The attention economy is built on the commodification of our focus. It’s how social media platforms, video streaming services and online advertising models make money. They are designed to maximize engagement, often by promoting rage bait, which translates to longer screen times and more content consumption.

According to a United Nations' report from 2022, which focused on the attention economy, the global digital sector accounted for approximately 4% of greenhouse gas emissions, rivaling the airline industry. Each click, scroll, and video stream requires data centers to operate—many of which rely on non-renewable energy sources.

Platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram are particularly resource-intensive because they rely on video, the most data-heavy form of content. A single hour of video streaming can emit up to 55 grams of CO2, according to a 2020 report by the International Energy Agency, or IEA. In the U.S. alone, the average person is expected to consume more than seven hours of video daily in 2025. That’s all before the wide adoption of AI, which, according to the World Economic Forum, could contribute an additional 3 to 6 gigatonnes of CO2 to the atmosphere by 2035.

As Chris Hayes, the author of the recent book The Siren’s Call, How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource, notes in his piece in The Atlantic, this feedback loop of endless content consumption creates an addiction to digital media, further exacerbating our viewing habits and their ensuing climate impact.

Distraction Adds to the Difficulty of Collective Action

Beyond its environmental impact, the attention economy poses a more insidious threat to the fight against climate change: it fragments our focus. Climate change work takes sustained planning, attention, and group effort. That becomes challenging when, as Hayes notes, urgent but less important distractions take up our finite mental bandwidth.

Then consider that our attention spans have declined dramatically over the past two decades, a trend that is closely linked to the algorithm-driven content machines that monopolize our time. The algorithms prioritize sensationalism, rage, and novelty over complex, in-depth content, and that directly impacts how much we both know and are motivated to do about climate change. As the New Yorker notes, “The complex twist is that climate change, the thing we really ought to focus on, “evades our attentional faculties.”

Monetization vs. Mobilization

Layer money into this equation, and you can see where the media as the “fourth estate” has broken down. Platforms make a profit off of how long you stay glued to whatever form of media you consume, be it social media or traditional media, which thrives on its own 24-hour emotional-rollercoaster coverage. To get you to stay longer, news networks and algorithms prioritize outrage and polarization. As the UN report notes, the digital economy thrives on division, because emotionally charged content generates more clicks and shares. This phenomenon has fragmented climate discourse into echo chambers, where misinformation and denialism can thrive unchecked.

How do we Break the Cycle?

While it's a difficult battle to fight, the time seems right to reconsider both our media consumption habits and our engagement with the digital platforms that shape them. Hayes suggests that one solution lies in creating "attention sanctuaries"—spaces, both digital and physical, where people can engage with complex issues without distraction. These sanctuaries could take the form of long-form journalism platforms, dedicated climate forums, or even community gatherings (including Climatebase’s live events!).

Regulation is another path forward, though it's increasingly difficult in this fractioned environment. Governments and international bodies are only now waking up to the importance of holding tech companies accountable for their environmental impact and their role in fostering distraction. Policies that incentivize sustainable digital practices, such as transitioning data centers to renewable energy, could significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the attention economy. Similarly, algorithmic transparency and reforms could help prioritize substantive content over sensationalist noise.

Education also plays a vital role. By teaching media literacy, science-backed climate change theory, and critical thinking skills, we can empower consumers to navigate the digital landscape more consciously. Schools, workplaces, and community organizations could adopt programs aimed at fostering sustained attention and civic engagement. Since the globe recently hit a record high, well beyond the 1.5-degree C limit that was agreed to in the Paris accords, climate issues are more top of mind for people around the world. It just so happens that a 2024 study showed that heat events tend to draw attention to climate change, while waves of cold tend to drive discussions of weather, so now may be the perfect time.

We can also strive to leverage the attention economy for good, too. Viral campaigns, if designed thoughtfully, can mobilize people to do good. An example of this is Greta Thunberg’s Fridays For Future, in 2018. which melded digital activism with real-world action. While the media landscape has evolved since then, it serves as an example of how we can leverage the attention economy to affect lasting change.

New Jobs & Employers

Check out some of the latest featured jobs below. If you don't see anything that speaks to you, you can always go to Climatebase to explore thousands of other opportunities.

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