Who’s Profiting?

When we think about scrolling and unnecessary phone use, we often think about what the scrolling costs us: time that can be spent doing other things, stress or anxiety seeing what others have that we don’t, impulse purchases triggered by targeted ads… But most people don’t consider who is profiting off our phone use.

We currently live in the Attention Economy. This term was coined by Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon in the 1970s. Even before the birth of the internet (1983) or the iPhone (2007), Simon realized that we were moving from a materials based economy to an attention based one. You may have heard the term “Information Economy.” Simon argues that we live in an attention economy instead of an information economy, because information is endless, but attention is finite. The resources that make up an economy must be finite in order to create scarcity, supply, and demand.

So what does the attention economy have to do with your phone use? Attention is becoming more and more valuable. Your clicks and views have a dollar value, and companies and influencers are profiting off of them. Have you ever considered how streaming services offer free or discounted versions of their services that include ads? These services aren’t actually free or discounted. You are just paying for them partly with money, and partly with your attention, a commodity that these companies find just as valuable

So when I find myself on my phone and not quite sure if I should put it down, I try to ask myself, “Who’s Profiting?”

If I’m watching a reel of an influencer advertising a product, who’s profiting?

1. The influencer is profiting off of my views

2. The product company is profiting possibly due to my purchase, but at least by getting it’s name more known

3. I may be profiting, if this is a product that I truly want and need, and by watching this reel I saved myself time spent researching the product, and just trusted the curated pick of this influencer. Or maybe I get utility out of this video because I find it highly entertaining.

Or, maybe this results in an unnecessary purchase on my part, or time wasted when I should’ve been working, or a lack of attention because I was watching this when I should’ve been paying attention to something else. Only I can judge if I am profiting or not in this scenario. The influencer and the company are definitely profiting. 

A very typical outcome is that the phone user profits first, for a few seconds. Maybe they want to check the weather to get dressed, or send a happy birthday text to a friend. The tricky part is not then staying stuck on your phone and letting others profit off of you. So by asking yourself why you’re about to engage your phone, and what you are using it for, it makes it easier to catch yourself a couple of minutes later, if you notice that you’re no longer the one profiting. Or better yet, maybe as soon as you’ve achieved your goal, you can put your phone down.

Remember to always ask: “Who’s profiting?”