If They Control Your Attention, They Control You | Emmy-Winning Journalist Chris Hayes
Here are the top 10 key takeaways from this fascinating conversation between Ryan Holiday and Emmy-winning journalist Chris Hayes about attention, media, and the battle for our minds in the digital age.
1. Attention is the most valuable modern currency
The conversation establishes that attention has become our era's primary form of currency, replacing traditional markers of success. Jake Paul's observation that "the currency isn't being liked, the currency is attention" captures this fundamental shift in how power and influence operate today. This transformation explains why figures like Elon Musk and even the President spend considerable time seeking engagement on social media platforms.
The implications extend far beyond social media metrics. When attention becomes currency, it creates perverse incentives where negative attention can be just as valuable as positive attention. This dynamic has broken down traditional deterrent mechanisms that once governed behavior through shame or social sanction. The old system where embarrassment or criticism would modify behavior no longer functions when controversy itself becomes a path to influence and power.
2. We contain multitudes that algorithms exploit
Hayes emphasizes that humans naturally contain different selves with varying desires and predilections. These different aspects of our personality respond to different stimuli and can be activated by specific forms of technology or content. Algorithms have become sophisticated at identifying and targeting these various selves, particularly gravitating toward what engineers might consider our "true self" - often the lowest common denominator of our desires.
This algorithmic targeting creates a sense of alienation from ourselves. We may find ourselves consuming content that one part of us wants while another part feels disgusted or ashamed. The technology strips away the human editorial judgment that might appeal to our higher aspirations. Instead of content that challenges or elevates us, we're fed an endless stream designed to capture our most basic impulses and keep us scrolling.
3. The individual versus scale problem in communication
A core theme emerges around the difference between private conversation and public broadcast. What might be perfectly acceptable behavior in a dorm room or bar becomes problematic when transmitted to millions of people. This distinction has been eroded by social media platforms that blur the line between intimate conversation and mass communication.
The casualness that makes podcasting and social media appealing is directly in tension with the responsibility required when reaching large audiences. Many creators approach their massive platforms with the same casual attitude they'd have in private, leading to harmful consequences. The medium's informal nature doesn't eliminate the need for the care and precision traditionally associated with mass communication.
4. Competitive attention environments drive degradation
Hayes and Holiday discuss how maximally competitive environments for attention inevitably push content toward the lowest common denominator. Whether in Times Square, a casino, or the early internet's "wild west" period, intense competition for eyeballs consistently produces similar results. Multiple newspapers competing on street corners led to sensationalized headlines, just as competing links on social media platforms do today.
This competitive dynamic affects both consumers and creators. For audiences, it means constant exposure to increasingly extreme content designed to break through the noise. For creators, it transforms their work into a video game where engagement metrics become the primary measure of success. This gamification can desensitize people to the real-world consequences of their content, turning serious topics into mere vehicles for attention.
5. We've created village rumors at scale
The democratization of media has essentially recreated the village rumor system but amplified it to global proportions. While traditional journalism developed ethical frameworks and verification processes over time, the new media landscape often operates without these safeguards. People now have the reach of mass media without accepting any of the associated responsibilities.
This development represents both a loss and a concerning regression. Traditional media, despite its flaws, operated under an ethos that aimed for something beyond pure attention capture. When that framework is abandoned, we're left with the ancient human tendency to spread unverified information, now supercharged by technology. The result is misinformation that can reach millions before anyone has time to verify or correct it.
6. Historical perspective provides essential protection
Both speakers emphasize how understanding historical precedent helps navigate modern challenges. Reading about past moral panics around comic books, radio, and newspapers provides important context for current concerns about social media and digital platforms. This historical grounding prevents us from viewing every new development as unprecedented and helps identify patterns in human behavior.
However, this perspective must be balanced. While some aspects of human nature remain constant across centuries, technological changes can genuinely alter how we relate to each other and organize society. The printing press really did plunge Europe into sectarian violence, even though the underlying human tendency toward tribalism existed long before. Understanding this balance between continuity and change is crucial for responding appropriately to new challenges.
7. The death of public virtue and rise of vice signaling
A concerning trend has emerged where virtue signaling has been replaced by its opposite - vice signaling. Instead of competing to appear more moral or ethical, some groups now compete to demonstrate their transgression of traditional norms. This represents a fundamental shift from earlier eras when even those who disagreed politically generally wanted to be seen as virtuous members of society.
This transformation has broken down important social mechanisms. When breaking norms becomes a way to gain status rather than lose it, traditional forms of social sanction lose their effectiveness. The result is a political environment where behavior that would have been disqualifying in the past now becomes a source of support within certain communities. This dynamic makes it much harder to maintain shared standards of conduct in public life.
8. The erosion of public-private boundaries
The collapse of the distinction between public and private behavior has had profound consequences for social discourse. For thousands of years, human societies maintained spaces for different types of expression - what you might say in private versus what was appropriate for public consumption. Social media and always-on connectivity have largely eliminated these boundaries.
This erosion matters because humans naturally gravitate toward taboo or transgressive behavior as a form of release. Having private outlets for these impulses allowed people to maintain public decorum while still expressing their full range of human nature. When everything becomes public, this natural tendency gets channeled into increasingly extreme public displays. The result is a coarsening of public discourse and the normalization of behavior that was once confined to private spaces.
9. Algorithms remove human editorial judgment
The shift from human curation to algorithmic recommendation represents a fundamental change in how information flows through society. Traditional media involved human beings making editorial decisions about what deserved attention, what would elevate audiences, and what served the public good. Algorithms make these decisions based purely on engagement metrics, removing the aspirational element of human judgment.
This change affects the quality of information and entertainment people consume. Human editors, even when chasing commercial success, typically maintained some aspiration to reach people's "higher selves." They sought to inform, educate, or inspire, even while entertaining. Algorithmic systems have no such aspirations - they simply optimize for whatever keeps people engaged longest, regardless of the long-term consequences for individuals or society.
10. Information diet determines perspective and mental health
The conversation emphasizes the importance of consuming more books and less news for maintaining perspective and mental well-being. News, by definition, focuses on immediate problems and crises rather than solutions or historical context. This creates a distorted worldview where everything seems unprecedented and hopeless. Books, particularly history and philosophy, provide the broader context needed to understand current events.
This principle extends beyond news consumption to all forms of media diet. Constant exposure to algorithmic feeds designed to capture attention can create a kind of cognitive dependence similar to addiction. Taking control of one's information consumption - being "in command of yourself" regarding attention - becomes a crucial skill for maintaining both mental health and clear thinking in the modern world.