In my last post I said that the three costs of content consumption are attention, time, and opportunity. I have written about the first two previously, but I want to use this post to address the last of these costs: opportunity.
Opportunity is the most subjective cost because it is entirely dependent on the individual’s personal sense of value; this also makes it, however, the final arbiter of the waste/value judgement over all the other costs in the individual’s mind. Whether people act like it or not, there is limited time and attention available to each of us for consuming content. This means you (and your customers) must choose what you will pay attention to and what you won’t.
But how do you decide?
As I alluded to above, it once again comes down to value, and value comes down to desire and utility. In other words, every time you are faced with some content, somewhere subconsciously you are asking yourself:
“Do I want or need to see/hear this right now?”1
And then, if the answer is “yes,” the follow up:
“Do I want or need to do anything else instead?”2
If the answer is “yes” to the first and “no” to the second, then the content has won the contest of opportunity and you will spend the time required to pay attention to it. Otherwise, the content has lost and you will keep scrolling, searching for a more attractive opportunity.
While the reality of doomscrolling as America’s new favorite pastime makes it seem as though every person has an infinite appetite to attend every content opportunity, this is simply not the case—nor should we treat it as such.
Because here’s the thing:
Attention only seems infinite until you try to attend infinitely.
Afterall, infinite consumption is the definition of gluttony.
And gluttony will always lead to diet.
And a diet is a rigged contest in which all opportunities that we simply want or like are impelled to lose to those which we need.
So . . .
Is your content diet-proof?
- this establishes that it may offer something of value to you ↩︎
- this weighs the value of this opportunity against the potential value of all other opportunities ↩︎
