The Battle for Your Attention: Why It Matters More Than You Think If you’ve ever found yourself scrolling through social media and suddenly realized an hour has passed, you’ve experienced the power of the attention economy. This is more than managing screen time—it’s about understanding how tech giants are reshaping competition, ethics, and even human behaviour. At the core of this transformation is something technical yet deeply impactful: the definition of the “relevant market.” The Market You Didn’t Know You Were In In competition law and economics, defining the relevant market is essential for assessing monopolies, mergers, and anti-competitive behaviour. It’s where the battle lines are drawn. It determines where power is concentrated and who holds an advantage. Recently, a major tech company put forward a profound perspective: they claimed to operate in an “attention-capture” market rather than one defined by a specific product or service, or functional substitutes. At first glance, this might seem like corporate jargon. However, it’s a strategic move with far-reaching consequences. By framing their market as one where everyone competes for attention, they make their dominance seem less overwhelming. If attention is the currency, then in their view, no single company holds complete control. This raises an important question: Is this just a tactical redefinition, or does it reveal something more profound about how tech companies see us—not just as users but as commodities in a vast marketplace of attention? Attention as the New Currency The reality is that in today’s digital world, your attention is one of the most valuable resources. Tech companies are no longer just selling products or services; they are competing for something far more fundamental—your time, your focus, and your engagement. Social media platforms, gaming platforms, and streaming services all operate on the same principle: the longer you stay, the more they profit. Every moment you spend on their platform translates into ad revenue or microtransaction sales. Their systems are carefully designed to maximize that engagement. The Science Behind the Hook: Dopamine, Instant Gratification, and the Nicotine Parallel A key player in this cycle is dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain associated with pleasure, reward, and habit formation. When you receive a "like," complete a gaming challenge, or unlock a reward, your brain releases dopamine, reinforcing the behavior and encouraging you to seek the same reward again. This creates a powerful feedback loop—one that tech companies have carefully optimized to keep users engaged. Gaming platforms have mastered this mechanism, much like social media does with notifications and infinite scrolls. Features such as streak rewards, loot boxes, and endless progression loops work like a slot machine—each interaction carries the potential for a small, unpredictable reward, triggering dopamine surges that keep users coming back for more. The parallels to nicotine addiction are striking. Just as cigarettes were designed to deliver quick bursts of satisfaction, social media and gaming platforms engineer engagement mechanics to provide rapid, repeated dopamine hits. The anticipation of a notification, a level-up, or a reward crate mirrors the way a smoker craves the next cigarette—not because it's truly satisfying, but because the habit has been hardwired into their brain. And just like nicotine addiction, the long-term effects go beyond compulsion. Over time, the constant stimulation desensitizes the brain's reward system, making real-world activities feel dull by comparison. What starts as entertainment can become a cycle of dependency, where focus, patience, and deep engagement give way to short attention spans, impulsivity, and an ever-growing need for stimulation. The experience feels effortless, but it’s highly engineered—not to empower you, but to ensure you never want to leave. The Costs of an Economy Built on Attention While the attention economy has driven incredible innovation, it also comes with significant challenges that shape how we think, interact, and even define productivity. The impact is profound: 1. Psychological Toll The engaging nature of digital platforms does far more than keeping humans entertained—it’s reshaping our neural pathways. Studies have linked excessive social media and gaming use to increased anxiety, depression, and stress, especially among younger users. The endless loop of seeking validation through likes or winning streaks can leave people feeling less fulfilled rather than more connected. 2. Erosion of Privacy Every click, pause, and scroll is tracked, analyzed, and monetized. This data isn’t just used for targeted advertising—it shapes what we see, how we think, and even how we behave. Gaming platforms, for example, collect behavioral data to optimize engagement strategies, ensuring players return for the next challenge, battle pass, or in-game purchase. Features like streak tracking, dynamic difficulty adjustments, and personalized rewards are all fine-tuned based on player activity, subtly influencing their actions without them even realizing it. Social media operates in much the same way, but with even greater psychological precision. Platforms track every interaction—what you like, how long you hover over a post, what type of content makes you comment or share—and use this information to build an algorithmic profile of your interests, emotions, and vulnerabilities. This determines what content is pushed to your feed, creating a curated reality designed to keep you scrolling. Beyond engagement, this data is leveraged to influence behavior on a broader scale. From personalized ad targeting to political persuasion, social media’s ability to shape beliefs and drive decisions is well-documented. The more you engage, the more refined the system becomes, subtly nudging your opinions, habits, and even emotions in ways you might not consciously recognize. What makes this even more concerning is that most users never truly consent to this pervasive data collection. While privacy policies exist, they are often buried in dense legalese that few read or fully understand. True consent requires transparency and choice—two fundamental principles of constitutional safeguards that are systematically bypassed in the attention economy. Instead of explicit approval, users are subtly coerced into data sharing simply by participating in digital spaces, leaving them exposed to a system where their personal information is continuously exploited without meaningful oversight or recourse. 3. Social Fragmentation When platforms optimize for engagement, controversy and sensationalism often rise to the top. Echo chambers form, misinformation spreads rapidly, and public discourse becomes more polarized than ever. The attention economy doesn’t just curate what we consume—it influences how we perceive the world. 4. Functional Paralysis Perhaps one of the most overlooked effects is how the constant consumption of content affects our ability to think deeply, create, and innovate. The ease of scrolling through endless streams of information, reels of video or immersing oneself in gaming loops discourages deep reflection, fosters groupthink, and promotes a culture of surface-level engagement. The impact is even more pronounced in a society like ours where data shows that a significant portion of internet usage (over half) in Nigeria is spent on social media. When time is primarily devoted to passive consumption rather than active creation, the broader effect is a less productive society. Instead of harnessing technology to build, solve, or create, many are trapped in a cycle of reaction rather than innovation. The argument means much more than individual choices alone. It’s also about the aggregate effect of these choices and the kind of culture we cultivate collectively. Do we want a society driven by fleeting trends, or one that fosters creativity, problem-solving, and depth? The Human Cost of Hyper-Scaled Behaviour What makes this system particularly insidious is how it preys on our deepest social instincts. •The need for validation turns into an addiction to likes. •The desire for connection turns into exhibitionism. •The curiosity about others turns into voyeurism. These platforms have learnt to mimic human behaviour, amplify them and disproportionately distort and scale them for commercial ends. And just as the tobacco industry left a trail of health crises, the attention economy is fuelling a mental health epidemic. Anxiety, depression, and loneliness are skyrocketing, especially among younger citizens who have never known a world without social media. Reclaiming Your Attention The goal isn’t to abandon technology—it’s to use it more intentionally. We can choose to engage with digital platforms on our own terms, rather than allowing them to dictate how we spend our time. We can advocate for transparency in algorithm design, ethical engagement strategies, and greater accountability from tech companies. Just as regulations evolved to address the harms of tobacco, we can shape the future of the attention economy before its downsides become irreversible. The key is awareness, conversation, and deliberate action. The Choice Is Ours The attention economy is here to stay, but how we engage with it is within our control. We can choose to reclaim our time, fostering deeper thinking and meaningful interactions. We can choose to support platforms that prioritize well-being over pure engagement metrics. And we can hold tech companies accountable for their role in shaping modern life. Your attention is powerful. Make sure it’s working for you—not against you. Ikem Isiekwena

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