Stop Fighting for My Attention.
The world is very, very sick right now.
We're all part of it.
Dead Internet
In some circles, the Dead Internet Theory has recently gained quite a bit of popularity over the last few years.
There is a large-scale, deliberate effort to manipulate culture and discourse online and in wider culture by utilising a system of bots and paid employees whose job it is to produce content and respond to content online in order to further the agenda of those they are employed by. -- Dead Internet Theory: Most of the Internet is Fake, anon
While I'll refrain from delving into more speculation, the “agenda” appears much simpler and less deliberate.
Attention.
AI
Bots. AI. Whichever way one's view on this technology leans, that's exactly what it is: technology.
Technology, the application of scientific knowledge to the practical aims of human life or, as it is sometimes phrased, to the change and manipulation of the human environment. -- Encyclopedia Britannica
Within the Internet, the latest technology is merely used to change and manipulate the human environment to optimize for one thing. Social media platforms, for example, are already optimized to manipulate what people see. Arguably, people even want it that way.
All bots do is minimize human involvement. But what they are optimizing for is not new.
Attention.
Advertisement
Everywhere we go on the Internet we're constantly having to defend our attention. “Click this!” “Read that!” “Buy our product.” It's no wonder ad-blockers are so popular.
So it gets worse.
We're often coerced by social norms to consume sponsored content for products we don't need. At least people can earn money off eyeballs.
Attention.
Tipping
In some sort of misleading sense of supporting “entrepreneurship,” people take the plunge into online entertainment as a means of “independence.” Regardless of one's view of such entrepreneurship, this trend is typically based on advertisement, sponsorship, and products enhanced by an appeal for community financial support.
Attention.
In turn, community support is often spurred by social coercion, eerily similar to what's become of American tip culture — where wait staff and/or restaurants often expect people to add extra financial support on top of their bill to make up for low wages, instead of addressing the fundamental problem.
Supply and demand
The fundamental problem of attention is there's only so much attention to go around, yet humanity appears to be in a race to the bottom to acquire every last drop.
It's not about what people value. It's about what people will look at. Somewhere along the way, the supply has changed from giving people something they value to giving them something they've been convinced they want.
Of course, there's a huge total addressable market. There are billions of people and 24 hours in the day (for now). What's the problem?
No one wants to be in the market if the market is merely trying to get our attention.
If nothing changes market will end up with infinite supply because people will stop paying attention.
Exhaustion
I am so tired.
I'm tired of protecting my attention. Our brains are always on alert online. Our willpower is only so finite. We only have so much to give.
Certainly, entertainment has a a place and people deserve value for that entertainment. That's not in question.
But stop trying to grow so much. It's not sustainable. Not because marketing isn't necessary; if this continues, the Internet as we know it will die. In fact, maybe it should.
You don't need to broadcast everywhere to get “discovered.” You don't need a platform. You don't need algorithms. You need people.
People have only so much attention to give. Participate in the community, rather than consuming it.
If we do it right, we wont even need the Internet.