Technological and economic changes have increased pressure on human attention over the past 15 years. Attention activism responds through three pillars: study, organizing, and sanctuary. Study involves exploring what collective attention is, what it can become, and raising awareness of forces that threaten it. Organizing builds coalitions grounded in protecting attention. Sanctuary involves creating and nurturing spaces where collective attention can be practiced and protected. Therapists participate by studying their own attention, advocating and organizing for client well-being, and serving as stewards of an attention sanctuary during therapy. Therapeutic attention supports joint attention through shared time and copresence, but extractive attention industries can overwhelm individual efforts, requiring broader collaborative commitments.
"Technological and economic changes have, in the last 15 years, placed our attention under unprecedented strain. The good news is that people are banding together in new ways to protect and support human attention through collective action and solidarity. This emerging movement is called "Attention Activism." Attention activism rests on three pillars: study, the open exploration of what collective attention is and can be (and consciousness-raising of the forces that threaten it); organizing, building coalitions on the common ground of protecting our attention; and sanctuary, the curation and cultivation of spaces where collective attention can be practiced, protected, and nurtured."
"Therapists are attention activists. We study our own attention in school and supervision; we advocate and organize for client well-being through our care and attention; and, in the course of our therapeutic engagements, we are stewards of a unique kind of attention sanctuary for our clients. But while therapeutic attention is a powerful form of joint attention, it struggles in a landscape ravaged by extractive attention industries-the "human fracking" business model of big tech. Therapeutic attention alone may not be sufficient to help ourselves or our clients navigate this new world. More active and collaborative commitments are needed."
"Therapy is itself an attention sanctuary, fostering rich joint attention through shared time and copresence. In therapy, attention is not only directed inward or managed privately; it is co-regulated and practiced together. This makes therapy a protected space where collective attention can be nurtured rather than extracted, and where people can experience sustained presence that supports healing and connection."
#attention-economy #attention-activism #therapy-and-mental-health #joint-attention #sanctuary-spaces
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