Beyond “Attention Deficit”: What We Truly Attend To
Dr.Helena fischer – January 11, 2026
We’re saturated with discussions about “attention deficit,” a medicalized framing that often bypasses a far more crucial question: what are we actually choosing to attend to? This isn’t just a philosophical pondering; it’s a critical examination of what shapes our lives, our values, and even our very humanity.
A compelling exploration of this topic recently appeared in a New York Times Guest Essay from the members of Friends of Attention (you can find their work here: https://friendsofattention.org/). This group – a collective of artists, scholars, and activists – is prompting a vital conversation about the nature of attention in the modern world.
Their perspective resonated deeply with me. They eloquently argue: “Does it need to be said? We are not machines. Our lives are not data problems that can be quantitatively optimized. And the actual human ability to attend is something much more expansive and much more lovely than a tool for filtering information or extending our time on task. True attention lies at the heart of personhood: reason, judgment, memory, curiosity, responsibility, the feeling of a summer day, the burying of our dead.All of these require and activate our presence.”
This sentiment strikes a particular chord,especially after recent time spent with family. Conversations with college-age grandchildren centered on where to focus their studies, a question increasingly fraught with anxiety. While many come from backgrounds where a Liberal Arts education was deeply valued, the rising costs of higher education and concerns about a job market perhaps reshaped by AI are weighing heavily on their minds.
The Friends of Attention propose this isn’t a new problem, but one with roots stretching back over a century to the dawn of organizational theory and quantitative thinking. As they explain, “Begun in the 1880s and spanning the long 20th century, quantitative thinking about attention was conceived in a spirit of bold inquiry and undertaken with the goal of civic and medical betterment. The scientists who led the research succeeded in making many human experiences safer and more efficient. They helped to advance innovation and win wars. By using increasingly complex instruments to optimize our capacities, however, they established a powerful paradigm that saw humans as attention-paying machines, paying attention to machines.That model helped give rise to the present era, when most of us spend more than half our waking hours on devices designed to keep us enthralled to the taps and swipes of the attention economy.” (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/opinion/attention-world-war-2-technology-nazis.html?)
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This echoes the historical focus on “attending” found within the Jesuit tradition. St. Ignatius Loyola,founder of the Society of Jesus,famously spent a year in contemplative solitude in a cave in Catalonia in 1522. This period of “attentive contemplation” fostered profound personal change and led to the development of his Spiritual Exercises – meditations on experiences of gratitude, anguish, and all emotions in between. These Exercises are still central to Jesuit training today, cultivating a intentional and focused presence. (https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/opening-our-eyes-to-contemplation/)
The emergence of the Friends of Attention in 2018 feels especially timely, coinciding with the rapid advance of Artificial Intelligence. But who are these “friends”? They define themselves as a “loose, informal network of creative collaborators, colleagues, and actual friends who share an interest in ‘ATTENTION’.” Their goal isn’t membership, but connection and a shared perspective.
They first convened at the 2018 Sao Paulo Biennial, recognizing a need to center “the economies of attention” at the core of our engagement with art, ethics, and power. (https://friendsofattention.org/about/) They advocate for a conscious redirection of our attentional resources.
This brings us back to the conversation with my family and the enduring value of a Liberal Arts education. Despite the pressures of a rapidly changing world, the vital importance of a broad, multidisciplinary approach remains clear, nurturing critical thinking, creativity, and a deeper understanding of the human experience. And, reassuringly, even Artificial Intelligence defines the core elements of a Liberal Arts education as:
Core Areas of Study:
* Humanities: Literature, History, Philosophy, Languages, Art.
* Social Sciences: Psychology, Sociology, Political Science, Economics, Anthropology.
* Natural Sciences: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Environmental Science.
Ultimately,the question isn’t simply can we pay attention,but where we choose to direct that invaluable human capacity.It’s a choice that profoundly shapes not
