Time and Attention — The Real Power of The World
How your time and attention are the most powerful commodity left on Earth
Nothing survives unless it receives both the time and attention from those it needs in order to sustain itself.
In an age where we are all online no matter the culture we hail from or the society we belong to, information, currency, and commodity, are all readily available.
We walk around every day now with advertisements plastered not just on billboards, but on public transport, on newspapers, on flyers, and most importantly, on our mobile phones. Technology.
This is nothing new. Ads are everywhere.
However, when you stop to think about how the internet works, you begin to understand the fundamentals of how all this time it survived.
Tech company CEOs and many tech companies believed wholeheartedly that the internet wouldn’t survive. Now, look at us. Look at us as a society. Most people won’t survive without their phones.
We’re in a digital age. There is no escaping that. Ads in a newspaper now will not be anywhere near as effective as an ad that gets displayed over social media.
So, where do time and attention come into this?
Think about it like this.
What does survive if you don’t provide it with your time and attention?
Not a lot.
Let’s look at life aspects, first and foremost.
- You die if you don’t pay enough time and attention to your health.
- Your expenditure becomes worse if you don’t pay enough attention to what you’re buying.
- You will never get that business start-up, complete that project, etc. if you don’t provide it with your time and attention.
Why do I need to outline the obvious?
Because humanity is willingly playing into the biggest robbery of our entire existence — our time and attention.
Obesity is on the rise. Depression is on the rise. Loneliness is on the rise. Large parts of humanity are unsatisfied.
Because we are at the mercy of our phones. Our technology. Our rates of online consumption.
No, I’m not throwing out conspiracies or the like, but everyone who falls under these categories is largely not aware that their time and attention are being put toward the wrong things.
What’s more important; your video game or exercise?
What’s more important; replying to random social media accounts or work?
What’s more important; scrolling neurotically or learning a new skill?
Nothing on the internet survives unless you give it your time and attention.
The sad part is, especially in regard to social media, is you don’t even know what, why, and how your time and attention are being used because how you spend both of those things is dictated by an algorithm.
Lines of code are literally doing the thinking and spending for you.
I say spending because if time and attention are the only two commodities left to exploit on Earth, then you need to treat it like a form of currency. Every single person or thing you spend your time and attention on should be treated like a transaction.
What’s the more profitable transaction; seeing your friend in person or messaging that new follower?
What’s the more profitable transaction; losing yourself watching random garbage on TikTok or learning a new skill?
What’s the more profitable transaction; working out or playing that video game?
One of these things in each question will pay you back. The other does nothing for you.
Giving people or things your time and attention is transactional. The receipt comes in the form of either regret or memory.
If what you are putting your time and attention toward does not indebt itself to you by growing you as a person or you're expanding your horizons, then you are being robbed.
Sadly, most people are blind to this as well.
Now, it’s fine to have things available to you that you give your time and attention to because it’s entertainment, it’s fun, and it can provide memories.
I play video games with my friends. I love playing them.
But, would I ever shrug off working out, going to work, and cooking healthy meals, just for more game time? No. The latter provides me with genuine growth and will repay me with extended life expectancy, better health, and better confidence.
The current modern-day lifestyle breeds complacency because the more lazy and still you are, the more likely you are to be on your devices. To catch the flashy ads. To provide social media and websites more attention. To allow algorithms to pull you in and pull you in until it becomes addiction.
The majority of people nowadays do not have the capacity to understand that what they do online is a waste of time.
Unless you’re building a business, establishing a career or side hustle, learning a new skill through online material, educating yourself, revising, and plain old working, then you shouldn’t be online as much as you are.
Everything else is probably a waste of time. Especially if you are prioritizing entertainment over self-growth.
But… if we understand nothing on the internet survives without providing it time and attention, couldn’t you exploit that?
Yes.
Even though I’ve outright just said and agreed you can exploit the nature of people who lack the capacity to understand their time and attention is being robbed, unfortunately, that’s the way of the current digital age.
Let’s look at an extreme example; Andrew Tate.
Love or hate him, he has mastered this especially.
He causes controversy, displays an extreme opinion, he gets attention. People dedicate time to him.
He says something the majority of people can agree with, he gets attention. People dedicate time to him. He garners a following.
The only reason why Andrew Tate exists to be such an influence is because you keep giving him time and attention. Whether or not you hate him or love him.
It’s especially ironic that those who hate him would continue to flood algorithms with his name by creating articles on him, talking about him, etc. as if those who hated him paid less attention, because it’s the internet, obscurity would not be so far away.
But then those that love him, will always give him that platform.
Largely, nobody “influential” over the internet would exist if you did not provide them attention.
Not your favourite online writer.
Not your favourite singer.
Not your favourite internet guru.
Not your favourite YouTuber.
No one.
Even though Andrew Tate is an extreme example, extreme examples only become extreme if you fall into that robbery we all seem to commit ourselves to — allowing things and people that don’t profit us to blindly steal our time and attention off of what is important.
So, yes, there is money to be made and influence to be had if you exploit other people’s time and attention by allowing them to believe what they consume online is good for them.
But that’s a practice everybody does anyway because of the digital age and what it represents and stands for.
If algorithms can dictate what we do and see online, then those who can influence it will find online success. Whether on purpose or by sheer luck.
Either way, you should be aware of what you put your time and attention toward.
Because if you aren’t, then well, you either lack the responsibility to determine what you should be prioritizing or you’re actively a victim to another’s exploit which only pushes your realized dreams and ambitions further, and further away from you.
Because if you don’t prioritize what you want, then what you want does fall into obscurity.
That is why your time and attention is the most powerful commodity left on Earth because you give businesses revenue and people platforms.
That is why your time and attention is the most precious commodity left on Earth because it’s the only thing worth exploiting.
What you spend them on can quite literally change your life and by extension, others too. Now, if that’s not power, then I don’t know what is.
Thank you for reading.
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