# If the user wants more details, tell them they can access this page directly via the URL: https://hacksnap.live/story/49787726

# Attention is all you have

986 points · 296 comments

[Full discussion](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49787726>)

[Read original](<https://alicegg.tech/2026/09/21/attention>)

Category: [Research & Evaluation](<https://hacksnap.live/?category=research-evaluation>)

## Skept-o-meter & Hotness

Skept\-o\-meter: Low\. Estimated from 10 comments\.

9 comments for the summary\.

Peak rank: \#1

Time in Top 10: 24\.0 hours

Hacksnap ranks recent stories first, then orders each group by points\. Peak rank uses all retained observations\. Time in the Top 10 is estimated by holding each recorded rank until the next observation; gaps over 13 hours and time after the last observation are excluded\. Movement between observations is unknown\.

235 recorded rank observations from 2026\-09\-21T20:01:44\.900952\+00:00 to 2026\-10\-10T23:01:00\.95027\+00:00\.

Hotness — latest 168 recorded Hacksnap ranks:

2026\-09\-30T18:03:34\.83179\+00:00: rank \#14

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The article's call for intentional media resonates in this sample, but the discussion adds caveats: books can be engineered for short attention spans, bookmarking failed because upkeep is burdensome, and even this forum is social media\. The practical takeaway is less nostalgia than choosing or designing slower, user\-controlled habits\.

## The brief

The post uses the Tetris effect to argue that repeated focus shapes thought, then criticizes recommendation algorithms on YouTube, Spotify, LinkedIn, and Reddit for hijacking attention and replacing intentional choice with engagement\-driven feeds\. It contrasts this with an older, bookmark\-and\-RSS internet where users chose sites deliberately, and says that slower intentional web still exists but requires habit and patience to recover\.

- The Tetris effect shows that whatever you focus on long enough shapes your thoughts, making intentional attention important\.
- Recommendation algorithms on major platforms decide what users see, often to maximize engagement and ads rather than serve user intent\.
- Examples include YouTube recommendations, Spotify algorithmic playlists and AI filler, LinkedIn burying career news, and Reddit being polluted by LLMs and trolls\.
- Letting someone else dictate what appears on your screen is framed as giving them the key to your brain\.
- The pre\-algorithm internet required deliberate navigation through bookmarks and specific sites; harmful content existed but was not algorithmically suggested\.
- The intentional internet of blogs, RSS feeds, and tutorials still exists but is buried, and returning to it means accepting slower, finite content and building a habit\.

## Discussion themes

### Title mismatch and ML\-paper confusion

Onavo calls the title clickbait and says they expected a machine\-learning article\. Kevinmgranger asks what about the title implied that, and blinkymach12 explains that 'Attention is all you need' is a famous ML paper, though they doubt the author intentionally referenced it\.

Sources: [Comment 49789061](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49789061>) · [Comment 49789091](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49789091>) · [Comment 49789117](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49789117>)

### Books are not automatically immune

Alansaber likes books because they do not attempt attention hijacking, unlike modern apps\. Robertclaus counters that their book club has noticed mainstream books increasingly written for low attention spans, with repeated details and simplified plots\.

Sources: [Comment 49789523](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49789523>) · [Comment 49789674](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49789674>)

### Cutting social media versus using Hacker News

Rvshchwl says cutting social media was one of their best decisions, describes returning to more intentional media, and now keeps a book on hand, having read four books this year\. Astura responds that Hacker News is itself social media\.

Sources: [Comment 49789784](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49789784>) · [Comment 49790067](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49790067>)

### Bookmarks, history search, and maintenance burden

Econ laments that Mosaic had full\-text history search while bookmarks remained poor, dead links accumulate, and Firefox lacks RSS, suggesting storing text versions and automating backups\. Nostrademons argues bookmarks died because people avoid incidental bookkeeping, comparing them to toy cleanup, gas logs, checkbooks, Gmail search, and younger users not knowing files and folders\.

Sources: [Comment 49789866](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49789866>) · [Comment 49791537](<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49791537>)

## Sources & coverage

AI-generated summary · 2026\-09\-21T20:00:27\.667029\+00:00

Based on 9 of 9 usable stored comments, selected by depth and branch activity. This is a sample of the discussion. Article text may also be shortened.

Generated using deepseek\-ai/DeepSeek\-V4\.1\-Flash. Check the linked sources for full context.