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The Attention Economy. You are the product.
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The Digital WorldGL-00063
The Attention Economy
You are the product
The business of holding attention and selling it to advertisers.
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If a service is free, the business model is selling your attention to advertisers. Social media apps are designed to keep you scrolling because every extra minute you spend is a minute they can sell. The app is not the product. Your time and attention are the product. Advertisers are the customer.
- The average teenager spends about 7 hours per day on screens outside of schoolwork. That is the inventory being sold.
- Notice what keeps you scrolling. Auto-play, infinite scroll, and notification dots are design choices, not accidents.
SourceWu, The Attention Merchants (2016)
Common Sense Media screen time reports
Common Sense Media screen time reports
Keep exploring
Because you read The Attention Economy.
The Digital WorldGL-00056
The Algorithm
The editor you never chose
The set of rules deciding what a feed shows and in what order.
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The Digital WorldGL-00058
The Filter Bubble
The echo chamber you built without knowing
The narrowed view that comes from seeing only agreeable things.
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The Digital WorldGL-00064
Confirmation Bias Online
The lie your brain prefers
The habit of trusting evidence that agrees with what is already believed.
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