The game of attention

The game of attention:

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The game of attention.

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Everyone’s playing it.

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Every news network.

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Every streaming service.

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Every social media company.

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The game everyone is trying to win.

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How do I get you to focus on me?

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How do I hack your brain to get you to focus on me?

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Why?

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So I can sell you stuff.

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So I can convince you of my message.

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So I can learn about your habits and sell that to other people.

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Netflix knows everything about you.

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When you stop.

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How you scroll.

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How long you spend on each picture.

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Same with Youtube.

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Amazon.

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Facebook.

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Tik Tok.

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Name them all.

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The world of analytics - a multi-billion dollar industry.

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If I know how you live, what you buy and what you believe, I own you.

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That’s what our phones are these days.

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They own us.

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It’s not the other way around.

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Every day it keeps pulling you back in.

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Sucking you into the Matrix.

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Where you create your own reality.

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Where a screen makes you believe whatever you want to believe.

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It’s so easy to get sucked back in.

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To get overtaken by the algorithm.

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The one that makes you believe in FOMO.

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It makes you believe you’re missing out on everything.

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You have to be up-to-date.

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You can’t miss the latest trend.

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Or news story.

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Or stupid celebrity gossip.

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You have to know the new TikTok trend.

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You just have to.

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Right?

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Wrong.

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All this is new in our history.

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Our ancestors had hours to think.

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To sit.

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To ponder.

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To be bored.

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Were they happier?

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Unclear.

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They were more family-oriented.

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More religious.

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More community focused.

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Definitely had better attention.

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It’s clear these devices are ruining kids.

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But it’s not kids, it’s everyone.

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My dad’s on reels.

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He’s an addict.

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A man who grew up without technology and still types with one finger is addicted.

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He’s addicted to the endless scrolling.

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To the funny memes.

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To the cute dog videos.

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Like all of us.

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It’s so hard.

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It’s so hard to take back your attention.

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To own it.

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To control it.

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To direct it.

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What’s helped me?

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Throwing my phone in another room.

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Turning it off.

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Setting time limits on apps.

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But even then, I’m sucked back in.

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I’m sucked into the vortex.

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I’m addicted.

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I hate it.

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I need to go cold turkey.

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To think more.

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To spend time away.

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We all do.

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Happiness is not coming from your phone.

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Fulfilment is not coming from your phone.

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Purpose is not coming from your phone.

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Take back your attention.

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Be conscious of it.

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Understand it.

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Understand everything is a game of attention.

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Don’t let yours get hijacked.

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