Everyone seems to be in agreement that this year has been exceptional in terms of attention overloading from all directions–political, commercial, “friends,” and so on. Unfortunately, the forecast is for more, and increasingly effective, attention-getting from technology-aided corporations. We have two words for you: Digital. Detox. And in the New York Times review of Tim Wu’s new book, a compelling set of evidence why those two words matter more and more:

…The history of the slow, steady annexation and exploitation of our consciousness — whether by television commercials, war propaganda or tweets — is the subject of Tim Wu’s new book, “The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads.” He starts with the penny press newspapers of New York City, moves on to the heyday of radio and television, and concludes with the chaotic online bazaar of the present, surely better suited to bugs with eyes all over their heads than to ordinary human beings. En route, he covers snake oil, commercial psychology, Timothy Leary, AOL chat room Gomorrahs. His bandwidth is broad. Continue reading →