The Physics of Attention

So I says:

And Bill Anderson Says:

And then I ... somewhat ineptly says:

So ... attention is it a thing or a process?  A particle or a wave? 

It's the grail of entertainment, media, and our relationships.  We all want attention.  We crave it.  We monetize it.  Eyeballs are only valuable if they are actively registering something.

The only time the unconscious or the dead count is in Chicago elections.

So as we think, live and love we are paying attention.  Paying is two-edged verb.  The thing (attention) must exist to pay attention.  But paying attention is a process.

So perhaps attention is a commodity of immediate decay.  Of an infinitely small conversion cycle.  A near-zero half life. 

Alas, Bill is probably right, I cannot hoard my attention.  I cannot keep it in a box.  I cannot retrieve it for later use.  All I'd have are the empty husks of attention, devoid of their sweet fruit.

Ahh, sweet attention.

Technorati Tags: attention economy, bill anderson, facebook, musing, stream of consciousness

Comments

[Edward]

jim -

some think of attention as "mind share". if we look at short term memory as the thing you're competing for, it would be the duration of attention over time that matters, not just that you "paid attention" for 150 milliseconds, but that you had that dumb song ringing in your ear for half the morning.

[Jim Benson]

Wouldn't that be "distraction?" :-)

[gnoll110]

Can't help myself.... ;)

Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat attention.

~Mis-quoted Cree Proverb