Vote with your attention.
That's Philosophical #39
Have you ever heard of the idea of voting with your money? I’ve thought of how I could use it for other areas in life. And came up with this: we vote for the life we want to have with our attention.
Our decisions also shape a big part of who we are, but they are based on how we think. That’s why, I think, our behavior is almost entirely reliant on our attention.
As Epictetus famously said:
"You become what you give your attention to. If you yourself don't choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will ... and their motives may not be the highest."
A Modern Problem
The majority of our content today comes from algorithms throwing stuff at us. Just around 10 years ago, we had the choice to put on a TV channel we wanted to watch. Now, an AI decides it for you.
The 21st century is the easiest period in human history to fall for lies and be manipulated. At the same time, we have the most choice than we have ever had. We have to be smart about what we consume.
If you are not mindful of your information or entertainment sources, then it’s the same as making your diet choices based on the products that are on your eye level in the supermarket.
These are the products the store wants you to buy, and if you are going to accept that without thinking, then you will fall into the trap of having the same diet choices as everyone else.
It often might be a good thing- like the government pushing healthy products to incentivize people to buy them. But most of the time, the authority only cares about the potential revenue that could be made from an individual. As Epictetus mentioned- the motives of those people who control your thoughts “may not be the highest”. Today, corporations decide what kind of person you will become.
Online, the eye-level supermarket trick takes a new, dangerous turn. If Instagram’s new feature is buried under several clicks, it instantly gets less usage compared to if it had a dedicated button in the app.
Social media corporations build their businesses on ads. They have more data about your behavior or interests than your best friend. They know how to make you spend more time on their apps. And often, the practices they use are not in our best interest.
The Price of Greatness
The things you think about the most shape your life. Now think about what content you look at the most and see where it’s going to take you. Didn’t like the future? You are probably on the wrong path.
A positive mentality mindset helps you to always be optimistic. A negative one will leave you dissatisfied with your life. Whatever is in your head the most, will inevitably dictate the future of your life.
“The price of greatness is responsibility over each of your thoughts.”
- Winston Churchill
The people around you influence who you are, and the information around you is the same. If you are exposed to constant content about your favorite celebrities, then you think of them more. Eventually, you tend to mirror their behavior.
Toxic relationships don’t go anywhere, that’s why we try to keep our distance from toxic people. Treat the content you consume in the same way.
This philosophy is also linked to Stoicism. According to stoicism, you are in control of your own mind, and you control the things that go in and out of it. With the enormous amount of stimuli all around us, it’s essential to be in control of what you let inside your head. I like to use an analogy of a magical garden. Think of your mind as a magical garden full of unique plants and flowers that you water every day. Would you let a total stranger inside and walk on the flowers that you looked after for years? Don’t let the information you consume do that.
How I vote with my attention
My philosophy now is to consume the things that have high barriers to entry, you can’t be different from the mass if you are consuming the same things as everybody.
I deleted most of my social media apps recently. My life feels clearer. I read instead of entertaining myself with endless short-form content. I just think to myself, what would most people do? Probably look at memes. What do I want to do? Learn to read more.
I did this with the fake it till you make it principle. Even though books are an essential part of our society, they are becoming harder and harder to read for me. I decided to lie to myself that I liked reading, so I just kept picking up the book every day until this habit became voluntary. The same happened with audiobooks, now on any transport, instead of ‘wasting’ my time listening to music, I put on a book and listen to an interesting story while looking outside of the bus window. The more I do it, the easier it gets.
I believe that these are the things that most people won’t start. And it might set me apart. The things I want to consume are different, I think differently, and my behavior changes automatically as a result.
If most of the content around is entertainment, then it’s not good news for your brain. We love familiar things. Being used to funny content makes my brain crave more. That’s why I want to break the vicious cycle and try to go out of my comfort zone to consume difficult content that makes my brain familiar with this kind of stuff. Being exposed to different things might rewire my mind.
As writer Elizabeth Azide writes:
“If we see something enough, we'll crave it. If we engage in something enough, we’ll eventually find it hard to see ourselves outside of that thing. You’ll compare yourself to that thing. You’ll feel less than that thing. You’ll crave it, you'll fear it, you'll be inspired or debilitated by it. When it comes to what you engage with, ask yourself this: do the things I give my attention to make me better? Is this thing truly worthy of my ever-depleting attention? We’re at a place in history where controlling the medium has become more and more difficult (notifications and smart devices abound), but we can control the inputs.”
Everybody can understand the trending content on Instagram- the easier it is, the more popular it becomes. But not everybody can understand a philosophy book or sit through a long movie. I am trying to get used to the higher forms of art to eventually enjoy them. Society has degraded to the point where there are no entry barriers to entertainment. I believe that there should be. We have to work, at least a little bit to understand the meaning behind other people’s creations. Difficult art needs time for you to get used to it and enjoy it. That’s the whole point. We, as a society, have to understand that.
Final thoughts
We have to change the norms. AI pitching you content is not the ideal way of getting information, a machine can be incredibly biased, and on top of all, it’s controlled by a giant corporation that doesn’t have the users’ mental well-being in mind.
Normalize being mindful of what you consume. Make the decisions and pay attention to the things that make you fulfilled- yes, even if it’s a cat video.
Consider every view or click a vote towards your future self. Start being mindful of what you vote for. Attention is the most valuable currency, if you invest in it now, it’s going to pay dividends later on in your life.
Attention is a limited resource, it’s essential to be mindful of where it’s going. It’s time to take your information diet seriously. Some time ago, I wrote a piece about how the big tech is trying to exploit our brains’ vulnerabilities to sell more ads. Read it here if you want to understand the modern business of attention.
Save your attention for the stuff you truly care about.
“Where your attention goes, your time goes”
― Idowu Koyenikan
I would love to hear your thoughts on this, do you think our attention shapes the way we live? Or is attention not an important factor? Do you have any related life stories? You can leave a comment below, I answer every single one.
I wanted to thank all the readers who took part in my survey last week. Your responses made my day :) Special thanks to those who shared their stories, that was amazing to read. If you didn’t see this survey yet, here it is!
An issue about how our attention is messed up because of access to entertainment and why we need to step back sometimes to not lose our minds:
My smart son!
Yes loved this post. Takes me to the Law of Attraction and that which is vibrational aligned to our thoughts arrives. Mmmmmm