Mental Integrity in the Attention Economy: in Search of the Right to Attention

Abstract

Is it wrong to distract? Is it wrong to direct others’ attention in ways they otherwisewould not choose? If so, what are the grounds of this wrong – and, in expoundingthem, do we have to at once condemn large chunks of contemporary digital commerce(also known as the attention economy)?In what follows, I attempt to cast light on these questions.Specifically, I argue – following the pioneering work of Jasper Tran and AnujPuri – that there is a right to attention, and that its existence underlies some ofour claims regarding the wrongness of distractions. However, I depart from both theseauthors in two respects: first, I present a new way of deriving the right to attention,grounding it in the more fundamental right to mental integrity. Second, I remainagnostic on whether the contemporary business practices of capturing attention inexchange for a variety of digital products and services are plagued by routine violationsof the right.