However, attention is not shaped by willpower alone. Modern environments are engineered to pull it: endless feeds, autoplay, alerts, and attention-optimizing advertising models. Hari’s broader work in *Stolen Focus* (2022) argues that distraction is increasingly systemic rather than merely personal, which clarifies why so many people feel their minds are being “spent” without their consent.
Consequently, the quote can be read as both a warning and a diagnosis: if attention is our best asset, then it is also the asset most likely to be targeted, fragmented, and monetized—unless we actively defend it. [...]
