Meet Madison Avenue. Maddy owns a grocery store.
Anthony pulls up in his minivan. Because Anthony is physically at the store, Maddy can make a few guesses about him. Middle-aged. Has a family. Probably wishes he went to the gym more.
Anthony buys his groceries and leaves the store. We’re done, right?
No, Maddy decides she wants to know her customers better, so she follows him to his van, photographs his license plate, and tails him home.
Maddy starts talking to her corporate friends. It turns out that they have been keeping notes on Anthony too. They tracked where he drove, read his emails, graphed who he was friends with, and even listened in on his most intimate conversations in his home.
Now, the corporate big data goons have put the pieces together into an unbelievably complete picture of Anthony. The goons know what frightens him, excites him, and what makes him angry.
That’s when the creepy part goes to the next level. They stop just watching Anthony. They decide what Anthony gets to see.
They feed him things he likes and bury things he doesn’t. And when they want him angry, they don’t show him the strongest opposing argument. They show him the dumbest one, the most outrageous one, the one most likely to make him think, “Those people are idiots.”
Then they do it again and again. They’re continually figuring out what makes Anthony sit there doomscrolling one minute longer.
Now imagine every store doing this. Every website. Every app. Every screen.
Anthony sees one version of the world. His wife sees another. His kids see another. All tailored by systems learning what makes each of them click, scroll, watch, and stay. All brainwashing them.
If an actual person followed us around, listened to us, studied our weaknesses, and secretly rearranged our world to hold our attention, and even to isolate us, we would find it deeply disturbing. But online, we call it normal.
Maybe it shouldn’t be.
That’s why we’re building the Pay Attention Network.
Technology that respects your privacy. Merchants that serve you without stalking you. Content that isn’t engineered to keep you hooked.
It’s time to stop being the product.
Take back your privacy. Take back your attention.
Join us in building an internet with healthy boundaries.