This week’s edition of Slow Digest was written by C21 Graduate Fellow Russell Star-Lack with contributions from C21 Managing Director Katie Waddell.
You spend too much time on your phone.
We all do, so don’t take it personally. This is by design. As the internet and digital technologies, at one time a seen as powerful informational tools for leveling the playing field between the oppressors and the oppressed, have become commodified, a key part of this commodification has been the rise of an “attention economy.” As the writer and video essayist Siobhan Brie Aguilar characterized this economy in her instant classic video about the drama surrounding Ariana Grande and Ethan Slater, “there are millions of people in the modern world who make more money depending on how much attention you pay to them.” Companies have invested fortunes into developing technologies finely tuned to burrow into our psyches and keep us glued to our screens. In the process, our collective critical thinking abilities have been eroded. If you have been following world events over the past decade or so, you are probably aware that these dynamics have drastically affected our society and politics.
This is the problem that the Strother School for Radical Attention Activism has set its sights on addressing. A leader in the attention activism movement, the Strother School was founded by a group of friends straddling academia and arts across multiple continents in 2018. Since then, it has developed several interventions targeted at restoring our ability to discern and focus on the stimuli that truly matter in any context.
The Strother School will be demonstrating two of these interventions here in Milwaukee at Turner Hall on Saturday, May 3rd. To get a taste of the School’s approach, here are a few resources on its philosophy and activities:
D. Graham Burnett and Eve Mitchell, “Attention sanctuaries: Social practice guidelines and emergent strategies in attention activism“
This recent paper, authored by one of the Strother School’s founders, provides an overview of the attention activism’s critique of the attention economy and discusses the potential for attention sanctuaries, derived from the environments created by attention labs, in countering the negative effects of social media.
Friends of Attention, “Twelve Theses on Attention“
The friends of attention are the initiating force behind the Strother School for Radical Attention, self-described as “a loose, informal network of creative collaborators, colleagues, and actual friends who share an interest in ‘ATTENTION’.” “Twelve Theses on Attention is a sort of foundational document representing the work of more than two dozen Friends, all of whom shared in days of debate, drafting, and discussion during a week-long retreat at Mildred’s Lane in the Summer of 2019.
Friends of Attention, The Attention Trove
The Attention Trove is an extensive collection of articles, books, and other resources compiled by the Friends of Attention.
The Ezra Klein Show, “Your Mind is Being Fracked“
This was one of our very first media recommendations our first Slow Digest post, but it is well worth repeating here. Ezra Kein’s interview with a Strother School founder discusses the concept of “human fracking” as it relates to how companies mine us for our attention, as well as how our understanding of attention is changing at this critical moment.
Miranda July, “A Handy Tip for the Easily Distracted“
And, just for fun….