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The True Currency of Today: Human Attention is More Valuable Than Money
- Derek Arsenault (CSEP-CPT, PN1)
- Jun 29
- 3 min read
"The most valuable thing in today's society isn't gold or money. It's human attention" - Anders Hansen
Having the FULL attention of another human today is agruably MORE powerful than ever before in human history. Why? Because it's becoming scarce. It's not even just our phones to blame (though they are a major culprit in this conversation), but rather our INABILITY to be present regardless of where our technology is.
We practice ALL DAY, EVERY DAY being "somewhere else" and "moving on to whatever is next"...
We scroll our screen every 10-30sec to the next thing that pops up
We doom scroll while we watch a show at the same time
We (STILL) multi-task throughout our day (despite science now showing that it's NOT productive)
We are thinking about the past OR future in most moments of the day - not RIGHT NOW
When we are talking to another human, we're grabbing our phones to check "something else" at the same time
When someone else is talking, we're already formulating an opinion before they're even done their sentence
.... and so on.
THIS is how practicing mindfulness in our daily lives, can postively impact other areas of our health and wellbeing. When we regularly practice things like...
Single-tasking
Walking, running etc without our phone/headphones
Not over-scheduling ourselves in our days/weeks
Practicing meditation, breathwork, yoga etc...
Creating art and/or music, writing, journaling etc...
Reading
... and so on; it makes it EASIER for OURSELVES to BE fully present with another human being. It makes it easier to LISTEN and TAKE IN what the other person is saying, rather than being "somewhere else" in our own mind while they speak.
The paradox of this is that as you PRACTICE being MORE PRESENT and MINDFUL in your days, you become more sensitive to the moments that are FAR from it...
When you're speaking to someone who's attention is on their phone instead of the conversation
When you have to repeat yourself because the person wasn't actually listening
When the person starts talking about what you JUST talked about a minute or two earlier
When you see people around you at restaurants, events etc with their heads down buried in their phone instead of being WITH the person/people they're surrounded by
THAT is a challenge and practice all on its own. And that's okay! Once you establish a practice for yourself, the NEXT PROGRESSION in your practice is "how do I manage MY OWN reactions/emotions when I recognize the lack of presence and attention from those I'm with?" Remember, HUMAN ATTENTION is now incredibly VALUABLE and increasingly rare. For you to be MORE and MORE aware of it, you have to be OKAY with being different. Most people in your circles may not be on board with how YOU CHOOSE to experience life today.
The cool thing is:
YOU may inspire others to start taking part in rekindling what it is to be PRESENT and HUMAN together.
YOU may spark CHOICE in others around you.
YOU can make more informed decisions about who you spend more time with
YOU can be better prepared. Recognizing ATTENTION or LACK OF attention in those around you, can help you be mindful of what you NEED or don't NEED in terms of "decompression" afterwards
Consider that TODAY, in 2026, we can CREATE meaningful interactions and connections without any financial strain or gifts - We JUST NEED to GIVE our ATTENTION to those around us.
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