Amusing Ourselves to Death in the Attention Economy

Recently at the gas station, I was filling up my tank as a beautiful woman appeared on the high-definition screen placed on the pump. She told me when I’m feeling stressed out and overwhelmed, I need to repeat to myself a few times the phrase everything is figureoutable and then I’d be okay. My brain, she explained, would learn not to become stressed out.

First off, this advice falls flat. Not everything is figureoutable. Part of being a mature adult is coming to terms with the uncertainty of life. Every single third-wave clinical psychology therapy — from CBT to ACT to DBT to MBSR — holds in common the importance of learning to release from needing to figure out and control everything.

Second off, in addition to the bizarre and toxic positivity, why on earth do I need someone giving me so-called wellness advice while I’m pumping gas? This question answered itself with the next video on the screen: an advertisement highlighting two for six dollar whoppers at the Burger King.

It seems that no public space is safe from attention economics, a term that is shorthand for marketers and advertisers trying to monetize every bit of open space in our lives. I found the entire episode at the gas station absurd. That I can’t even pump gas without being hocked something. That the first thing I was hocked was utter…