Why attention has become one of the most expensive resources

Attention has become one of the most expensive resources because it is finite, universally competed for, and increasingly scarce relative to the amount of content produced. What was once assumed — that good work would be seen — is now the costliest thing to secure.

The finite, competed resource

Attention does not scale. Each person has a fixed daily amount, and the number of things competing for it grows constantly. As supply stays flat and demand rises, attention becomes expensive — economically and personally — to obtain.

The new currency

This is why so much effort now goes not into making work but into capturing the attention required for work to be encountered. Attention, not production, is the bottleneck, and much of the modern creative economy is organized around acquiring it.

In essence

Attention has become expensive because it is finite while demand for it grows endlessly. It is now the bottleneck — not the ability to make work, but the ability to secure the attention required for work to be encountered.

Related questions

Is this healthy? Largely no. An economy organized around capturing scarce attention distorts what gets seen.

Can good work still find attention? Yes, but no longer automatically. Attention must now be earned or bought, where it once could sometimes be waited for.