Religious attention-monopolizing disciplines persisted into the eighteenth century.

Evidence

Such an aspiration to monopolize the attention of believers was hardly abandoned after Christianity’s early days. Some 1700 years later, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, prescribed various means for keeping the mind attuned to God, such as the practice of thinking of him immediately upon waking, right before falling asleep, for at least an hour during the day, and before taking any important action. (This discipline shares some similarity with the Jewish practice of offering brachot, or blessings, at various routine moments, such as before eating or drinking, or more exceptional ones, as when thunder is heard, among other practices codified in the Mishnah in the third century CE.) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 83

Categorization

• XREF: Wesley’s waking/sleeping prayer frames resonate with modern app designers hijacking habitual moments — parallels to notification design in later attention-industry literature. — connects to: Commercial attention industries displaced religion as the incumbent attention monopolist — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 84

Broader Connections

• Commercial attention industries displaced religion as the incumbent attention monopolist #complicates (0.75) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 84