In a perfect world, how much does your attention cost? Should it cost anything? In the age of hyperindividualism fueled by capitalism, our attention has become the new currency. The attention economy, a term coined by Nobel Laureate Herbert A. Simon, explains that “attention [is] the ‘bottleneck of human thought’ that limits both what we can perceive in stimulating environments and what we can do.” Thanks to modern day advancements in technology, humans have made an absurd amount of information readily available to anyone privileged enough to have an internet connection. Despite the advantages, having too many options often leads to vicious cycles of overstimulation, multi-tasking, and a significant reduction in focus.
*spoiler alert ahead*
Leave The World Behind, a Netflix film released in December 2023, follows an upper-middle class white family seeking a quiet weekend away from New York City. The family rents a high-tech home in the outskirts of New York in pursuit of an escape but not a disconnect from their digitally integrated lives. Their quiet weekend away is suddenly disrupted by the unexpected arrival of the homeowner and his daughter, in search of shelter during a city-wide blackout. Tensions arise, fueled by skepticism and racial microaggressions, as the mother questions the legitimacy of the homeowner’s claim to the house. Whatever preconceived prejudice the mother has, it certainly limits her ability to comprehend how the homeowner, who is Black, could be wealthy enough to own such a property. The situation escalates when they lose internet access, leading to panic and further isolation. The family’s fears are compounded by news of a national cyber-attack, forcing them to finally embrace the homeowner and his daughter and work together. The homeowner then reveals a deeper knowledge of technology and the unfolding crisis. This shift challenges their initial prejudices and forces a re-evaluation of their reliance on technology and the limitations of their perceived agency.
This film illustrates a few things particularly well. Most prominent are the themes of well-conditioned prejudice, the pitfalls of accessibility, and a need to be constantly informed due to a fear of being left behind. With our society’s increased advancements in technology, an increasing number of workers share the same concerns about job displacement due to AI. However, despite the mass adoption of AI across industries, there is reassurance for workers that AI will not “outweigh human and conceptual skills”. Still, what does a healthy and equitable relationship between ourselves and AI look like in the future?
In today’s world, we use various forms of technology for hours on end every day. Dialectically speaking, our lifestyle choices with tech are often functioning contradictions. We’re glued to our screens, yet we say we want a more autonomous, healthy relationship with technology. Some tech companies may preach inclusion and increased equity through an adoption of neoliberal DEI initiatives, but these are still the same industry leaders that succeed under capitalism and profit ludicrously from the exploitation of our attention. Furthermore, the most vulnerable and marginalized populations are often the most targeted. Under our current economic system, society promotes overproduction and an infinite consumerism of finite resources. If you have more, you’ll want more, and when you have that, you’ll find something you don’t have. This fear of ‘going without’ is deeply connected to the fear of being left behind, and intensified greatly through technology and mass media.
A team of researchers from The University of New South Wales, after examining the existing academic discussions between wealth, the economy, and their impacts, have reached a clear conclusion: “technology will only get us so far when working towards sustainability—we need far-reaching lifestyle changes and different economic paradigms”. Co-author of the study Julia Steinberger, a Professor of Ecological Economics at the University of Leeds, shares that affluence is often portrayed as something to aspire to. “But our paper has shown that it’s actually dangerous and leads to planetary-scale destruction. To protect ourselves from the worsening climate crisis, we must reduce inequality and challenge the notion that riches, and those who possess them, are inherently good.” This is especially important to note as cultural pressures of society increase to normalize such abnormal and dehumanizing conditions, a direct consequence of leaders’ economic and political interests.
Some of us hesitate to abandon technology entirely because technology has been life-saving for many and has the potential to save future generations from even more. For example, in an article highlighting Facebook’s Safety-Check feature, Nigerian journalist Johnstone Kpilaakaa explains that “Sudanese people are using hashtags like ‘#حوجة الخرطوم’ or ‘#Needed_Khartoum’ on X [formerly Twitter] to share and find assistance in the country’s capital of Khartoum, where the fighting is concentrated” due to the ongoing war. Kpilaakaa further explains how Sudanese in the diaspora have created another hashtag, #KeepEyesOnSudan, to share updates about the conflict as well as information on housing options and medical care for people who have been displaced. The diaspora network has also created a fundraiser via a website that curates information people can use for security and aid”. Arguably, we can’t do without technology; at this point in human history it’s indispensable to our lives.
Additionally, Professor Steinberger explained in her study that “technology can help us to consume more efficiently, i.e. to save energy and resources”. From advancements in sustainable technology to seemingly uncomfortable situations where one might reach for their phone to avoid an awkward social interaction, technology has become convenient and comfortably accessible.
But when you hear the phrase leave the world behind, what comes to mind? Dissociation? Maybe detachment? Maybe that example of quickly grabbing your phone. What are you detaching from in particular? Where might this lead you?
The same fears driving industry innovation to reach an unnatural affluence, are also catalysts for burnout and depression. Capitalism tells us our value is only inherent to what we produce. We have no value unless we are constantly working to develop the next meta, or a unicorn trillion dollar corporation that’ll push us into our next global catastrophe. While we hyper-fixate on staying ahead of the game and tech giants champion an Orwellian reliance on their products, we are in fact ignoring the exponential inequalities that exist today and feeding them steroids. Cal Newport, an American computer science professor and founding member of Georgetown University’s Center for Digital Ethics, describes social media companies as, “cynically addicting users to maximize the data they can then extract, package, and sell. From this perspective, the user is merely a pawn in the game of revenue projections and market expectations”. Newport is a global advocate for the increasingly growing digital minimalist movement. He describes the philosophy as “[one] that helps you question what digital communication tools (and behaviors surrounding these tools) add the most value to your life. It is motivated by the belief that intentionally and aggressively clearing away low-value digital noise, and optimizing your use of the tools that really matter, can significantly improve your life.” If you are as invested as I am in digital ethics and liberatory design frameworks, these are some essential concepts to familiarize yourself with as society begins to (hopefully) regulate the tech industry and develop policies to hold the industry accountable.
When I raise the question, should we leave the world behind? I want you to ask yourself, which world in particular should you leave behind, and which world will you build? Which world deserves your attention and radical imagination? The materialistic, white supremacist, capitalist world? Or a new world that may breathe sustainability and liberation for all oppressed people? Could this be a world you have yet to experience? A world you have yet to imagine?
By guest author George Hofstetter (Founder and CEO of GHTech Inc., and student at Columbia University)