Presential joint attention differs in kind from media-captured attention by its participant-limited scale.

Evidence

The joint attention described in this chapter establishes effects of PRESENTIAL ENTHRALMENT which weave our affectivity through the inter-fertilization of crossed attention communicating in a relation of immediate bodily presence. This presential enthralment is different in nature to the media enthralment that channels our collective attention, since it takes shape at a scale that is necessarily limited by the number of participants. This is why MOOCs will help to supplement presential teaching without substituting for it. This is why, as our online communications increase, we must learn to reconstitute convivial spaces of presential attention – in the classroom, in the computer room, in the theatre, at the museum, at the café, in cultural and religious places. We are hopelessly in need of vaults [voûtes] where we can resonate and reason together: it is for us to protect and invent those which will help us to think and act better together, and be more present to ourselves as we harmonize better with the attention of others. Our most urgent need may be to RE-VAULT! — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 304

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘presential enthralment’ as distinct in nature from media enthralment, establishing a core theoretical term of the chapter.
• SEED: The ‘RE-VAULT’ closing invites an essay on designing convivial physical third spaces as deliberate counter-infrastructure to the attention economy.
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that presential and media attention differ in nature (not degree) — because scale of participants is constitutive — is a paradigm claim about attention’s phenomenology.
• XREF: connects to: Attention also varies in quality and mode, not just quantity — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 123; Mass media exploit receiver attention through a stark production-to-reception asymmetry. — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 192; Joint attention requires co-presence, excluding algorithm-mediated influences — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 246 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Attention is socially and materially mediated, not just a scarce mental resource #qualifies (0.72) — Annual Review of Anthropology contributors (⚠ verify author line), The Political Economy of Attention, 26