Introspection In The Attention Economy

Russ Roberts: Yeah. It's not a big deal. As long as the space is there. I was thinking more about the attention, the quality of attention and the constraints of it, to do two or three things at once. I look at the human side of it when I travel now. And everybody is paying attention to their phone. They are looking down at their smartphone. They are not engaging with the other people--which is fine, because most people don't chitchat with strangers on the Metro or on airplane flights. But people are immersed in their toy. And what they are not paying attention to besides the people around them, is, I suspect, the person inside them. Introspection seems to have taken a dive in the smartphone age. What do you think? 

Esther Dyson: Yes. I mean I'm not sure how much introspection was happening necessarily. It might have been just random daydreaming...

- Econtalk interview with Esther Dyson author of Rise of Attention Economy