Through the traditional economic lens we place value on things like commodities, businesses, precious metals, etc. An argument can be made as to how valuable these things really are because at the most basic level they are not required to sustain life, and therefore their measures of value are subjective.
In other words, what we describe as "value" is simply a different way of referring to "purchasing power" which is the amount of stuff we can get in exchange for that thing that we hold as valuable, and we measure said power using a common medium known as currency (dollars, yen, euros, etc).
Anything with purchasing power, anything that can be exchanged for dollars can be defined as an "asset, and when it comes to assets there is one that I would argue has more purchasing power, has more value, than any other asset.
Because if you control this asset, you control people's money, you control people's time, and you control people's minds...
That asset is "attention."
You see, no matter how great a product, or how transformative a service, without first capturing people's attention whatever it is that you have to offer is effectively valueless.
This is where advertising comes into the mix. The largest and most profitable brands all rely on advertising to capture people's attention.
In some cases, money buys advertising, in other cases brand and prestige is a form of advertising in itself. But in all cases, success comes down to advertising which is effectively the process of capturing people's attention to build awareness of a product, a service, an idea, a philosophy, etc. and to communicate a message that inspires people to take action.
In the past, traditional business models entailed a finite amount of high-powered centralized businesses using a finite amount of advertising mediums to communicate to the masses. For the most part, the individual was locked out of the game if he or she did not have the backing of those who controlled the businesses or advertising mediums.
But for what it's worth, at least the opportunities for these centralized businesses and advertisers to capture the population's attention was limited. There were only so many TV stations, people will read only so many billboards or magazines, etc.
However something began to change as technology evolved and shaped a new economy; an economy that is based solely on human attention.
An economy that is driven by social media and it's infamous algorithms.
The proliferation of social media has become a double-edged sword. On one hand, the average person who's connected to the internet faces a virtually infinite quantity of advertisements all vying for their attention. These come in the form of traditional advertisements, but also in the form of individuals advertising themselves, their lifestyles, their values, etc.
On the other hand, the ability to capture other people's attention, thanks to social media, has been democratized from the central business model to the individual level. This means that single individuals are no longer locked out of the game and have the opportunity to instantly advertise to an audience of millions.
Another way to think of it is that all content is a form of advertisement, whether you realize it or not. Every photo, ever reel, every video, every viral dance, every funny clip, are all advertisements. Someone posted that content in the hopes of capturing people's attention, and gaining something as a result. What is gained varies, for many it's simply the instant gratification from likes and comments, for others it's status and boosts to the ego, and for more calculated people it's an opportunity to drive people to a monetizable product or service.
However you slice it, all content posted on social media and web 2.0 platforms is advertisement with a purpose of capturing attention for one reason or another.
What is the significance of this?
Life is a game. Not a game in the sense of sports or contests for prizes. Rather it's a game in the sense of game-theory. A game is "any interaction between multiple people in which each person’s payoff is affected by the decisions made by others”.
We're all making decisions on where to channel our attention. And those decisions that we make, in combination with the decisions of others results in payoff or outcome. The outcome typically looks like a small 1% minority who benefit immensely from strategically leveraging internet-based platforms to harness people's attention through content creation and then use it to sell a product, a service, an idea, a philosophy, etc.
The other outcome which is most likely for 99% of the population is failing to understand that their attention is an asset and them mindlessly giving it away for free through the consumption of content for nothing of substantive value in return.
I want to take care to point out that consuming content is not inherently bad. The problem is that the democratization of advertising via social media content creation has lowered the bar for quality. Anybody can do it, as there are no barriers to entry. The result is many who use social media to strategically capture the mass' attention do so by creating content that appeals to the lowest common denominator.
This is largely a consequence of content creators chasing algorithms that do not hesitate to push low value (or even negative value) content that is highly engaging because it appeals to human emotions.
Algorithms are flooding the market with highly addictive entertainment that is robbing people of their time and energy with no exchange of tangible and lasting value in return.
If you have doubts, then spend 5 minutes scrolling on social media and take note of the endless posts that are fake, staged, deceptive, or exist solely for the purpose of getting clicks, likes, and shares while adding no actual value to society. When you watch, ask yourself "why would a person post this?" and often times the answer will become clear.
And because our society is so entrenched in this new economy, the mass robbing of the public attention span has grown to pandemic level proportions.
For the majority who do not play this game with intention... quality time, deep thought overlayed on a background of solitude, and consciousness is being replaced by viral trends, mindless scrolling, and unnecessary comparisons that deprive people of their joy and gratitude.
The game is currently designed to reward those who take advantage of the attention economy by creating content, entertainment, and information in exchange for your attention. Although much of what is being created amounts to temporary escapisms that bring short term gratifications that are likely misaligned with your longer term vision.
Your attention is extremely valuable. Don't let others become rich by stealing it from you without giving you something equally or more valuable in return. Does the information you consume on a daily basis contribute to your life goals or does it cause you to procrastinate and let time pass without any action being taken?
If there is one thing to take away from this article, it's this....
Your attention must be protected at all cost.
The world wants to steal it from you, and in most cases the world is successful at doing so.
However, being more mindful and intentional about how, when, and who you give your attention to, can be the difference between:
existing and living
sadness and happiness
purposelessness and fulfillment
being poor and financial abundance
jealousy and gratitude
And the list goes on...
Attention is the modern day gold.