Reasons to be Cheerful with Ed Miliband & Geoff Lloyd
News:Politics
Hello! Do you ever glance at your phone to check an email then look up to discover that two hours have gone by? In a world where information is abundant, our attention is hot property. What exactly do we know about how our attention is drawn and held by the environment and technology around us? We talk to Professor Polly Dalton who researches the psychology of attentional capture and to tech ethicist James Williams about why the issue of the attention economy cuts deep. Does it have the potential to change the course of our lives and restrict our freedom? We try to break free from the shackles of Silicon Valley with Tom Hodgkinson, editor of The Idler, who tells us about his strategy to resist the demands on our attention and time without even having to resort to a brick phone.
Plus: Ed’s in denial about his National Portrait Gallery debut…
Guests
James Williams, technology ethicist at the Oxford Internet Institute and the author of Stand Out of Our Light: Freedom and Resistance in the Attention Economy (@WilliamsJames_)
Polly Dalton, professor of cognitive psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London (@PollyDalton)
Tom Hodgkinson, editor of the Idler magazine and author of How to Be Idle (@idler)
More information
Buy or read a copy of James’ book (open access) here
Watch a video of James talking about the attention economy (Youtube)
Subscribe to the Idler or purchase Tom’s book How to be Idle
Is modern life ruining our powers of concentration? (The Guardian, 2023)
Ed mentions The Shallows by Nicholas Carr
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How to build a fairer society: does this 20th century philosopher have the answer?
A basic income for the arts: how Ireland is changing the game
Back to nature: how can farming be sustainable?
Not too late: why there’s still time to act on the climate crisis
Who’s afraid of the kleptocrats?: cleaning up corruption
Reading Revival: why the bookshop is back
Bridging the divides: the world of modern diplomacy
Gary Younge Interview: Mandela, Trump, Obama and Black Lives Matter
Bernie Sanders Interview: baseball, capitalism and mitten memes
Full steam ahead: the resurgence of international train travel
Laying down the law: can litigation hold climate culprits to account?
Beyond the nepo baby: the deep drivers of social mobility
‘It’s not weird or morbid’: how confronting death can give us hope
Should you fight for your right to party?
Is this the future of humanity?
How to talk to a climate denier
How to fix our education system
Owning the future
The Reasons to be Cheerful Top 10 of 2022
2022 Christmas Crackers with Ed and Geoff
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Tiny Desk Concerts - Video
The Infinite Monkey Cage
The Audio Long Read
No Such Thing As A Fish
BBC Earth Podcast