Hayes' book describes how attention has become a commodity, with social media, websites and news outlets all competing for a limited number of eyeballs.
“Public discourse is now a war of all against all for attention,” Hayes writes.
Given the debate over the future of TikTok and the role Elon Musk and other tech figures are playing in the Trump administration, Hayes' book is a timely guide that's not just about the attention industry that social media is consuming.
He also explains the impact that the fight for attention is having on the consumers themselves, and how public discourse has devolved from the hours-long Lincoln-Douglas debates to personal attacks on X.
Hayes notes how fitting of a messenger he is for exploring this topic, given his role working for a cable news network that's also competing for the finite amount of attention.
“Sirens” is a unique approach to a topic that is on everyone's minds, but avoids feeling like a retread of already mined material on the topic.
Probably the only weak portion is when Hayes explores potential solutions that felt incomplete like “attentional farmers' markets” for people who are tired of their attention being treated by companies like a commodity. Those proposals, however, at least offer hope that the existing attention economy isn't our destiny.
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AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews
Credit: AP
Credit: AP