9 seconds
9 seconds is the attention span of a millennial human, the generation that lives in the space-time of notifications and screens.1 A pinch of time that the AI-powered computers of the Alphabet corporation calculated, thanks to their interpolations and the considerable amount of data they stole—legally, as the law had no provisions against it—from every single one of us.
I remember that time, not so long ago however, when the arrival of Google was magical. Just imagine, Google offered loads of free things that worked. It was incredible. The dream of the internet pioneers. Pure exchange, for the benefit of all. But mostly for their own benefit. Google is very rich; I am still no richer.
We could have guessed it. Nothing in this world is free. And if it is offered, it means the other party is benefiting from it. More than you. An elementary principle of trading. But who among us, in the 2010s, could predict the current times? I still remember, when, armed with my first "smartphone" that barely knew how to send an email, but which had a beautiful, large screen and an incredible 3G connection, my doubts about the usefulness of apps. Why on earth create something that we don't actually need?
That was the whole point: to create the necessary conditions for a craving, by inventing a digital universe from scratch, a new living environment for our brains, incapable of staying quietly in a room to meditate or read peacefully.
In short, digital addiction was born.
And today, some greying geeks have understood. Notifications are turned off, messaging apps shut down, social media accounts deleted or put to sleep for the less courageous. There is even a return to keypad phones for the most convinced. A new windfall for the digital business, which now sells you privacy, sovereignty or, as on certain tin cans, the family dimension of the business.
But the most annoying thing about these 9 seconds of attention is the levelling of critical thinking, the dilution of the notion of freedom in the digital illusion. These 9 seconds of attention allow for mass manipulation, the polarisation of debates and therefore of society, the arrival of a Trump in power. It is the era of belief in the augmented man, the end of climate hopes and the return to reality for libertarian utopians.
The hope of a common future, of shared joy and the serenity of families is fading. The only question that preoccupies me today: are we capable of turning back? Can we collectively decide on a "move slow and fix things" before things have gone too far?
A concept developed in the book by the Frenchman Bruno Patino, The Goldfish Civilisation (untranslated).↩