The Book Club How big tech companies steal your attention
11 snips
Jan 22, 2026 Peter Schmidt, attention activist and co-editor of Attensity!, and Graham Burnett, scholar and co-editor and co-founder of Friends of Attention, discuss attention as a systemic crisis. They explore the $14 trillion incentive driving tech to commodify attention. They explain the human fracking metaphor, the history of attention science, and practical attention-activist tactics for culture and institutions.
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Attention Crisis Is Systemic
- The attentional crisis is systemic, not just individual willpower failures.
- A collective movement is needed to resist a $14 trillion industry that extracts human attention.
Everyday People Are Activists
- Contributors reported varied practices: long Tokyo walks, YouTube streaming, parenting with device limits.
- These correspondents discovered they were already 'attention activists' without that label.
Human Fracking Reframes The Problem
- 'Human fracking' reframes the attention economy as extraction and harm.
- Algorithmic feeds pump up monetizable attention like fracking forces up oil.
