Your attention is the hottest commodity

I was 22, staring at a blank wall. Not meditating. Just sitting there like an idiot.

And then it hit me: my attention is putting money into someone else's pocket.

I was the guy who agonized over spending a rupee. But I was bleeding out in another currency the whole time. Every scroll, every autoplay, every "just one more video" — someone was cashing out. The creator got paid. The marketer got his impression. The platform got its cut. I got dopamine and a vague sense of productivity.

Great trade, or is it?

I'm doing it to you right now, by the way.

I wrote this. You clicked it. I got the impression. Don't think I'm above the system. I'm just pointing at it.

Most content isn't evil. You're just consuming it wrong.

By this time, you might be thinking we are in some kind of dystopian reality where you are always being leeched off of. But that's not the case. Watching a 30-second clip about something that fascinates you isn't the problem. Watching it and immediately jumping to the next thing is.

If something interests you, go find the slow/boring version of it. The research paper. The three-hour lecture. The part where you actually have to think. If you like art, make art and showcase it. The irony? When you become a creator, you stop just spending attention, you start earning it from someone else.

Does that feel like a real currency now?

The 20-years-ago test.

What's "boring" today was just Tuesday in 2005. Reading for two hours. Watching a full film without checking your phone. Sitting with one idea long enough to actually form an opinion about it.

We didn't get busier. We got impatient. There's a difference.

Give it another 20 years. Parents will be telling their kids to sit down and watch a 2-hour movie. Kids will act like they've been asked to read a textbook.

So what do you actually do?

One thing. When something catches your interest, follow it somewhere slow. A book. A paper. An attempt to make something. Not for productivity. Just to find out if the interest was real or if you were just reacting to a well-edited video.

And yes, it'll feel slow/boring. That's the point. Boring means your brain isn't being handed everything on a platter. It means you're doing the actual work.

• “slow” = effortful, focused, deep work
• “boring” = low dopamine, high payoff

Attention is currency. You're spending it either way. The only question is, on whose terms?