention, advertisers, government, and politicians can impact how people perceive society and their personal lives, and can lend itself to the spread of misinformation and counter-factual opinions.
The current administration has already shown itself to be masterful at manipulating attention. Tariffs provide a good example. Since the November 2024 election, on at least four occasions, Trump has made tariff threats and adjustments, often backing off or modifying them.
While Trump has seemingly shown a willingness to adjust or delay his threats in response to various factors, they have served the purpose of distracting attention from other actions such as massive cuts in government personnel and services. Similarly, by taking a hostile, bullying stance with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, and then endorsing Russian propaganda that Ukraine started the war (invaded itself?) Trump distracted attention from the need for continued US support for Ukraine.
In his book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis created a metaphor of a prisoner in a dark cell. The cell has one small window high on an outside wall, and every day for a brief time the sun shines through the window onto the floor of the cell. Lewis’ point is that the prisoner focuses his attention on the illuminated patch of floor rather than on the source of the light (God or Jesus). (The comedian Lenny Bruce put it less elegantly when he said “Jesus pointed the way and people sucked on his finger.”)
To extend Lewis’ metaphor, imagine that the light into the cell is not from the sun but from a spotlight, and whoever controls the light is moving it around as the prisoner follows it from patch of floor to patch of floor, while never questioning who is shining the light and moving it around. The prisoner is manipulated to follow whatever shiny object is in front of him, never considering the motives of the person behind the light. In Lewis’ case, where God is the light source, that might work; where the light-bearer (in Latin, Lucifer) is not so well-intended, it probably won’t.
Trump and his minions keep shining the light where they want us to look – Biden was bad, Obama was bad, the future is shining in Trump’s light – and, to mix metaphors, never look behind the curtain where Musk the great and powerful is moving the light.
It’s time to wake up. A third or so of Americans will follow the light, fascinated by every shiny object co-presidents Musk and Trump dangle in front of them. The humorist Don Marquis said “If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you.” That pretty well describes that third of the populace, and we can’t afford to wait until they wake up to the Emperor’s wardrobe choices.
It's time to take our country back.
