What is the Attention Economy

A new economy emerged with the advent of social media in the early 2000s. As a result, big tech amassed an amazing amount of power and economic gain. This economy became known as the “Attention Economy.” At its core, it is a market built around us — our attention is the product.

Attention Economy Definition: Opportunity vs Opportunity Cost

The idea of “attention” is important to understand. It can be broken into two parts — the opportunity and the opportunity cost. These exist simultaneously in an unavoidable duality.

It seems simple at first: 

attention is paying careful observation to what is directly in front of us at the moment—we focus on the task at hand.  

While this is inherently a good thing, this paid attention comes at a cost: 

when we focus carefully on what is directly in front of us, we ignore or neglect other important stimuli in the environment around us. Therefore, you are sacrificing one opportunity for another. 

We most often ignore or outright avoid this duality, especially when it comes to social media.

Social Media: the Cost of Our Attention

How many times have you missed what someone in the room was saying because you were too buried in social media? How many times did you miss something really sweet your child or your pet did because you couldn’t look away from your phone to notice? For me, this became so bad that my dogs would try to knock the phone out of my hand just so I would look at them instead. Ridiculous!!!!

Our attention is a valuable resource that belongs to us. We chose how and on what to focus our attention, but we don’t realize the real economic value we are giving away for free. Whether we become desensitized, depressed, miss an opportunity, or lose real-life connection with those around us and in our community, we are paying a premium price to be a part of the attention economy.  

Covid-19: an Attention Economy Catalyst

When the virus hit, what was already a booming economy hit the motherload, leaving millions of people stuck inside, bored. COVID-19 created a truly captive audience. For entertainment, we all turned to our phones. Tik Tok exploded while the other giants, including the gaming segment, ran away with our brains. 

Work went virtual and our local community of businesses that support our everyday lives started down a long, hard road. Will we be able to recover ? Or, will these changes in our behavior, our lives, become the new normal?  Perhaps it will be a combination, but for now, all of this remains to be seen.

New Year’s Revolution: A New Type of Economy — the Experience Economy

It’s not all bad news. Prior to the pandemic, and even prior to the Attention Economy, another economy was emerging, and 2020 was set to see its biggest year yet. This economy holds the key to our recovery — this economy seeks to build community, enhance our lives, help us grow, and inspire us. 

This economy is the Experience Economy.  

Stay tuned for Part Two of our Founder Series, where we’ll dive into the Experience Economy and how you can pursue it.