In the introduction to, "The Attentional Commons", political philosopher Matthew Crawford contends that the demand for a person’s attention has both personal and societal implications. In fact, he proposes that they warrant treating attention as a shared resource, just as we do with air or water. Furthermore, Doctor Crawford points out that factors such as motion, beauty, novelty, and sound elicit responses that preempt paying attention to other things, thereby limiting opportunities for socialization and “our ability to notice and register novel things” (p 14). In contrast, the absence of stimuli focusing our attention enhances the environment for creativity and innovation, concentrates wealth to those who can afford to pay for these environments.
