We live in a world where our attention has become the most valuable resource in the world. [1] Companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, utilize an advertising-based business model [2] that competes for larger slices of our time and attention, and generates over $100 billion in annual revenue doing so. [3] But if time and attention are a few of the life factors we can control, why aren’t we placing as much value on them as these companies?
Perhaps it’s due to the various forms of distraction social media places in our way. From engineering addictive habits, to mining our data, to rewarding sensationalized headlines, social media is designed to attract and distract its audience.
This paper explores a few key aspects on the operation of social media and examines their threat to attention, privacy, information. I hope you find it educational and motivational.
Writings by Michelle Ovalle 