First Congregational Church

The Pittsfield Pilgrim 

March 2023

Minister's Minute

Click below for back issues of the First Congregational Church's monthly newsletter 'The Pittsfield Pilgrim'

In his book The Attention Merchants—the epic scramble to get inside our heads, Columbia law professor Tim Wu argues that “every sliver of our attention is fair game for commercial exploitation.” We are no longer “homo sapiens”; we have become “homo distractus,” people with an “ever shorter attention span known for compulsively checking his devices.”

Think cell phone. Since about 2015, Wu writes, “whither thou goest, your smart phone goes, too, and of course the ads.” We respond to our phones like English butlers responded to their Lord or Lady. Our cell buzzes, our newsfeed fills up, an email comes in, social media dings, a text message and we come running.