What's The True Price We Pay For Our Attention In 2024?

In a blink of an eye, the girl hared off across the carpark. It was a father's worst nightmare, if only he knew. This week's editorial asks whether we are caring about the right things, right now.

Earlier this week I pulled up at the Riccarton council centre to drop off two packages for delivery to my sister in the big smoke of Auckland. On returning to my bike, I saw a tall man saunter past with his head down. He was consumed by whatever it was he was looking at. But he wasn’t alone. A small girl with curly hair followed him. As they crossed the carpark, in a blink of an eye she hared off away from him into the path of an approaching vehicle. He was oblivious to the potential danger she was in. The vehicle paused. He looked around. His eyes searching for her. She was lurking behind a vehicle out of sight. But she was unharmed. I let him know where she was and he collected her, thanked me, before disappearing into a vehicle.

The experience taught me to ask are we caring about the right things, right now. Are we distracting ourselves from what really matters right under our nose. In particular the children in our lives. In this man’s case, he was inattentive for a few seconds and that was enough to engineer a potential tragedy. It also makes me wonder where out attention is going in this era of the attention economy. It used to be bums on seats that mattered; now it’s eyes on content on mobile phones, a veritable trap or rabbit hole of opinion and entertainment and rubbish.

I don’t know whether he was reading a text message or watching a video on his phone. What matters is that she had gone without a word and he was none the wiser. None of this is to say I’m better than him. Not at all. There was no malintent on his part. But the fright he had when what mattered to him had evaporated probably, I hope, made him more aware of what really matters that is right in front of us if we remember to look up.

What are your thoughts and feelings about the attention economy? Let us know. Leave them in the comments section.

Ed.