tech
January 18, 2026
How can we defend ourselves from the new plague of ‘human fracking’?
Big tech treats our attention like a resource to be mercilessly extracted. The fightback begins here
TL;DR
- Nearly 70% of the world's population owns a smartphone, which constitutes 95% of internet access points.
- People spend close to half their waking hours looking at screens, with young people in wealthy nations spending even more time.
- "Human fracking" is a new method of extracting money by pumping addictive content to capture human attention.
- This exploitation of the inner environment (psyche) parallels the heedless exploitation of the external environment, jeopardizing human survival.
- Human attention is defined as the ability to care, think, and dedicate time and senses to oneself, the world, and others.
- Novel forms of exploitation lead to novel forms of resistance, similar to historical struggles against exploitative systems.
- Regulatory efforts are insufficient, and psychopharmacological fixes monetize the problem rather than solve it.
- A movement is needed to reclaim human attention and insist that it belongs to people, to be used for creating desired worlds.
- Historical movements like the environmental movement and the anti-smoking campaign demonstrate that significant change can happen rapidly.
- There are signs of an inflection point, with people across the political spectrum agreeing that something is wrong with excessive social media use.
- Politicians are recognizing this issue as one that resonates with the electorate.
- "Attention activism" involves forming coalitions, practicing study to cultivate mind and senses, and promoting sanctuary spaces.
- The movement claims individuals already have the tools to resist, as true human attention involves love, curiosity, and care, not just screen time.
- The new system of human fracking is creating "Homo attentus," an attentional subject, vulnerable but also capable of a new form of politics.
- The goal is a "movement for the true freedom of attention itself, what we call attensity."
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