In the span of just 15 years, a technological revolution has fundamentally altered what it means to be human for the majority of the global population. An estimated 70% of the world's people now own a smartphone, devices that account for a staggering 95% of all internet access points. On average, individuals spend close to half their waking hours staring at screens, a figure that rises significantly among younger generations in affluent nations.
The Rise of 'Human Fracking'
This unprecedented connectivity has birthed a novel and insidious form of exploitation, dubbed 'human fracking'. Mirroring the extraction of fossil fuels, this process sees digital platforms pump a high-pressure stream of addictive content into our lives to force a valuable slurry of human attention to the surface. This attention is then harvested and sold. The result is a systematic land-grab into human consciousness, treating our minds as unclaimed territory ripe for plunder by the world's largest corporations.
The consequences are profound. Just as environmental fracking causes tectonic instability and pollution, this cognitive extraction despoils our social and mental landscapes. The heedless exploitation of our external environment has pushed planetary survival to the brink; the parallel assault on our inner psychological environment threatens an equally insidious destruction. At stake is our very capacity to care, think, and connect—the core of our humanity commodified into clicks and swipes.
A New Frontier for Resistance
History shows that new forms of exploitation inevitably provoke new forms of resistance. The good news is that a fightback is emerging. What fills the coffers of the planet's six largest corporations is the raw material of our lived experience. This conflict joins a long lineage of struggles between those who reduce people to mere economic value and those who insist on a richer vision of human flourishing.
Regulatory efforts have so far been piecemeal and thwarted by powerful interests. Similarly, seeking pharmaceutical fixes for the damage only further monetises the problem. The solution must be more fundamental: a decisive, collective solidarity. We must say no to the human frackers by insisting that human attention is not a commodity—it is ours. We need a movement dedicated to reclaiming it.
The Birth of Attention Activism
This is not a quixotic dream. Cultural shifts can happen rapidly. The modern environmental movement barely existed in 1950 but was a global force by 1970. Public perception of smoking transformed within two decades. We are now at a similar inflection point regarding our attention. People across the political spectrum, from MAGA Republicans to progressive activists, increasingly agree that something is deeply wrong with a world of endless algorithmic scrolling, where military-grade technology targets children to keep them hooked.
Politicians are beginning to sense the electoral power of this issue. This era—the 'wild west' raid on our hearts and minds—will one day be difficult to explain to future generations. But understanding is growing. A fast-growing coalition, calling itself the Friends of Attention, is advocating for 'attention activism'. This involves building broad coalitions, studying the life-giving powers of the mind, and creating sanctuary spaces to cultivate the kind of focused attention that makes life worth living.
The tools for resistance are already in our hands. Every activity we genuinely care about—love, curiosity, daydreaming, caring for others—exists beyond the reach of the extractive algorithms. True human attention is not screen time; it is the essence of our being.
Just as the Industrial Revolution created the political subject of Homo economicus (valued only for labour), the system of human fracking is turning us all into Homo attentus—attentional subjects. With this new identity comes vulnerability, but also potential power. A new politics is beckoning, one centred on the freedom of attention itself, or 'attensity'. By deploying our truly human attention with new purpose, we can defy the frackers and insist on creating a world fit for human flourishing.
