Distraction is actually unauthorized attention, power-determined

Evidence

And yet, the work of actually distinguishing attention from distraction proves philosophically tricky. After all, when I accuse you of being “distracted,” what am I really saying, if not “You seem to be paying attention to something other than what I’d like you to focus on”? Which is to say, “distraction” ends up looking a lot like unauthorized attention—or, to put it another way, attention that is not in line with the expectations of whoever’s in charge. — The Friends of Attention, Attensity!, 493

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• DEFINE: Redefines ‘distraction’ as power-relative unauthorized attention.
• XREF: Connects to the book’s central thesis that attention is a justice issue and to Foucault’s insight that classification enacts power.

Related

• Calling someone distracted means accusing them of unauthorized attention. (similarity 0.92)
• Most people equate attention with screen-based task focus (similarity 0.81)
• The distraction problem is not short attention spans but the instrumentalization of attention itself. (similarity 0.80)
• Attention can be defined beyond action and receptivity (similarity 0.80)
• Attensity names the free, shared movement of attention treated as transformative good. (similarity 0.80)
• Attention can be deliberately wielded, not just reclaimed (similarity 0.79)
• Attention is the substrate of care for self, community, and planet. (similarity 0.79)
• Laypeople hold equal authority with scientists over their own attention. (similarity 0.78)
• Non-monetized radical attention vastly outnumbers fracker-engineered attention. (similarity 0.78)