ATTENTION ECONOMY SPENDING CAP

Google’s response to ‘Attention Economy’ is “About 569,000,000 results (0.47 seconds).”

I didn’t read them all, but the first few referred to the ‘so-called’ attention economy.

‘So-called’ because no one wants to be shamed for thinking there’s such a thing as an attention economy?

Look at that top picture. What’s it say? More than you want to know?

Probably.

It’s downtown Portland, Oregon. I’m cruising Broadway in the center lane.

My attention is on driving up the road without some homeless-meth-zombie falling under my tires.

Since it’s downtown Portland you never know.

What you do know is from the media, including experts on social media. It’s all more than a few degrees removed from personal experience.

Just keep the doors locked and windows rolled up like you’d do in a Yellowstone buffalo crossing.

Get up the road without distractions if you’re the driver.

It’s another story for the passenger.

They are the prime target for the attention economy on Broadway.

Go ahead and look around, just don’t say stop.

But that’s changing.

Driver Or Passenger?

Do you ever get mesmerized by ads and find yourself surrounded by things you don’t need?

I think it’s called buyer’s remorse.

It happens when you get lulled into an attention economy state of mind.

Something catches your attention? Now it’s the answer to questions you’ve never asked.

The great Ken Kesey wrote in Sometimes A Great Notion about an uncle giving ‘dating’ advice about starting an unending one-sided conversation in a quiet voice, a stream of consciousness hum like the freeway, like the sound of waves at the beach, and let it roll because you never know what you might blurt out in that FM Deejay voice, but one thing leads to another and before you know it you’ve made a huge confession to someone and liked it and if they liked it instead of thinking you sound like a kook, all the better.

That was the Facebook advice I gave Guest Blogger Randall Cuthbert.

Not that he asked.

Kesey was both driver and passenger on his own bus.

I’d like to say the same for everyone else but . . .

Attention Victim

Consider what catches your eye when you drive through a town of strip malls along a once vital transportation corridor replaced by Interstate 5.

Do you swerve through lanes for a vape shop stop? A massage parlor?

If you do, you expect to find a vape shop and a massage parlor. Right?

Anything less would be false advertisement, the dreaded ‘Fake News.’

As baby boomers, in particular Portland baby boomers, we’re used to it.

Smoking used to be a thing. All the cool kids smoked.

Then smoking started killing people? Then?

The environment is changing based on man-made causes?

It’s not a meteor, not this time.

Take out a predatory bank loan on your house to feel rich for once, and lose your house?

Who does that.

While living that privileged Pacific Northwest wonderland life, you’d think we could better tell the difference between fantasy and reality.

Reality:

Back in our prime years you could drop out of high school, get a job, buy a house, a truck, and a boat.

You could get married, have a few kids, and keep the same job you’ve done for twenty years.

And you were happy. You had family, friends, and most important, you had engagement.

Engagement is the strengths-based process through which individuals with mental health conditions form a healing connection with people that support their recovery and wellness within the context of family, culture and community.

Is this fantasy?

What is social media engagement?

Social media engagement is the measurement of comments, likes, and shares.

Of course you want to rack up your followers, but ultimately, the greatest measure of social media success is an engaged audience, not just a big one.

One involves people and observation and feedback; the other is a computer screen.

One is normal, one isn’t. You pick.

Me? I choose both. Come on, I’m a blogger, a writer.

I need real people to inspire my work, and screen people to read it.

Normal enough? I’m still in my prime writer years, barely sixty-eight.

Prime Writing Years In Attention Economy

I should have named my dog Uncle Kesey for all the whispering it does in my ear.

What’s she telling me?

Mostly it’s, “pay attention to me or I’ll lick your ear.”

With so many bright shiny things asking for our attention, from crypto to insurrection, it’s important to focus on what you want to get done.

Maybe we’re the same in that regard.

I want the attention of a population motivated to do small things for others.

Be more like Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhin, aka Mother Theresa.

Am I asking for too much.

The other day the rain came down so hard it bounced off the pavement and streamed over street drains.

Leaves from the last storm hadn’t been cleaned off. It’s normal in Oregon.

The dog and I kicked off the debris blocking five drain grates to let the water find it’s way.

It wasn’t too much.

The next dry day I found this in the street.