The World Beyond Your Head

Crawford highlights how our attention is constantly being hijacked by pervasive advertising, exemplifying a deeper cultural issue regarding how we value and allocate our attention. Crawford shares personal experiences where every moment—whether it’s swiping a bank card or pulling down a tray on a flight—is an opportunity for advertisers to capture our gaze. This intrusion extends to everyday objects and public spaces, signifying the shift from a traditional information economy to an attentional economy, where attention is a scarce commodity.

Crawford discusses the broader cultural ramifications of our fractured attention spans, pointing out that our ability to focus is not just a personal challenge but a societal one, influenced by the fast pace and sensory overload of urban environments. He contrasts perspectives from moral philosophy and sociology to argue that the modern crisis of attention is not just about technology but about a deeper existential and ethical dilemma of what deserves our focus in a world devoid of traditional guiding structures like religion and community.

Moreover, Crawford discusses the concept of the “attentional commons,” which he describes as a shared space where collective focus should ideally remain unexploited by commercial interests. Crawford illustrates this concept through everyday experiences where our attention is constantly captured by advertising in unavoidable public spaces, such as airports, or even during security screenings, where ads on bins can distract us from keeping track of our belongings. He argues that these distractions not only monopolize our focus but also degrade the quality of public spaces and social interactions, thereby diminishing our capacity for spontaneous, meaningful interactions that enrich communal life.

Crawford draws a stark contrast between the invasive nature of public advertising and the tranquility found in spaces like business-class lounges, which are devoid of such distractions, highlighting how silence has become a luxury. He suggests that this relentless capture of our attention is a form of privatization, likening it to environmental degradation in post-communist countries where public goods were exploited for private gain. Through the metaphor of environmental conservation, Crawford advocates for the protection of our attention as a communal resource, proposing “a right not to be addressed” (13) by commercial interests, especially in a manner that manipulates our cognitive environment.

He highlights the ethical implications of this intrusion into our mental space, noting that “[a]ttention is the thing that is most one’s own: in the normal course of things, we choose what to pay attention to, and in a very real sense this determines what is real for us; what is actually present to our consciousness” (13). This statement encapsulates the core of Crawford’s argument—that the battle for our attention is not just a personal challenge but a significant cultural and moral issue. He calls for a more judicious approach to how our attention is engaged, not only to preserve individual focus but also to maintain the integrity of our shared social spaces.

Additionally, Crawford delves into the concept of attention as both a mental and moral exercise, drawing on ideas from Simone Weil and William James to illustrate that attention is a skill honed through disciplined practice. Weil, in particular, emphasizes that true attention is a form of resistance against the natural human tendency toward distraction or “mental sloth,” linking it to a moral struggle against our baser instincts. This idea is reinforced through the example of the “marshmallow test” by psychologists Walter Mischel and E. B. Ebbesen, which demonstrated that children’s future success was strongly correlated with their ability to distract themselves and delay gratification, highlighting the connection between self-regulation and the strategic allocation of attention.

Crawford argues that the modern environment, filled with engineered stimuli designed to capture our attention (like advertisements and media), challenges our ability to concentrate and maintain individuality. This engineered environment leads to a homogenization of culture and personality, as people increasingly struggle to engage with complex or less immediately gratifying material, opting instead for more accessible and universally appealing content.

He warns that the prevailing model of liberal freedom—which equates freedom with the pursuit of personal preferences—fails to acknowledge how these preferences are shaped and manipulated by commercial interests. Instead of promoting true autonomy, this model facilitates a form of control by external forces, which capitalize on our engineered desires. Crawford’s critique extends to the broader societal implications of this dynamic, suggesting that the erosion of attention and the rise of consumer capitalism are not merely personal issues but reflect deeper political and ethical concerns.

Furthermore, Crawford explores the challenge of maintaining a coherent self amidst constant environmental stimuli that demand our attention and often disrupt our capacity for deep thought. He discusses the necessity of occasionally suppressing environmental input to engage in reflective thinking, a process described by Arthur M. Glenberg as evolutionarily effortful due to the inherent risks of ignoring immediate surroundings. This effort is crucial for the development of autobiographical memory and a coherent self-concept, which are formed by organizing experiences into narratives—a skill enhanced by language acquisition in early childhood.

Crawford argues that our capacity to focus and form a coherent narrative of self is under siege in a modern, highly engineered attentional landscape. This landscape is dominated by “hyperpalatable stimuli” designed to capture and commodify attention, making it increasingly difficult to engage in the type of sustained, reflective thought necessary for true rational agency—a concept that Crawford defends against viewpoints that deem it an illusion fostered by post hoc rationalizations of behavior.

Crawford additionally critiques the modern conception of autonomy, suggesting that real freedom comes not from limitless choice but from the ability to engage skillfully and attentively with the world. This engagement fosters a genuine sense of self that stands in contrast to the fragmented self shaped by the constant pull of digital and consumerist distractions.