March 16, 2026

Is it time for a movement to reclaim attention? Discussing Attensity! with the Friends of Attention

Is it time for a movement to reclaim attention? Discussing Attensity! with the Friends of Attention
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Is it time for a movement to reclaim attention? Discussing Attensity! with the Friends of Attention
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In this episode Claire & James speak to D. Graham Burnett, the Henry Charles Lea Professor of History and History of Science at Princeton University and co-editor of Attensity! A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement; and Peter Schmidt, the Program Director of the Strother School of Radical Attention. They form part of the The Friends of Attention; a loose network who share an interest in all things attention.

Their book, Attensity! A Manifesto for the Attention Liberation Movement, argues that a movement of collective resistance is needed to tackle the 'human fracking' of attention.

Strother School of Radical Attention https://www.schoolofattention.org/

The Friends of Attention https://friendsofattention.org/

Attensity! A Manifesto for the Attention Liberation Movement: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/478341/attensity-by-attention-the-friends-of/9780241810965

Other books/resources mentioned this week - so you can start studying, organising, and finding sanctuary:
The Attention Merchants by Tim Wu: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/16591/9781782394853

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/16591/9781802063271

The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource by Chris Hayes: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/16591/9781914484940

Finally, Louis Theroux’s documentary ‘Inside the Manosphere’ on Netflix (paywall) https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81920687 

Can We Have Your Attention? is a podcast exploring the unseen forces that shape what we see, what we buy, and who we become. Hosted by Claire Coady and James Wickham, we dive into the mechanics of the Attention Economy to understand how value is created (and manipulated) in a distracted world.

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