Comments on: Is attention finite? http://www.mattmcalister.com/blog/2006/12/07/121/is-attention-finite/ Inside Online Media Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:29:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: David Henderson’s Blog » Blog Archive » Is attention finite? http://www.mattmcalister.com/blog/2006/12/07/121/is-attention-finite/comment-page-1/#comment-4438 David Henderson’s Blog » Blog Archive » Is attention finite? Sat, 16 Dec 2006 15:17:06 +0000 http://www.mattmcalister.com/blog/2006/12/07/121/is-attention-finite/#comment-4438 [...] Just came a across and excellent “Attention” post by Matt Mcalister - Is attention finite? Matt’s post is in response to another excellent “Attention” post by John Hagel - the economics of attention. “The problem with discussing attention in economic terms, in my opinion, which is, by the way, completely uninformed by any kind of economic education, is this notion that attention is finite. [...] [...] Just came a across and excellent “Attention” post by Matt Mcalister – Is attention finite? Matt’s post is in response to another excellent “Attention” post by John Hagel – the economics of attention. “The problem with discussing attention in economic terms, in my opinion, which is, by the way, completely uninformed by any kind of economic education, is this notion that attention is finite. [...]

]]> By: David Henderson http://www.mattmcalister.com/blog/2006/12/07/121/is-attention-finite/comment-page-1/#comment-4436 David Henderson Sat, 16 Dec 2006 14:48:07 +0000 http://www.mattmcalister.com/blog/2006/12/07/121/is-attention-finite/#comment-4436 Hey Matt, Nice post! My 2 cents.... If their were some kind of Moore's law of Attention where a user's ability to expand their attention was constant, then I would agree that attention is not finite. However, while abstraction may give us a bump in attention efficiency, you will still bump up against the finite time limit of 24 hours in a day - just at a higher fixed level. My take is that user attention is finite. It's scarce and it's saturated. "We see this now in the way media properties charge advertisers a fee for the cost of reaching valuable eyeballs. But advertisers are forever chasing people to get their attention. They are always paying for the inefficiencies in the market. And media properties are motivated to retain inefficiencies in order to capitalize on that friction. This business model locks companies on both sides into the status quo." What you describe here is a huge symptom of the Attention problem. Marketers spend $300B/yr to broadcast 3000 marketing messages a day to every US consumer. Could abstraction allow us to expand our Attention and absorb more? Is more more or is less more? I think abstraction can help us with the latter. "The opportunity, on the other hand, is vast for those who are able to alter our viewpoints and abstract the way we understand information. It’s about offering new methods to communicate and taking advantage of the methods that are already infinitely fluid. The supply of attention can be limitless when the barriers are removed and the right lubricant is applied." I think you are talking about influence and efficiency here and not attention supply?? Attention discussions always seem to move to the abstract... fun discussion! Thanks! Hey Matt,

Nice post!

My 2 cents….

If their were some kind of Moore’s law of Attention where a user’s ability to expand their attention was constant, then I would agree that attention is not finite. However, while abstraction may give us a bump in attention efficiency, you will still bump up against the finite time limit of 24 hours in a day – just at a higher fixed level.

My take is that user attention is finite. It’s scarce and it’s saturated.

“We see this now in the way media properties charge advertisers a fee for the cost of reaching valuable eyeballs. But advertisers are forever chasing people to get their attention. They are always paying for the inefficiencies in the market. And media properties are motivated to retain inefficiencies in order to capitalize on that friction. This business model locks companies on both sides into the status quo.”

What you describe here is a huge symptom of the Attention problem. Marketers spend $300B/yr to broadcast 3000 marketing messages a day to every US consumer. Could abstraction allow us to expand our Attention and absorb more?

Is more more or is less more? I think abstraction can help us with the latter.

“The opportunity, on the other hand, is vast for those who are able to alter our viewpoints and abstract the way we understand information. It’s about offering new methods to communicate and taking advantage of the methods that are already infinitely fluid. The supply of attention can be limitless when the barriers are removed and the right lubricant is applied.”

I think you are talking about influence and efficiency here and not attention supply??

Attention discussions always seem to move to the abstract… fun discussion! Thanks!

]]> By: Alex Barnett http://www.mattmcalister.com/blog/2006/12/07/121/is-attention-finite/comment-page-1/#comment-4018 Alex Barnett Fri, 08 Dec 2006 01:17:54 +0000 http://www.mattmcalister.com/blog/2006/12/07/121/is-attention-finite/#comment-4018 Interesting post Matt. Another consideration on the question of the 'finiteness' of our attention is the notion of the progress we are making toward 'the singularity'. Even if Kurzweil is only a bit right, our attention capacity as individuals is destined to expand exponentially, and soon. If Kurzweil is very right in his predictions, then it might turn out that the whole business of attention will be only game in town... Interesting post Matt.

Another consideration on the question of the ‘finiteness’ of our attention is the notion of the progress we are making toward ‘the singularity’. Even if Kurzweil is only a bit right, our attention capacity as individuals is destined to expand exponentially, and soon. If Kurzweil is very right in his predictions, then it might turn out that the whole business of attention will be only game in town…

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