The concept of the ‘attention economy’ can be traced back to the 1971 publication of an academic paper that was largely organisational and technical in scope. It later became one of the most influential foundational references for an idea that today defines and guides vast industries.
One of the paper’s most prominent authors was Herbert Simon, the American economist and psychologist who later won a Nobel Prize. He was among the first to recognise the implications of the computer revolution. Technological progress was making information more accessible. The rapid spread of magazines and academic journals circulated knowledge, while the media reached broader global audiences, accelerating the flow of information.
A trickle became a flood. The problem was no longer a lack of information, but a limited capacity to absorb and keep pace with it. Sure enough, attention soon became a scarce resource. Simon examined how institutions might allocate work teams' attention in a disciplined, intelligent way to preserve this valuable resource and improve productivity.
Excess information can lead to distraction, he said, scattering people’s focus rather than supporting it. “In an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else. A dearth of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients.” With that, he helped recognise the challenge facing modern societies—the real contest is for attention, not for information.
New media landscape
The 1990s saw the rise of the internet, which put the concept of an ‘attention economy’ back in focus. Michael H. Goldhaber, a former theoretical physicist, became a leading voice in the debate as he addressed the changes driven by the World Wide Web and the new media landscape. In a December 1997 Wired article, he predicted that the internet would change advertising and argued that attention would become the most valuable currency. He warned that competition for attention would intensify. Those able to command attention would gain access to vast global audiences, he explained.
A teenage girl uses her mobile phone in her dark room.
Almost three decades later, time has shown him to be right. Screen use has risen sharply among children, adults, and older people alike. We are constantly immersed in the flow of information, and our attention remains a limited biological resource that cannot be stretched indefinitely. Today’s questions are just as profound and increasingly urgent. How is the human mind shaped by this overwhelming torrent of information? Is there any link between this and overall intelligence?
On 2 December 2024, Oxford University Press chose ‘brainrot’ as its Word of the Year. It describes a decline in mental well-being linked to the excessive consumption of low-quality digital content that offers little real value. The term garnered scientific interest, including among Arab researchers, who reviewed studies published between 2023-24 to examine the drivers, assessing how patterns of digital use—including social media, gaming, and aimless browsing—affect concentration and memory.
The review linked brainrot to troubling psychological and cognitive effects, including emotional numbness, negative self-image, and cognitive fatigue driven by overstimulation. It also found that endless scrolling through negative content and mindless browsing patterns were connected to higher levels of anxiety and depression, as well as weaker executive functions—including planning, working memory support, and balanced decision-making.
Understanding becomes harder when the brain is overloaded, and both the level and effectiveness of learning decline
Addictive patterns
Research suggests that social media platforms rely on rapid reward mechanisms, such as likes and notifications, that trigger dopamine release linked to pleasure. This encourages the brain to seek more content and extends the time spent on these platforms. Over time, it can develop into addictive patterns, which are widely seen as a leading contributor to brainrot.
In recent days, a court in New Mexico found Meta (the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) liable for the way in which platforms endanger children, while a jury in Los Angeles found in favour of a 20-year-old woman who sued Meta and YouTube (owned by Google) over her childhood addiction to social media. In the latter, the court found that the two companies intentionally built addictive social media platforms that harmed the woman's mental health, awarding her millions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages. Other cases are before the courts.
The dense flow of information that we are exposed to nowadays increases what is known as 'cognitive load'. Processing becomes less efficient when the brain receives more material than it can handle over a short period. Working memory—a limited capacity system that temporarily holds information to support tasks such as comprehension, planning, calculation, and decision-making—is among the most affected. When it is strained by overload, understanding becomes harder, and both the level and effectiveness of learning decline.
Memory processing
The impact of cognitive load extends to long-term memory, which is closely tied to working memory. While working memory has limited capacity, long-term memory is an almost limitless store of knowledge and skills that can be retained for years. What ends up stored, and how well it is retained, depends heavily on how information is first processed in working memory. One study explored this link. Involving 86 participants, it examines how the depth and strength of working memory processing shape consolidation and later retrieval.
Published in Communications Psychology in August 2025, it was conducted in three stages. In the encoding stage, participants viewed images of familiar objects in different screen positions and were asked to memorise each object and its location. This was followed by a working memory stage, in which they completed tasks of varying difficulty that directed attention towards certain items. They were tested on those items, while others were not tested, allowing the researchers to control the level of processing and attention. Finally, participants were asked to recall the objects' locations using long-term memory.
The results showed that items receiving focused attention and those tested in working memory were recalled most accurately. This suggests that stronger processing, and even testing on its own, can reinforce the consolidation of information in long-term memory.
The findings point to a direct link between the quality of working memory processing and the strength of long-term storage and retrieval, but the issue is not confined to weakening memory. Excessive screen time can have deeper, more serious consequences, particularly for generations that think it offers advantage to keeping pace with technology, even as it may carry long-term psychological costs.
Impact on the brain
Located in the brain's cortex and deep nuclei, grey matter is a core component of the central nervous system, and contains most of the neurons responsible for processing information, memory, movement, speech, and emotional regulation. Its volume is often used as an indicator of the efficiency of several mental capacities, and research suggests that prolonged screen exposure can have a negative effect on this neural tissue.
A long-term study spanning nearly two decades followed 599 adults, averaging 30 years of age at enrolment. Researchers assessed their TV viewing habits at regular intervals. When they were around 50 years old, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to measure their grey matter volume. It revealed a clear inverse association between viewing time and overall grey matter volume. The greater their television exposure, the lower their total grey matter volume.
A scientific review also supported these findings, suggesting that excessive screen time may influence brain development, particularly among children and adolescents. It associated heavy screen use with a higher risk of cognitive, behavioural, and emotional disorders, and with changes in grey and white matter that could raise the likelihood of dementia later in life. The authors further suggested that dementia could become even more prevalent than envisaged in existing projections.
Ni Wang (14) and Iris Tolson (15) use their phones before the ban comes into effect in Sydney, on 22 November 2025.
Storing up problems
Public health estimates largely reflect generations born before 1950, who did not grow up with modern digital technology during critical stages of brain development. By contrast, those born after 1980 experienced a rapid technological boom and intensive screen exposure from early childhood. The researchers warned that a broader spread of dementia among heavy screen-using generations could do economic harm, disrupt social life, and overburden healthcare systems.
The potential impact may extend to intelligence. General intelligence comprises two broad forms: fluid intelligence and crystallised intelligence. Fluid intelligence is the capacity to think abstractly, reason logically, and solve novel problems without relying on prior knowledge. It underpins innovation and creativity but tends to decline with age. Crystallised intelligence, by contrast, draws on knowledge and experience accumulated over time and often strengthens with age, such as recalling historical facts or applying a skill learned earlier.
A study examined the effects of excessive screen exposure on intelligence, attention, and academic performance among 305 male and female students aged around 20. Participants averaged daily screen time of 7.1 hours. Published in Cureus: Journal of Medical Science in February 2025, it found that excessive screen use was associated with a marked decline in fluid intelligence, which contributed to a drop in overall intelligence, while crystallised intelligence remained relatively stable. Attention levels and academic performance also fell.
Ability to focus
Attention can therefore be understood as a limited biological resource, one that can be spent, much like currency. Our era is one of unprecedented information flow. This encourages shallow attention and rapid responses to short and intense stimuli, rather than deep, sustained focus.
Habitual exposure to brief fast-moving videos reinforces this pattern, as the brain adapts to constant shifts between prompts. Over time, this could weaken the ability to concentrate for long periods on tasks that demand continuous mental effort, including in-depth reading. This helps explain why short videos have become one of the most compelling forms of content for contemporary audiences who have adapted to a faster pace and bite-sized tasks. Inevitably, advertising has followed.
This pattern can exact a cost in daily life, as declines in focus and attention become more apparent. In some groups, it can even affect intelligence due to prolonged screen time. In that sense, the world is increasingly shaped by the logic of the attention economy. The battle for our most precious resource has never been fiercer or of more consequence.
