Attention is getting noticed in the headlines

Rachel Wynn

Rachel Wynn

— 4 min read
People standing while scrolling on their phones. They are not standing facing each other and their faces are not in frame.
Photo by camilo jimenez / Unsplash
  • Are smartphones destroying our attention span? Science News Today
  • How the Attention Economy Is Devouring Gen Z — and the Rest of Us, The New York Times
  • Is Our Relationship With Tech Turning Life Into One Giant Casino?, VICE
  • Little videos are cooking our brains, Vox
  • 'TikTok brain' may be coming for your kid's attention span, The Week
  • You’re Being Alienated From Your Own Attention, The Atlantic

After reading these headlines, I felt a bit of despair. Words and phrases like "destroying," "devouring," "turning life into one giant casino," "cooking our brains," "coming for," and "alienated" are quite emotionally charged. 

Once I moved past my emotions, my curiosity took over. I immediately wanted to dive into the academic research to determine if these claims were true. If they are true, is there anything we can do to prevent the harm of tech without eliminating the benefits of using modern technology?

Before I dig into the research on how technology impacts our attention (in another article), it's well worth giving the concept of attention our attention first by exploring attention as currency and attention as a cognitive ability. Let's understand what attention is before we examine the impact of tech use on attention.

Your attention as currency in the attention economy

You’ve probably heard of the attention economy, but what exactly is it? How does your attention play a part? Your attention can be captured or spent in the attention economy, a marketplace where you exchange your attention for products, content, and entertainment. 

This reminds me of spoon theory, a concept used by people with chronic illness and disability to explain how they manage their daily energy. Each morning, you wake up with a specific number of spoons (impacted by factors like sleep, stress, and health). Every task, from getting ready for work to driving a child to school or having coffee with a friend, deducts spoons. When you are out of spoons, you can’t get more until the next day. 

Whether you are able-bodied or disabled, your attention shares some similarities. You have a finite "budget" of attention to spend, making your attention a scarce resource. 

Digital platforms, advertisers, and content creators compete for your attention. They offer free products, services, and entertainment in exchange for your attention and personal data, which can be used to capture your attention later.

In the attention economy, more is more. Products are designed to capture and hold your attention for as long as possible. Notifications bring you into the product; infinite scroll keeps you there. The longer you engage, the more advertising revenue is generated. Companies strive to increase the total time you spend and return visits. The more time you spend in a product, the more ads you view and the data the company collects, which is the business model that makes “free” products profitable. 

You are in a market, but attention isn’t just a currency. It’s also a cognitive skill that determines how we interact with the world. 

Your attention is a cognitive ability 

Attention varies by person and is shaped by brain development, experiences, and context. When I worked in neuro rehab, I helped patients recover and regain their attention abilities. Because attention is so foundational to other cognitive tasks, we addressed attention as one of our first goals.

To tailor each treatment plan, I considered each patient's goals and evaluated the different subcomponents of attention to identify strengths and weaknesses. With this information, my patients and I created a strategic plan to improve weaker attention areas and leverage stronger areas.

According to Sohlberg and Mateer’s widely used clinical model of attention (Sohlberg & Mateer, 2001), there are five subcomponents:

  • Focused attention: Noticing and reacting to a specific stimulus (visual, auditory, or tactile) happening around you. 
  • Sustained attention: Maintaining focus over time, while using working memory to hold relevant information in mind.
  • Selective attention: Focusing on a specific task or stimulus while ignoring distractions.
  • Alternating attention: Shifting focus between tasks that require different information and skills.
  • Divided attention: Responding to multiple tasks at the same time, often across different types of input.

Let’s put these subcomponents into action. Imagine driving through a busy city street. You notice a pedestrian step into the road one car in front of you (focused). You check for brake lights in front of you, then the traffic light, and then back to the pedestrian (alternating). You ignore the shopkeeper locking up for the day (selective). You maintain focus after an hour of driving (sustained) while steering and managing the physical tasks of operating a car (divided).

Driving is attention-intensive because it uses all aspects of attention. Unless you are a new driver, you probably get in the car and just drive without thinking about it much, but as you can see in this illustration of attention’s subcomponents, a lot is going on. Even lower-stakes activities, like writing a report while juggling virtual meetings and a team messaging app, require coordination of attention subcomponents, so we can get our work done efficiently and accurately. 

Attention is incredibly valuable as currency and an ability

Do those headlines read differently after exploring attention as both a currency and an ability? Attention is a currency we can spend in the market of the attention economy and it is a cognitive ability we use to navigate our lives.  

Now the question becomes, ‘Is there a connection between how we spend our attention in the attention economy and how our attention abilities are shaped and developed?’ Is there more than a zero balance in our attention account at stake? 

I’ll dig into that question next. Until then, give your attention a bit more attention. Where are you spending it? Does how you spend it impact your attention ability? I’d love to hear your perspective. 

Take aways

  1. Attention isn't one thing. It's both something we can exchange in the attention economy and a cognitive ability that helps us complete tasks and achieve our goals.
  2. Your attention budget is finite each day. Choosing to spend it one way means not spending it in another. 
  3. The clinical model of attention includes the following subcomponents: focused, sustained, selective, alternating, and divided attention. Most activities require multiple subcomponents of attention. 

References

Latifi, F. (2023, January 14). Perspective | Spoon theory: What it is and how I use it to manage chronic illness. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/01/14/spoon-theory-chronic-illness-spoonie/ 

Sohlberg, M. M., & Mateer, C. A. (2001). Improving Attention and Managing Attentional Problems: Adapting Rehabilitation Techniques to Adults with ADD. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 931(1), 359–375. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2001.tb05790.x

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