.http://wiki.keithl.com/SirensCall == The Sirens' Call == === How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource === === Chris Hayes 2025 Beaverton 306.342 HAY === ----- === p001 Ch1 The Sirens' Call === .p001 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseus | Odysseus]], Circe, and the Sirens .p003 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James | William James ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Principles_of_Psychology | The Principles of Psychology 1890 ]] ''My experience is what I agree to attend to.'' .p005 The phones are warbling us to death. .p005 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato | Plato's ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaedrus_(dialogue) | Phaedrus ]] the perils of writing .p006 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Haidt | Jonathan Haidt ]] 2024 [[ https://wccls.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S143C4342761 | The Anxious Generation ]] smart-phones -> depression, anxiety, and self-harm .p007 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Cohen_(sociologist) | Stanley Cohen ]] 1972 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_Devils_and_Moral_Panics | Folk Devils and Moral Panics ]] .p010 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Hari | Johann Hari ]] 2022 Stolen Focus .p016 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Klein | Naomi Klein ]] 1999 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Logo | No Logo ]] .p018 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Lippmann | Walter Lippman ]] 1925 [[ https://multcolib.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?query=The%20Phantom%20Public%20&searchType=title | The Phantom Public ]] === p027 Ch2 The Slot Machine and Uncle Sam === .p029 [[ https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.3758/s13414-019-01846-w.pdf | No One Knows What Attention Is ]] .p030 [[ https://dictionary.apa.org/voluntary-attention | voluntary attention ]] [[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo&t=5s | Ball passing and gorilla ]] [[ https://www.theinvisiblegorilla.com/ | The Invisible Gorilla book ]] [[ https://wccls.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?custom_edit=false&query=title%3A(The%20Invisible%20Gorilla)&searchType=bl&suppress=true | WCCLS, Beaverton ]] .p031 [[ https://dictionary.apa.org/involuntary-attention | involuntary attention ]] siren, crash of dishes .p036 social attention - noticing a mention of your name while focusing on something else .p042 Hijacked airliner passenger so bored that he almost fell asleep .p042 War is boring . Tim O'Brien . The Things They Carried . YA novel .p046 koumiss fermented mare's milk, about 2% alcohol .p049 Cable news is a televised siren .p050 slot machines, electronic games displacing card tables .p051 [[ https://wccls.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S143C2133228 | Addiction by Design ]] Natasha Dow Schüll .slot addict attentional trance, "I'm not playing to win" .p053 Hayes's iPhone [[ https://screentimelabs.com/ | Screen Time ]], 5 hours 16 minutes per day .note48 Brian Fung 2013 WaP [[ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2013/08/13/humankind-has-now-spent-more-time-playing-call-of-duty-than-it-has-existed-on-earth/ | Humankind has now spent more time playing Call of Duty than it has existed on Earth ]] .p056 apps designed to engage our social personality === p059 Ch3 The Root of Evil === .p063 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_affluent_society | Original affluent society ]][[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Sahlins | Marshall Sahlins ]] .p071 [[ https://wccls.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?query=Infinite%20Jest&searchType=smart | Infinite Jest ]] Novel 1996 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Foster_Wallace | David Foster Wallace ]] .p073 boredom's alter ego: distraction .p076 Boredom: ratchet of stimulation and diversion - liberation by simply rejecting boredom .p078 zoning out opposite of attention [[ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/german-english/zerstreutheit | Zerstreuheit ]][[ https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.459703/page/n407/mode/2up | The Principles of Psychology ]] p404 James .p078 [[ https://catalog.wccls.org/polaris/search/searchresults.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.6&type=Advanced&term=How%20to%20Do%20Nothing&relation=ALL&by=TI&term2=Jenny%20Odell&relation2=ALL&by2=AU&bool1=AND&bool4=AND&limit=TOM=bks%20not%20tom=ebk&sort=RELEVANCE&page=0&searchid=1 | How to Do Nothing ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Odell | Jenny Odell ]] . https://screentimelabs.com/ manage child screen time === p081 Ch4 Social Attention === .p082 Child maltreatment: 74% neglected, 28% physically abused .p086 bedroom per family member, 17th century invention .p092 [[ https://catalog.wccls.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.6&pos=4&cn=3194223 | The Giving Tree ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shel_Silverstein | Shel Silverstein ]] .p105 boundary between public and private "torn down in about a decade" by a few tech firms .p108 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_a_Salesman | Death of a Salesman ]] 1949 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Miller | Arthur Miller ]] .p108 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reply_guy | Reply guy ]] === p115 Ch5 Alienation === .p122 [[ https://wccls.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?custom_edit=false&query=title%3A(The%20Attention%20Merchants)&searchType=bl&suppress=true | The Attention Merchants ]] 2016 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Wu | Tim Wu ]] .p133 always present smartphones increase supply of attention .p142 2020 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_News | Fox ]] lost attention to [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsmax | Newsmax ]] and [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_America_News_Network | One America News ]] .p142 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Voting_Systems_v._Fox_News_Network | Fox lost $787M for defaming ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Voting_Systems | Dominion Voting Systems]] .p144 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Burnham | Bo Burnham ]] colonization of attention .p151 Author ate half a THC gummy and looked at sandwiches on [[ https://www.tiktok.com/en/ | Tiktok ]], algorithm figured out he was stoned === p155 Ch6 Dawn of the Attention Age === .p165 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_A._Simon | Herbert Simon ]] [[ https://knowen-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/file/2005/DESIGNING%2BORGANIZATIONS%2Bfor%2BInformation-Rich%2Bworld%2B--%2BSImon.pdf | Designing Organizations for an Information-Rich World ]] .p166 To be an attention conserver ... system must be an information condenser. .p167 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs | Steve Jobs ]] "How many things have you said no to?" .p169 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_factor_productivity | Total Factor Productivity ]] increased 2%/y 1910-1970; 1994-2004 1%/y, 2004-2014 0.4%/y .p172 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoshana_Zuboff | Shoshana Zuboff ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Surveillance_Capitalism | surveillance capitalism ]] .p174 "in its chase for profits, Google has ended up spamming its own users" . alternatives [[ https://www.bing.com/ | Bing ]]/[[ https://duckduckgo.com/ | DuckDuckGo ]] [[ https://www.yahoo.com/ | Yahoo ]] [[ https://search.brave.com | Brave ]] [[ https://www.perplexity.ai/ | Perplexity ]] [[ https://metasearx.com/| SearX ]] .p181 [[ https://wccls.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S143C2294495 | Finn Brunton: ]] Spammers waste our time for their benefit .p186 Michael Goldhaber 2024 talk: [[ https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v2i4.519 | The Attention Economy and the Net ]] .p190 '''Twin contentions of book:''' .attention is a resource, a substance extracted for its market value .resource value growing, now the most important resource .p193 Twitter/X daily 11pm meeting about boosting Musk tweet counts .p193 [[ https://www.zoeschiffer.com/ | Zoë Schiffer ]][[ https://wccls.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?custom_edit=false&query=title%3A(Extremely%20Hardcore%3A%20Inside%20Elon%20Musk%27s%20Twitter)&searchType=bl&suppress=true | Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk's Twitter ]] .p194 Zelensky uses comedian/performer skills to keep the world's attention .p194 Musk is a black hole of negative charisma, spent tens of billions of dollars for attention === p195 Ch7 Public Attention === .p197 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%E2%80%93Douglas_debates | Lincoln-Douglas Debates ]] mass communication defined by the written word as opposed to the image [[ https://archive.org/details/lincolndouglasde0000linc | eBook ]] 2008 .p198 A debate is an attentional regime .p199 general [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Martyn_Robert | Henry Martyn Robert ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert%27s_Rules_of_Order | Robert's Rules of Order 1876 ]] .p205 both formal and substantive attentional regimes have collapsed, easier to shout, harder to be heard .p206 Postman: Americans no longer talk to each other, they enterain each other. They do not exchange ideas; they exchange images. .p207 Postman: Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance .p208 [[ https://catalog.wccls.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.6&pos=1&cn=2492911 | The Braindead Megaphone ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Saunders | George Saunders ]] .p209 ref24 [[ https://time.com/4315217/newton-minow-vast-wasteland-1961-speech | vast wasteland ]] .p210 Hayes spent >8 years covering Trump full time, must but doesn't want to .p212 repellant but transfixing, other candidates asked about Trump, not their own plans and policies .p214 [[ https://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/05/trump-travel-ban-poll-voters-240215 | half support Muslim ban ]] .p215 [[ https://puck.news/death-of-a-salesman/ | Death of a Salesman, Vivek Ramaswamy ]] .p217 Trump constantly interrupted [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Biden | Biden ]] in 2020 debate; "Will you shut up, man?" .p218 Platforms: Google Facebook TikTok [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes#Political_theory | Hobbsian ]] "every man against every man" .p219 Platforms regulate attention to maximize monetization .p220 5yo's better during reading time than phone-scrolling academics and executives at meetings .p221 news media dual mandate: keep audience attention ''and'' tell them important things for self-governance .p223 [[ https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/01/world/europe/greece-migrant-ship.html | refugee plight ]] vs [[ https://newrepublic.com/article/173808/media-cares-titanic-sub-drowned-migrants | Titan submarine tourists ]] .p225 [[ https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-announces-summer-2023-hottest-on-record/ | 2023 hottest summer in 150,000 years ]] .p225 [[ https://www.nps.gov/deva/learn/nature/hilary.htm | Hurricane Hilary in Death Valley National Park ]] first in 80 years .p226 [[ https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/07/sports/tennis/protest-stops-us-open-semifinal-match.html | U.S. Open women's semifinal match ]], protester glued feet to floor .p228 A. Lincoln: [[ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/magazine/wp/2019/03/11/feature/nancy-pelosi-on-impeaching-president-trump-hes-just-not-worth-it/ | "public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed" ]] .p230 [[ https://www.politico.com/newsletters/huddle/2021/04/07/mtgs-eye-popping-fundraising-haul-492390 | MTG’s eye-popping fundraising haul ]] .p232 [[ https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-judiciary-republicans-delete-kanye-elon-trump-tweet-rapper-prais-rcna59654 | Kanye. Elon. Trump. ]] rapper praises Hitler .p235 [[ https://catalog.wccls.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.6&pos=1&cn=3869003 | High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Ripley | Amanda Ripley ]] conflict entrepreneurs .p236 Current standard practice for mass shootings, describe the act and aftermath, downplay the perpetrator. .p238 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism | Whataboutism ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque | tu quoque ]] .p238 Ideological battles over ''what to focus on''. .p240 WaPo [[ https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/ | Fatal Force ]] black men 1.8% of shootings, disproportionate coverage .p240 There is no standard or objective criteria for choice of focus ... it's a judgement call. .p241 Obama speech about [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Hook_Elementary_School_shooting | Sandy Hook shooting ]] purposely mistranslated into Arabic subtitles about anti-ISIS airstrikes .p243 ref Naomi Klein [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppelganger:_A_Trip_into_the_Mirror_World | Doppelganger 2023 ]] [[ https://wccls.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S143C4267644 | Bvtn Lib ]] .p244 [[ https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-the-dark-virality-of-a-hollywood-blood-harvesting-conspiracy/ | QAnon blood harvesting nonsense ]] .p245 Attention market disaggregation removes reputational cost of outlet unreliability .p248 Information age promise: access to all human knowledge; reality, collective civic madness .p248 [[ https://x.com/VeryBadLlama/status/1706859631098630633?lang=en | hey sorry I missed your text, I am processing a non-stop 24/7 onslaught of information with a brain designed to eat berries in a cave ]] .p249 shared public discourse, the burbling, insistent ruckus of a deeply unquiet mind. === p251 Ch8 Reclaiming Our Minds === .p252 [[ https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/ | The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok ]] . 2023 [[ https://americandialect.org/2023-word-of-the-year-is-enshittification/ | American Dialect Society word of the year ]] .p252 [[ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/12/cell-phones-student-test-scores-dropping/676889/ | It Sure Looks Like Phones Are Making Students Dumber ]] .p253 Everyone, including me, complains they can't read long books anymore .p254 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commitment_device | commitment mechanisms ]] .p255 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_rental_shop | video stores ]] effort, intentional choice, commitment .p257 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LP_record | Vinyl LPs ]][[ https://www.statista.com/chart/17244/us-music-revenue-by-format/ | From Tape to Tidal: 4 Decades of U.S. Music Sales ]] 2022 vinyl tiny but growing very slowly since 2015 .p263 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_(software) | Signal messaging service ]] end-to-end encrypted .p265 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Dilemma | The Social Dilemma ]] 2020 documentary .p265 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anxious_Generation | The Anxious Generation ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Haidt | Jonathan Haidt ]] [[ https://catalog.wccls.org/polaris/search/searchresults.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.6&type=Advanced&term=The%20Anxious%20Generation&relation=ALL&by=TI&bool4=AND&limit=TOM=*&sort=RELEVANCE&page=0&searchid=6 | WCCLS ]] .p265 [[ https://www.schoolofattention.org/ | Strother School of Radical Attention ]] .p266 [[ https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1291#:~:text=Specifically%2C%20social%20media%20platforms%20(1,under%20the%20age%20of%2013. | 13 yo minimum for social media platforms ]]