Attention extraction unjustly commodifies the self and requires collective rather than individual remedy

Evidence

Promises of silver bullets abound, but none will suffice, because there are no quick fixes to a challenge at this scale. No app is going to save us, because there is no “tech fix.” No drug is going to heal us, because there’s no “Big Pharma fix,” either. And don’t hold your breath for a regulatory fix, because, in the end, no law is going to be able to protect us…enough. Self-help regimens and yoga retreats are all well and good, but they are never going to be enough. So go ahead and practice mindfulness, or support sane legislation to fight back against “dark patterns,” or try a digital detox. Take your kid to the zoo, for that matter, and try leaving the phones at home. But ultimately the issue at hand isn’t going to be solved at the level of individual actions. The problem isn’t personal. It is structural and systemic. Indeed, no larger or more complex “system” has ever been achieved by human beings. — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!, 209 (#expands, via linked claim)

As a consequence, Cathy Davidson points to an attentional dynamic that is very different to the dynamic of unison. Far from having to align with a single melody repeated on everyone’s lips, echoes are to be valued more highly when they diverge from the melodic line that we already have in our heads. This ATTENTION AS COUNTERPOINT makes the illumination of our blind spots through the decentring of perspective the essential aim of attentional effort. — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 526 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The fix for attention problems is collective attentional freedom, not individual span; Attention extraction reduces people to quantifiable commodities and demands collective remedy. — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!: A Manifesto of the…, 32; Attention extraction is fundamentally a denial of human dignity. — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!: A Manifesto of the…, 175 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Individual fixes cannot solve attention extraction because the problem is structural #expands (0.92) — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!, 209
• Attention is more valuable when it diverges from others than when it aligns #complicates (0.72) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 526