Attention pays (with Chris Hayes)

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Society & Culture, News, Politics, News Commentary, Philosophy

4.6 • 10.8K Ratings

🗓️ 27 January 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Where is your attention right now? Where was it a minute ago? A second ago? Where will it be a minute from now? One of the primary features of this age — the age of the internet and smartphones and algorithmic feeds — is that our attention is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. This is no accident. Our devices and apps are engineered to constantly alert us to things that are important and to things that are not. That’s because holding our attention is valuable. The time we spend reading, watching, and listening to content on our digital devices has been commodified, and that commodity is fueling the economy of the digital age. Today’s guest is Chris Hayes, the host of All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC and author of The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource. Chris speaks with Sean about how the attention industry is changing our economy, our society, and ourselves. Host: Sean Illing (@SeanIlling). Guest: Chris Hayes, host of All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC and author of The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for the gray area comes from Blue Nile. When someone proposes on the Jumbotron thing at a ballgame,
0:07.0	you see the joy, the tears, and the magic, hopefully. What you don't see is the awful process of finding the ring.
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0:22.0	institution of marriage. Blue Nile says that every piece comes with 100% satisfaction guarantee,
0:28.1	so if something isn't right, you're in the clear. Right now, you can get $50 off your purchase of
0:32.7	$500 or more with code gray area at bluenow.com. That's $50 off with code gray area at blue nile.com.
0:40.8	Blue Nile.com.
0:45.8	Amazon One Medical presents painful thoughts.
0:50.6	I could catch anything sitting in this doctor's waiting room.
0:54.4	Oh, a kid just wiped his runny nose on my jacket.
0:57.4	And the guy next to me, sitting in a pool of perspiration, insists on sharing my armrest.
1:04.1	Next time, make an appointment with an Amazon One Medical provider.
1:07.7	There's no waiting and no sweaty guy.
1:10.3	Amazon One Medical, Health care just got less
1:12.7	painful. A friend of mine once told me that you are where your attention is. That line always
1:23.9	stuck with me. It was a reminder that the most important choice we all make
1:28.5	is also the most common one.
1:31.0	We make it a thousand times a day, every day of our lives.
1:35.5	It's the decision about what to pay attention to
1:38.8	and what not to pay attention to.
1:49.8	One of the primary features of this age, the age of the internet and smartphones and algorithmic feeds, is that our attention is everywhere and nowhere at the same time because
1:56.4	we're endlessly pushed around by a parade of distractions.
	...

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