Commonplace book: reading, abundance, green shoots

Mandy Brown argues that the attention economy is misnamed (HT Sentiers).Reading is the art of attention. What a mess we’ve made of that word. From the earnest effort of a mind reaching for the world to a mindless, exasperated skittering through the slop. The attention economy is misnamed. Our attention is not being harvested but rather suppressed, flattened out, demeaned into submission. We do not attend anything when we doomscroll or binge watch or tap tap tap one notification after another; we abandon—ourselves, our bodies, our kith and kin. Nor do we read when we slip through the stream or flick through the feed. Reading is an awakening of attention, not a deadening of it. ... Maybe there’s a clue in the way we talk of paying attention, rather than giving it. An older form of that verb also means to appease. We pay attention to the angry gods of capitalism in the hope that they will turn their anger elsewhere. ... It is the skill of reading that hones that curiosity, sharpens our…