The Attention-Span Class Divide(theatlantic.com)
theatlantic.com
The Attention-Span Class Divide
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/07/attention-span-class-divide-ballet-opera-movies/687919/
3 comments
https://archive.ph/2qb50
The entire essay can be summarized from these paragraphs..
> Focus, it appears, is a recoverable asset that can be retrieved by shutting out the noise and leaving the casino. And that is much easier for high rollers to do.
> Money offers the ability to buy expensive gadgets such as second, basic phones and “bricks” that can make smartphones temporarily dumb. But it also means access to resources that don’t look like resources at all: stable work, consistent schedules, chunks of leisure time, agency over how to structure your day.
The entire essay can be summarized from these paragraphs..
> Focus, it appears, is a recoverable asset that can be retrieved by shutting out the noise and leaving the casino. And that is much easier for high rollers to do.
> Money offers the ability to buy expensive gadgets such as second, basic phones and “bricks” that can make smartphones temporarily dumb. But it also means access to resources that don’t look like resources at all: stable work, consistent schedules, chunks of leisure time, agency over how to structure your day.
I feel a similar divide forming over personal privacy. A lot of my privacy backbone (proton mail/VPN, a pixel device for Graphene, a disposable phone plan for registering with google play services, hardware for self hosting) is only possible for a certain percentage of society. The rest operate in a world that requires their participation while silently paying with their personal data.
[deleted]
> The entire essay can be summarized from these paragraphs..
i really don't think it can
i really don't think it can
This comment is performance art.
it could also be a status signal, like how a lot of upper class families in the uk used to make a point of buying the smallest tv set and keeping it in a separate room, to show they could afford better ways to spend time and they were above what they saw as low art not good enough for a refined person like them.