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WE live in a world where our attention is the most valuable commodity. I use the term ‘commodity’ deliberately — Big Tech corporations have commoditised our focus. The business model of social media revolves around one principle: engagement. Algorithms meticulously designed to maximise clicks, views, and shares prioritise novelty over depth and emotion over reason. Research reveals that content with emotional words gets 20 per cent more engagement. The result? A world hooked on endless streams of superficial content.
Nowhere is this more disturbing than in the face of severe crises. The tragedy in Gaza — a genocide in all but name — is drowned out by viral videos and fleeting headlines. Instead of becoming a catalyst for change, outrage is reduced to a passing phase. Tristan Harris, president of the Centre for Humane Technology, has warned about the ‘attention economy’ which exploits the vulnerabilities of human psychology. Social media platforms warp our collective psyche, dull our empathy, and reduce our ability to focus on urgent global issues.
Originally, social media aimed to connect people and support businesses. Fairly, it has. But there is a harsh reality: the race for attention has downgraded our ability to confront injustices, from global crises to local challenges. The commodification of attention by tech giants like Meta, Google, and Apple has created a business model that perpetuates distractions while deepening desensitisation. These companies generate revenue by predicting and influencing user behaviour, selling certainty to advertisers. As they say, “social media companies don’t sell software; they sell influence”.
Zooming into Pakistan, the situation becomes even more troubling. Sham elections, human rights violations, political polarisation, and fake news dominate. The algorithms designed to boost engagement in one way, promote outrage and emotions, and deepen divisions.
People must be made aware of what’s happening behind the screen.
Social media, once a tool for connection, has devolved into a battlefield where measured voices struggle to gain traction in a space driven by likes and shares. For the youth, social media has become a blind spot. Their aspirations — handsome salaries, beautiful homes, etc — are shaped by curated reels and filtered realities. The effect is that they lose focus on what matters. Social media distracts us and has also taken the steering wheel of decision-making. It has trapped most of us in a loop of hopelessness and heedlessness.
To build a better future, we must reassess the role of social media in our lives and its effect on our well-being. Now is the time to question how much access it has to our thoughts and behaviour. The only way forward is the collective solution. Strong regulations in the form of international treaties are essential. While this might seem daunting, agreements like the Paris Climate Accord show that global cooperation is possible.
Legal experts have long argued for regional treaties, where regional players negotiate better consumer protections and hold tech companies accountable for the social and economic harms caused in these regions. The ‘right to know’ framework can help regulate tech companies to open up about how their algorithms operate, what data they collect, and how they monetise user behaviour. More transparency would enable individuals and policymakers to take more informed steps on the growing influence of Big Tech.
Additionally, existing antitrust frameworks were not designed to address the influence and monopoly of attention brokers like Facebook and Google. This legal blind spot leads to unchecked market dominance, less competition, and fewer options for users on how their attention is monetised. Attention is a finite resource, and its legal recognition can drive powerful yet meaningful regulatory change, compelling social media platforms that the design of these platforms aligns with societal well-being rather than mere profit. Individually, we must become more mindful of how we consume content. Educators, policymakers, and civil society should work together to ensure people understand what’s happening behind the screen.
In this technopolar world, Big Tech is more than just a corporate player; it shapes international relations and personal lives. The more our attention becomes a commodity, the less we connect with others. As a result, people are more distracted, making it harder to focus on real global and local issues. We must decide whether to remain passive participants in this economy or actively reshape its role. As history shows, collective action and cooperation are not impossible — they are essential.
The choice is ours: Will we reclaim our attention or let it slip away in the endless scroll?
The writer is a lawyer based in Islamabad.
Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2025
