Review: The Sirens' Call

Hayes says attention has become a scarce commodity

On CBC Radio's The Current, I heard an interview with Chris Hayes, the author of The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource. He is an American commentator, news anchor, and hosts a weekly podcast on MSNBC.

He gives the perspective of someone who works in the media of how it's so crucial to have the attention of the audience all the time, and how reporters and editors try to sustain that attention through breaking news, a ticker tape running at the bottom of the screen, or the stories they choose to cover.

While a few decades ago TV viewers were pretty much rapt with attention, these days people -- like himself -- are watching television but also scrolling on their phone and watching a video on their laptops.

How did we get this way?

Hayes is a commentator and podcaster

This is what Hayes tries to explain in his book, and believes attention is fast becoming a scarce commodity thanks to technology. Because of smartphones, the internet and social media, our attention spans have become shorter and shorter; conversely there is so much information out there thanks to the internet, we are overwhelmed and can't learn or absorb as much, or there is so much choice, we don't know where to begin and flail. 

He points out the biggest companies in the world are tech firms: Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet (Google's parent company), Meta and Amazon. They are all making money from us -- from monopolising our attention. But it started further back with slot machines, and then video games and now the limitless scroll on our phones.

Meanwhile the media try to grab attention with horrific news like plane crashes, or wars, and if that's not happening then salacious content called clickbait. Yes the media is guilty of trying to get our undivided attention too.

Not only are companies vying for our attention, but we ourselves want attention too, called social attention. Hayes says humans need to interact with each other and explains that prisoners in solitary confinement can't stand being alone

However the other extreme is social media like Facebook is selling users' attention to advertisers. Instead of seeing posts of what their friends are doing, they see a lot of advertisements, and that is a waste of time and energy. But that's how social media monetises our attention and makes a lot of money from it.

The same goes with Google. It became really good at finding information we needed, but now when you search for something, the top four entries are advertisements that are somewhat related to what you were looking for. Hayes cites in 2004, 99 percent of Google's US$3.2 billion in revenue came from advertising.

Then there are people who crave or demand attention and here Hayes apologises in advance for discussing Donald Trump (the book was written before he was elected a second time), and Elon Musk.

Hayes says back in 1858 there was a political debate on slavery by Democratic senator Stephen A Douglas and Republican Abraham Lincoln. They debated seven times in seven towns. The format? The first speaker talked for an hour, then the second one rebutted for 90 minutes and finally the first speaker gave a 30-minute rebuttal.

How did people in the 19th century have the attention to listen to a three-hour debate? Today the presidential TV debate is less than an hour. Hayes adds Trump either avoids debates and when he does, he shows no debating skills and can't even string a proper sentence together. 

Finally towards the end of The Sirens' Call, Hayes explains three negative things that are happening today: trolling, where people behind screens can provoke online; whataboutism, where those being attacked deflect criticism and turn the tables; and conspiracism, which is total disinformation, but appeals to many because they neatly explain things (incorrectly). 

So what can we do to retain our attention? Hayes harks back to the time when we made trips to the video store to rent a movie, we made a commitment to focus on the task at hand. And he gives the example of how vinyl records have made a big comeback, as not only is the sound quality better, but also makes the choice of music for us. 

Other examples are print newspapers, where editors have carefully curated the news according to its importance in terms of length and pictures, and group chats which have zero advertising and people can keep up with others in real time.

Will people actually follow through with his suggestions? Not really. His book has a lot of examples and points, but are already preaching to the choir who are looking for more concrete ways to safeguard and focus our attention. Maybe that's his next book?