Podcast Summary: New Books Network – The Friends of Attention, "Attensity! A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement" (Crown, 2026)

Date: January 20, 2026
Host: Chris Holmes
Guests: Graham Burnett, Alyssa Lowe, Peter Schmidt (The Friends of Attention Collective)

Episode Overview

This episode of "Burned by Books" on the New Books Network centers on Attensity! A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement, authored by the Friends of Attention collective—Graham Burnett, Alyssa Lowe, and Peter Schmidt. Through a wide-ranging and passionate conversation, they explore the extraction and commodification of human attention by technocapitalist forces (dubbed "human fracking"), the individual and collective loss that ensues, and ways to reclaim, protect, and celebrate attention as foundational to our humanity. The episode highlights their activism, the historical roots of attention’s commodification, and practical strategies for audiences to join the movement.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins and Purpose of the Friends of Attention Collective

• Formation and Early Activities
  • The Friends of Attention emerged serendipitously during the 2018 São Paulo Biennial amidst rising concerns about democracy compromised by "attention fracking"—the extraction and commodification of attention through social media (04:13).
  • They began as artists and activists feeling the direct societal and political consequences of such extraction (04:13).
  • "We had to put our heads together and think about the collective political experience of attention." —Graham Burnett [04:55]
• Expansion into Educational & Activist Practice
  • Created the "Attention Lab," facilitating workshops for joint, durational attention across the globe—church basements, public libraries, Brazil, and Spain—responding to public hunger for language and tools (07:04).
  • This evolved into the School of Radical Attention, named after Matthew Strother, extending their community and influence (08:01).

2. Redefining Attention: Beyond Productivity

• Alyssa Lowe’s Expansive Concept
  • Attention is more than attention span or productivity; it is central to our capacity to care for each other and the world (08:56).
  • Common activities—gardening, cooking, reading, spending time with loved ones—are reframed not as distractions but as essential attentional practices (10:14).
  • “It’s at the center of our capacity to care for each other in the world.” —Alyssa Lowe [09:27]

3. The Manifesto Structure: Hypertext & Practice

• The Book’s Unique Format

  • The book unfolds from a one-and-a-half-page manifesto; each chapter expands a manifesto sentence, mimicking a hypertextual, interconnected reading experience (11:26).
  • Reading itself, like listening, is framed as a radical attentional practice (12:33).

• Live Reading of the Manifesto (13:29–16:19)

  • The trio reads the text, declaring “attention activism” as a collective, justice-oriented, study-and-coalition-based movement seeking “sanctuaries” for deep engagement (13:29–16:19).
  • “Attention activism is a fight for justice...” —Peter Schmidt [14:28]
  • “Join us in this heightened and heightening glory, or let us join you.” —Graham Burnett [16:09]

4. Why a Manifesto? Diagnosis, Action, and Solidarity

• A Call to Collective Action
  • The urgency of the “manifesto” genre matches the crisis of our “apocalyptic present”; moving from diagnosis to action requires collective solidarity, not just individual discipline (16:46).
  • “It’s not about getting your shit together. It’s about getting your people together.” —Peter Schmidt [18:43]
  • Attention has been reduced to a mechanical function; reclaiming the human richness of attention is central (19:22).

5. Human Fracking: Historical Roots and Contingency

• Revealing the Constructed Nature of Attentional Extraction
  • The idea that attention is now narrowly defined—and monetized—originates in mid-20th-century military-funded lab studies of “durational vigilance” (watching screens for anti-aircraft warfare) (23:16–27:08).
  • If attention had been researched in other contexts (e.g., mother-infant care, empathic practices), our societal conceptions would be starkly different (25:42).
  • “We’ve ended up with attention that was sliced and diced in these laboratories en route to being priced in our marketplace.” —Graham Burnett [24:53]

6. Overcoming the “Politics of Despair” (Deva Woodley)

• Restoring Agency
  • The collective draws on Deva Woodley’s idea of the “politics of despair”—a malaise where citizens have lost belief in agency (27:08).
  • Organizing around attention and reclaiming “practices of joy” are direct antidotes to despair and isolation (28:01).
  • “What’s hurting us is precisely what can heal us.” —Peter Schmidt [28:35]

7. Sanctuaries of Attention

• Reframing Public and Cultural Spaces
  • Libraries, museums, theaters, and schools are vital spatial sanctuaries for collective attentional practices and refuge from commodification (35:37–37:40).
  • Sanctuaries are not escape but “portals… to imagine and create the world that you want to live in.” —Peter Schmidt [36:10]

8. Embracing Technology—For Humanity’s Sake

• Not Anti-Tech, But Against the Business Model
  • The problem is not technology itself, but the “maximum engagement” business model that turns attention into profit, causing global crises of isolation and mental health (38:27).
  • “Phones are not the problem. Social media is not the problem…. The problem is the business model.” —Graham Burnett [39:16]
  • Historical analogy to steam engines: the harm emerges from unregulated, exploitative models, not from technology as such (42:30).

9. Building a Movement: Coalitions, Identity, and Everyday Practices

• A Movement for All
  • The way forward is coalition, building local communities around shared practices, drawing lessons from the civil rights movement (44:13).
  • Constructing robust, shared language and identity around attention is foundational; even small acts (attending to another, reading, dinner parties) are significant (46:09, 55:05–56:32).
  • “You already have the equipment in your life to be an attention activist.” —Alyssa Lowe [30:02]

10. Practical First Steps to Reclaiming Attention

• Tangible Suggestions for Listeners
  • Give intentional, undivided attention to someone who needs it; after a shared experience (movie, book), avoid immediate phone use—prolong the engagement with real conversation (55:05).
  • Host or attend device-free gatherings; foster explicit discussions and agreements about shared attentional norms (56:25, 56:32).
  • Experiment with “daydreaming” as a legitimate and recuperative form of attention (58:32).
  • “Let that be everybody’s like, attention homework: to find a half an hour to daydream this week.” —Graham Burnett [59:46]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It’s not about getting your shit together. It’s about getting your people together.” —Peter Schmidt [18:43]
• “We’ve ended up with a very thin slice of human attentional capacities with which we’re all obsessed. And what we need is to rewild our attention and remember all the other aspects of our attention that literally make life worth living.” —Graham Burnett [26:31]
• “If there’s a thing you love to do with other people… right now, there’s some guy leaving business school with a PowerPoint deck… proposing to get you and your friends on his platform so that you can be fracked…” —Graham Burnett [31:23]
• “The phones are not the problem. Social media is not the problem. If the phones had been designed by your mom, you would just call home…” —Graham Burnett [38:43]
• “You already have the equipment in your life to be an attention activist.” —Alyssa Lowe [30:02]
• “You’ve made a sanctuary, and it was a pleasure to step into it with you.” —Graham Burnett [63:37]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction to the Crisis & Origins – [01:32–06:13]
• Defining Attention Beyond Productivity – [08:56–10:57]
• The Condensed Manifesto Reading – [13:29–16:19]
• Why a Manifesto? From Diagnosis to Action – [16:46–20:22]
• Human Fracking: Historical Perspective – [23:16–27:08]
• Politics of Despair & Organizing Hope – [27:08–31:02]
• Sanctuaries of Attention Described – [35:37–37:40]
• Tech Paradox: Phones & Business Models – [38:27–43:23]
• Movement-Building & Everyday Resistance – [44:13–49:35]
• Analogies to Environmentalism—& Its Limits – [51:34–54:30]
• Practical First Steps – [55:05–59:51]
• Recommendations – [60:11–62:56]

Book & Film Recommendations (for Further Engagement)

• Reckoning: Black Lives Matter and the Democratic Necessity of Social Movements – Deva Woodley [60:11]
• The Attention Merchants – Tim Wu [60:29]
• Hale County This Morning, This Evening (film) – Romel Ross [60:41]
• Observer (film) – Ian Cheney [61:21]
• The History of Scientific Observation (book) – Eds. Lorraine Daston & Elizabeth Lundbeck [61:43]

Actionable Takeaways

• Practice Joint Attention: Host a device-free dinner, read with friends, watch a film and actually discuss it for an hour after.
• Articulate Values: Discuss openly with friends, families, or colleagues what kind of attention you want to share and protect.
• Create/Support Sanctuaries: Frequent museums, libraries, and other communal spaces that promote deep, collective attention.
• Daydream: Dedicate time each week to unstructured, unfocused thought as a restorative practice.
• Join the Movement: Engage with the Friends of Attention (and similar groups) in workshops, discussions, or by reading the manifesto (Attensity!).

Concluding Note

The episode is an invitation—equal parts diagnosis, scholarship, activism, and practical guidance—to see attention not as a resource to protect individually, but as a shared fabric of social, political, and existential possibility. The Friends of Attention advocate for new forms of togetherness, slow looking, and active reclamation of what it means to live “attentive lives,” centering care, solidarity, and pleasure in everyday acts.

“All our proceeds from this book support our nonprofit work…” —Graham Burnett [63:44]

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