Sustained attention exploitation
In 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep, Chapter 4: The Interface of Control, Crary critiques the social media and digital entertainment industries for exploiting people’s attention to generate profit.
Platforms employ recommendation algorithms, push notifications, and infinite scrolling to foster user dependence, turning attention into an exploitable resource and causing constant distraction, anxiety, and cognitive overload.
The time trap of social media
I was very impressed by Mat Collishaw’s installation, The Machine Zone, in the “24/7” exhibition.
Mat Collishaw, The Machine Zone 00-01, 2019
I have gained a deeper understanding of the theoretical background of this work: social media platforms (such as Instagram and TikTok) leverage Skinner’s intermittent reinforcement mechanism to foster user addiction. (Jones, F. N. 1939)
Mat Collishaw, The Machine Zone 00-01, 2019
This work is inspired by the behavioral experiments of American psychologist B.F. Skinner, featuring six mechanical birds operating within a “Skinner box.” The installation serves as a metaphor for how human behavior is manipulated by algorithms on social media platforms.
Beauty is a never-ending experiment in optimization, with social media as its manipulator.
When the exhibition 24/7: The Non-Stop Nature of Modern Life criticized how fragmented information weakens people’s concentration. However, it did not delve into the gendered dimensions of this issue.
For women, social media is not just a matter of information overload but an extension of beauty discipline. Algorithm-driven content—such as the promotion of the “perfect body” and “beauty tutorials”—subtly coerces women into dedicating more time to appearance management, reinforcing a pervasive self-optimization pressure.
This has led me to consider whether I can draw inspiration from The Machine Zone’s metaphor of addiction mechanisms. How might immersive experiences and interactive installations effectively convey how social media stealthily consumes women’s time, making them unwitting participants in this cycle?
Rreference：
Crary, J. (2014). 24/7 : late capitalism and the ends of sleep (Paperback edition.). Verso.
Collishaw, M. (2019, December 6). The Machine Zone. Somerset House. https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/blog/machine-zone
Jones, F. N. (1939). The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis [Review of The Behavior of Organisms: An Experimental Analysis]. The American Journal of Psychology, 52(4), 659–660. American Journal of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.2307/1416495
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