The Attention Deficit

Unintended Consequences of Digital Connectivity 
By Swati Bhatt
20th September 2019
£19.99 | $27.99 | 23,99 €
Softcover | 978-3-030-21847-8

New book explores the idea that extensive digital connectedness leads to an attention deficit, resulting in diminished entrepreneurship and creativity
 

With the advent of digital technologies the world has become more connected than ever before; in a fraction of a second a cluster of information can circumvent the globe. But what consequences has such widespread digital connectivity had on both an individual and a societal level? How could being better connected possibly hamper economic gains and entrepreneurship?

In her new book, The Attention Deficit, Swati Bhatt draws on the latest research in economics, psychology and neuroscience to critically examine communication technology and the damaging effects of ubiquitous digital interconnectedness. 

The book presents four unique effects that arise from extensive connectivity. The first effect describes how digital users seek social affirmation and recognition through sharing personal content, but they also simultaneously expose themselves to damaging negative judgment. Users may slip into a cycle where they need social media to restore lost self-esteem. The second effect refers to how the process of exchanging content digitally has developed into commodity with its own market – the commercialization of sharing. 

Consumption of such a bewildering mass of content consumes time and attention – the third effect – which Bhatt describes as causing us to exhaust our finite attention reserve, culminating in cognitive apathy. Finally, the fourth effect – mistrust, fear and diminished risk-taking – dissuades us from engaging in any risky behavior, but also heightens our resistance towards change. The result is a reduction in imaginative, entrepreneurial and innovative activity.

“Cognitive apathy makes people view themselves as less open to changing outcomes, less entrepre-neurial and therefore less risk-taking,” explains Bhatt.

This book fills a void for readers wanting a smart, clear analysis of communications markets and the commercialization of internet-inspired connectivity. 

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Swati Bhatt, Ph.D., is Lecturer of Economics at Princeton University and is affiliated with Princeton’s Center for Information and Technology Policy. Her interests lie in economics of digitization, industrial organization in the tech industry, and finance.
 

For more information or to get in touch with the author please contact:
Rebecca Krahenbuhl – Communications Manager, Palgrave Macmillan
rebecca.krahenbuhl@palgrave.com, +44 020 7014 6634