Information abundance creates a scarcity of attention

Evidence

Tarde’s sociology was subsequently overshadowed by Durkheim’s, and the next turning point was the observation by management theorist Herbert Simon (1971), that the increasing wealth of information generated a shortage of what information consumes, attention, and “a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it” (1971: 40-41). — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 7

Categorization

• XREF: Directly the originating concept for the attention-economy essay — the core definitional foundation of the reader’s stated interest. — connects to: Attention scarcity can be turned into an asset through redistributed attention — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 337; Herbert Simon defined attention as the scarce resource that information consumes. — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 35; Attention is becoming the hegemonic resource restructuring material production — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 47 (+8 more)

Related

• Attention is the scarce resource that powers the information economy. (similarity 0.93)
• Abundant information makes human attention a scarce economic resource. (similarity 0.91)
• Attention is a scarce resource drained by information overload (similarity 0.90)
• Herbert Simon defined attention as the scarce resource that information consumes. (similarity 0.90)
• Human serial attention limits make attention the scarce resource (similarity 0.89)
• Attention is becoming the hegemonic resource restructuring material production (similarity 0.88)
• Attention scarcity can be turned into an asset through redistributed attention (similarity 0.86)
• Attention is a finite resource whose unequal distribution produces symbolic misery (similarity 0.86)
• Attention is a socially produced and politically governed resource, not merely a scarce one. (similarity 0.83)
• Attention scarcity is a capitalist construction, not a universal given (similarity 0.82)
• Paying attention differs from spending time or being aware. (similarity 0.81)
• Attention is socially and materially mediated, not just a scarce mental resource (similarity 0.81)
• Information abundance paradoxically makes signal transmission more expensive (similarity 0.81)
• Attention has long been treated as valuable and manipulable, not only digitally. (similarity 0.80)
• Information overload reflects an excess of healthy curiosity (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Abundant information makes human attention a scarce economic resource. #corroborates (1.00) — Annual Review of Anthropology contributors (⚠ verify author line), The Political Economy of Attention, 18
• Attention is a scarce resource drained by information overload #corroborates (0.98) — Thomas Davenport & John Beck, The Attention Economy, 17
• Attention is the scarce resource that powers the information economy. #expands (0.85) — Michael H. Goldhaber, The Attention Economy and the Net, 8
• Constant information overload structurally undermines the capacity for independent thought #expands (0.80) — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels, 453