The Attention Economy: A Web Designer's Perspective
As a custom web designer, I often find myself questioning the true impact of prolonged exposure to screens. I'm not just referring to the classic "how bad it is for you" debate—a topic we will thoroughly cover on this blog when I finally let my mother write a guest post. People talk a lot about the effects, usually proposing solutions along the lines of "just use it less" (thanks, mom!). But very few look at the root causes: how much is my attention actually worth, and why are tech companies fiercely competing to capture as much of it as possible, for as long as possible? More importantly: is it possible to imagine a better, more ethical use of our attention on their part?
Tristan Harris and the "Time Well Spent" Movement
An attempt to answer these questions was made during a highly discussed TED Talk, released with a very telling title: "How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day" (gif reaction).
The speaker is Tristan Harris, a former Google Design Ethicist. Today, he is deeply involved with his "Time Well Spent" movement in a unique awareness mission aimed at web giants. His philosophy can be summarized like this: if Google and Facebook absolutely must manipulate my mind and exploit my attention, they should at least do it for my own good, and with my full awareness.
Because if you think about it, there is no longer anything conscious about scrolling through a news feed, clicking a digital advertisement, or watching a "recommended" video.
The Dark Algorithms of Content Providers
It is the content provider who decides, through obscure algorithms, exactly what to show you in order to maximize your attention (and their profit).
So, what do we do? Harris hopes for nothing less than the dawn of a new Enlightenment—one that wakes us from the slumber of this digital Middle Ages by giving us full awareness of our own "persuadability." This is because there is no turning back: the forces governing this digital game will only become more and more persuasive. Therefore, we must find new user-centric web design models that exploit our attention in an ethical and constructive (yet still profitable) way.
"The only form of ethical persuasion that exists is when the goals of the persuader are aligned with those of the persuaded."
– Tristan Harris
A Renaissance in Ethical App Development and Web Design
All of this necessarily materializes in a new Design Renaissance (Harris is great, but the historical consistency of his metaphors leaves a bit to be desired), which guides us in choosing digital paths that we genuinely desire and/or that are actually useful to us. This is not just a conceptual approach, but a highly technical one, simultaneously involving ethical UX design, UI design, and custom app development. For those curious, all the guidelines are available on the Time Well Spent website.
These are lessons that, in our own small way, we actively apply to our daily work at the agency: being honest, avoiding "dark patterns" or tricks that undermine user trust, and always aiming for what is genuinely best for them. Surprisingly enough, what is best for the user consistently coincides with what is best for our client's business goals.
The important thing—and it's really fitting to say it here—is to pay close attention.
