Our attention is consistently exploited for profit by content platforms: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Netflix and the like.
Attention creates engagement. Engagement drives ad revenue. Ad revenue increases profits.
This is the attention economy. Tech giants in a free-for-all to capture our gaze. The tragedy of the commons of human attention. Not only are they competing between themselves, but they’re also competing with us.
“You know, think about it, when you watch a show from Netflix and you get addicted to it, you stay up late at night. We’re competing with sleep, on the margin. And so, it’s a very large pool of time.”
Reed Hastings, Netflix CEO
We, the users, are their biggest competitors. Investing time in ourselves means not spending it in their platforms.
They profit from our distraction.
They profit from our discontentment.
They profit from our compulsive consumption of their content.
They profit. We languish.
“To flourish means to live within an optimal range of human functioning, one that connotes goodness, generativity, growth, and resilience.”
Fredrickson & Losada, 2005
Underneath the garden is one question: “Where will I place my consciousness today?”
Zenborg is my exploration into mindful technology. A way to leverage software and AI as a driver for flourishing.