🔦The Attention Merchants

This rewriting of history produces intriguing outcomes at first. People are not customers of mass media businesses if the political economy model of the media is adopted. Readers/listeners/viewers, on the other hand, are the product that a media business sells to advertising.

‘’The Attention Merchants offers the informed reader an interesting and occasionally fascinating take on media history, and this can put modern media practices into a certain perspective, but the ultimate lesson to be learned is depressingly ordinary ’’

The consistent conversion of plants and animals into salable products, such as cotton and beef, was critical to economic prosperity.

However, the most successful businessmen of the twenty-first century, like Facebook and Google, harvest another commodity as plentiful as wheat or crude oil.

The fields are media and entertainment, the harvesters are advertisers, and the product is attention in the new sector.

We are experiencing a backlash against major forms of advertising. The drop in NFL ratings, as well as the abandoning of traditional television, demonstrate this.

However, some ad-based businesses are gaining traction. In real time, revolutions are perplexing. They're typically only apparent after the fact.

We think we should stop seeking personal gains and try to improve our experience and quality of life.

TODAY, BOREDOM IS AN OPTION. TO THE EXTENT THAT BOREDOM IS A LACK OF STIMULATION, WE HAVE CURED IT, AND THIS ISN’T NECESSARILY A GOOD THING. TIM WU