Emily Saundercock – The Attention Economy

Emily is on her final course in the MET (congratulations Emily!) and took almost as long as I did to make her way through the BAGGAR.BE’sInyerface activity. Like Emily, I could not bring myself to call it a game because of how frustrated I got while trying to get through it. We both gave up the first time and had to come back to it in order to have the right frame of mind. This activity reminds me that we are not under our own control online. There is a simple set of tricks that get our attention and this can have the effect feeling like the internet is sucking the time right out of us. (Harris, 2017) Bad graphic user interface (GUI) is a non intentional version of this time suck.

Emily works with children who have learning disabilities and this is something we share. I feel like she is a caring personality based on her posts. She recognizes the privilege she has in society. I too have felt that same thing as a teacher of students with disabilities and having lived through the summer we have faced this year.  This sense of privilege stems partly from working to make the lives of those who struggle better. The Inyerface activity forced me to face the reality that we all have strengths and weaknesses and sometimes we are the ones that have the disability. I spent well over 30 minutes making my way through the activity. Part of this is age related as my daughter so gleefully pointed out by completing the activity in under 10 minutes, but I couldn’t help but be reminded of how important clarity is for those who struggle to read and write. What may seem like a little hurdle to one person can be insurmountable to others. This activity and Emily’s account of her frustration helped me to see that good GUI is not just efficient but a way to make the world more fair. We need to wrestle back control of our attention especially when it is wasted by poor GUI.

 

Daughter: “Hey Boomer, why is your picture sideways?”

Me: “I give up!”

References

Harris, T. (2017). How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day. Retrieved from:  https://www.ted.com/talks/tristan_harris_the_manipulative_tricks_tech_companies_use_to_capture_your_attention?language=en

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