http://www.unemployednegativity.com/2014/11/paying-attention-in-age-of-distraction.html
“Citton’s ecology of attention is constructed around a broader set of concerns regarding activity and passivity in attention. As Citton argues the question is how to make attention not how to pay it. How to construct the possible conditions that make our attention our activity rather than the passive construction of the effects of others? The question is ultimately more spinozist, it is a question of constructing common notions against the singular points of wonder and fascination. As Citton argues, work, entertainment, and social life converge in a state of constant semi-attentiveness. Updates and alerts define our work life, social life, and define what remains of politics. Transforming this constant distraction requires the cultivation of new habits and the transformative use of the existing technologies of attention.
Citton is right to suggest that new practices of attention, of thought and action, are the necessary condition for different politics and ethics. However, there is a bit of an overlap between such an ecology of attentions and other “ecological” oriented projects that seek to disconnect and transform our relation to time, technology, and social relations, without directly transforming capital or the state. I am thinking of various forms of local food movements and even slow food. Such projects are necessary but risk being, at best, rearguard actions, defending in retreat, or, at worst, lifestyle choices. Just as the very transformation of attention is an effect of the the transformation of work, consumption, and the media, its revolution, or ecological salvation, will necessarily transform those structures as well.”