Gift link shared by author on social: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/02/america...
7 comments
Gift link shared by author on social: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/02/america...
This is the issue that is top of mind for me at the moment. If you're frustrated by political polarization, this is one of the root causes! I'm very eager to hear any ideas on steps we can take to systematically reverse this damage to society.
Read the UN report on the Attention Economy. Everything is connected to Attention being over fished by platforms.
The human pool of Attention is slow growing and finite (the limit being number of minutes in a day*people). Yet Content keeps exploding to infinity.
Just like inflation devalues money, content inflation devalues individual Attention.
In traditional economics, more money chasing the same goods = inflation. In the Attention Economy, more content chasing the same attention = engagement inflation (harder to get noticed, costs more to be seen).
The real winners - Platforms, since they act like central banks controlling both supply (content) and demand (attention via algorithm).
The Attention Economy behaves like a manipulated market where demand is fixed but distorted, and supply keeps increasing, benefiting the gatekeepers (platforms) while exhausting the participants (creators, advertisers, businesses, users).
History teaches us where the story goes.
I've been working on a project to solve the social connection problem using a new approach. In a post third space society, I want to make it easier for people to connect with others nearby in small groups around shared hobbies and activities. Having a small group size makes it easier to host at someone's place and it's also cheaper than going out.
I did a soft launch earlier this week by posting on NYC subreddits to get early feedback and test out my hypothesis . The reaction has been very positive with many comments saying they like the concept. Obviously there's a long way to go to really nail down the product market fit and build a sustainable business around it but the early feedback makes me feel like there is really something there.
The article recommends seeking out interactions with others even when (especially when) we would avoid it.
I don't know how to make that a movement, but I'll be more mindful of it.
Unfortunately it involves stopping staring at screens 10 hours a day, which is the funds supporting half of this forum's careers.
How many people think today's children are having better lives than the last generation? 25% of US university students on antidepressants.
We optimize for a big GDP number but never for a population happiness level.