The attention economy traps people in a frightful present

Evidence

Both apart from and responsible to the present, we might allow ourselves to sense the faint outline of an Epicurean good life free from “myths and superstitions” like racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, climate change denial, and other fears with no basis in reality. This is no idle exercise. As the attention economy works to keep us trapped in a frightful present, it only becomes more important not just to recognize past versions of our predicament but to retain the capacity for an imagination somehow untainted by disappointment. — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 234

Categorization

• DEFINE: Frames bigotry as Epicurean groundless fears and names the attention economy’s grip on a ‘frightful present.’