Mass-scale attention harvesting began with advertising in the 1890s-1920s
Evidence
From the 1890s through the 1920s, there arose the first means for harvesting attention on a mass scale and directing it for commercial effect, thanks to what is now familiar to us in many forms under the name of advertising. At its inception it was as transformative as the cotton gin. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 24
Categorization
- QUESTION: How exactly did mass advertising emerge in this window? Worth tracing specific techniques and early campaigns.
- XREF: connects to: The attention economy predates digital technology by 150 years — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 62; The Audimeter was the first device claiming to scientifically measure human attention. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 362; The attention industry did not exist a century ago — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 14 (+15 more)
Broader Connections
- Early advertising converted human attention into cash by creating demand
#corroborates(0.90) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 76 - Large agencies industrialized advertising into an endless machine for attention capture
#expands(0.85) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 183 - Advertising converted attention into revenue by selling consumers a receding ideal
#corroborates(0.80) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 225 - Commercial exploitation of idle attention is a recent development
#contradicts(0.80) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 65