Attention Economics

Attention Economics is a growing field of study that treats the human attention span as a limited resource (see also Herbert Simon). The concept has been getting more and more attention in past few years and MediaShift comments on it today.

Although the immediate applications relate to advertising and marketing, it’s pretty obvious the issue is pertinent for any form of communication, including blogging.

Moreover, it may mean those wishing to communicate the Christian message either in terms of evangelistic endeavours or theology and culture, will have to rethink their assumptions.

Often, we assume that in order to communicative our message more effectively we have to overcome a lack of clear information. Whether it is the “unchurched” concept we find in attractional church growth models or the doctrinal illiteracy at the heart of programmes like Alpha, the assumption is that folks are “ignorant” of the Christian message.

However, attention economics suggests that today, technologically-driven societies don’t face a deficit of information, but a deficit of attention and by extension, a lack of the skills required to assess and evaluate information.

The road ahead may demand that we substitute “information overload” for “ignorance” in our approaches to communication. Perhaps alongside offering more information, we also need to be offering the opportunity for people to process their intellectual “in-tray” and address the “noetic-noise” of contemporary life?

[tags] Evangelism, Attention Economics [/tags]