Underpinning all of this is a brutal, invisible war: the war for your attention. The business model of nearly every major media platform is advertising. And the most effective way to sell advertising is to keep users feeling —preferably intensely.
Calm is bad for business. Nuance is bad for engagement. But outrage? Fear? The giddy dopamine hit of a 15-second dance challenge? The voyeuristic thrill of a true-crime documentary? These are the currencies of the modern attention economy. bukkake xxx
There is, however, one genuinely revolutionary development. The passive audience is dead. In its place is the prosumer—a hybrid of producer and consumer. Platforms like TikTok, Twitch, and Discord have collapsed the distance between the creator and the audience. Underpinning all of this is a brutal, invisible