Attention as public infrastructure

We often talk about attention as if it belongs only to the individual. Be disciplined. Turn off notifications. Focus better.

That advice is not wrong, but it is incomplete. Attention is also designed by feeds, incentives, meetings, metrics, interfaces, and workplace norms.

One person's notification becomes another person's interruption. One team's unclear process becomes another team's context switching. One platform's engagement model becomes a public environment.

AI will increase the amount of generated information around us. More summaries, more drafts, more messages, more recommendations, more things asking to be read.

The overlooked question is not whether people can personally focus harder. It is whether we can design environments that deserve attention and protect it.

In the new information climate, quiet may become infrastructure.