Through a series experiments, reviews, and perspectives, this collection of papers explores the wide prevalence, impact, and utilization of rhythm in humans and other animals. These papers address the importance of rhythm and how it is involved in language, cognition, physiology, communication, and medical interventions. The wide range of topics and methods include communication in sperm whales, infant development, mathematical modeling, music perception, and electrophysiology. The virtual issue is edited by Andrea Ravignani (Sapienza University of Rome) and Teresa Raimondi (Sapienza University of Rome).
Blog Archives
Children and Law
The treatment of children in the legal system provides unique challenges. It is necessary to understand the developing brain and child–adult social dynamics as these psychological and social phenomenon can have a significant and long-lasting impact on not only children but also the adults who interact with them. This collection of papers includes topics aiming to understand the impact of childhood in various legal situations such as forensic questions, false memories, allegations, language comprehension, and sexual abuse. The novel experimental findings, timely reviews, and unique perspectives will provide important contributions to address this challenging issue of the legal system. The virtual issue is edited by Kelly McWilliams (John Jay College of Criminal Justice).
Moral Conviction
This special issue focuses on morality in a broad sense, including ideologies. Morality is often seen as a force for good in facilitating group living and cooperation, but it also has a darker side. Strong moral convictions can breed dogmatism, intolerance, and political polarization and even motivate violent collective actions—a phenomenon deserving deeper interdisciplinary exploration. Edited by Dr. Jean Decety, University of Chicago.
Language, Metacognition, and Decision-Making
This collection of papers focusses on how language and cognition influence judgements, perceptual decisions, learning, communication, and rehabilitation, and how they interact at behavioral and neural levels. Guest editor is Leona Polyanskaya, University of Coimbra, Portugal.
Eco-anxiety
The general concept of eco-anxiety involves negative affective experiences due to climate change and other anthropogenic influences on the environment. The increasing severity of climate change has resulted in a rise in eco-anxiety. This collection of papers includes topics aiming to develop a clear conceptual understanding of eco-anxiety, how individuals respond to climate change, potential therapeutic interventions, as well as its neurobiological associations. The novel experimental findings, timely reviews, and unique perspectives will provide important contributions to address this new and expanding psychological problem. The virtual issue is edited by Elizabeth Marks (University of Bath).
Digital Media and Public Health
This virtual issue, edited by Thomas Krendl Gilbert PhD (Hortus AI), frames the development of societal-scale digital platforms in terms of interlinked public health problems. Today’s digital technologies seem to exacerbate problematic social conditions, necessitating methods to measure, evaluate, and improve population well-being. More information can be found at https://www.nyas.org/ideas-insights/annals/digital-platforms-and-public-health.
The Urgent Need for Attention Sanctuaries
The commodification of our attention in digital realms has been the focus of news reports, academic research, and even the hit Netflix series “Adolescence.” Researchers and activists are increasingly calling for spaces where we can escape the daily deluge of screen-based content.
Published April 11, 2025
By Brooke Elliott
More than nine states have implemented rules about cell phone use in schools, and with good reason. Smartphones and digital platforms have become ubiquitous in our daily lives over the past several years. However, we are now beginning to observe some of the unforeseen effects this digital technology has on our wellbeing, particularly for young people.
As digital platforms continue to dominate our lives, the exploitation of human attention is changing how we engage with the world around us. With increased device usage correlating with mental health issues, there’s a growing movement that seeks to address and mitigate these challenges.
“Attention Sanctuaries: Social Practice Guidelines and Emergent Strategies in Attention Activism,” by D. Graham Burnett of Princeton University and Eve Mitchell of the Strother School of Radical Attention was published last month in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. The article explores the concept of “attention activism,” a force promising to save human attention from the impact of what some are calling “human fracking” and reclaim spaces for human flourishing.
What is Human Fracking?
“Human fracking” refers to deep exploitation of human attention by digital platforms such as social media, video streaming services, and other screen-based environments. Like the process of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), which extracts valuable resources from the earth often at the cost of long-term environmental damage, human fracking involves the extraction of individuals’ mental and emotional resources, ultimately harming users, depleting their cognitive and emotional well-being while enriching corporations that profit from this exploitation.
The Emergence of Attention Activism
The concept of “attention activism” has gained traction as a movement against the misuse of human attention. It is driven by a coalition of researchers, advocates, and organizations dedicated to raising awareness about the societal and psychological consequences of the attention economy. Rather than framing these issues as problems of individual self-management, attention activism shifts the focus to empowered collective action. The goal is to build solidarity and organize resistance to the forces that seek to capture and monetize human attention.
“By explicitly and collaboratively engaging in conversation about attentional practices and commitments, and by achieving and promulgating shared norms for shared time and copresence, we can radically reshape what happens when we gather – and in doing so meaningfully mitigate some of the most prominent problems associated with the pervasively disruptive use of networked devices,” the authors write.
Attention Sanctuaries: Protecting Spaces for Flourishing
One of the central concepts emerging from attention activism is the idea of the “attention sanctuary”: a space that promotes the protection and cultivation of human attention, free from the disruptive effects of the attention economy. Examples of attention sanctuaries include libraries, churches, museums, and classrooms—places where individuals can focus, reflect, and engage in meaningful activities without the constant pull of digital distractions. As the authors write, “A true attention sanctuary cannot be imposed, it has to be created and maintained.”
The work of attention activists is to preserve and protect these sanctuaries, ensuring that they remain safe spaces where human attention can thrive. As society faces the disruptive effects of surveillance capitalism, data harvesting, and addictive screen-based environments, the importance of such sanctuaries has never been clearer.
Building a Culture of Collective Action
Attention activism is not just about resisting individual harm, it is also about creating a cultural shift toward collective responsibility. By reframing the problems of the attention economy, activists emphasize the importance of solidarity over individual self-regulation. This shift could result in actionable interventions that influence norms in social spaces such as schools, homes, and workplaces.
Ultimately, attention activism is about more than just digital detox. It is about fostering environments where human flourishing can take place. By promoting the creation and cultivation of attention sanctuaries, attention activists are laying the groundwork for a future where human well-being is prioritized over profit, and where collective action can lead to meaningful societal change.
“While, broadly speaking, we support the targeted and responsible application of such policies (together with digital detox rubrics for youth and adults alike), we believe that the participatory process of actively creating attention sanctuary guidelines presents a valuable component of any comprehensive strategy for addressing the public health dimensions of societal-scale digital platforms,” the authors write in their conclusion. “Such an approach is constructive, rather than privative, and promotes reflection, education, and solidarity. These are the central virtues of an attention-activist approach to the challenges of our rapidly shifting media ecosystem”
Full access to the Annals archive (which dates back to 1824) is one perk of being an Academy member. Not a member? Sign up today!
New Paper Highlights Urgent Need for “Attention Sanctuaries”
Concern about increasing screen time on mental health calls for creating “digital-free” spaces to mitigate rising levels of anxiety, depression and social isolation.
New York, NY | March 20, 2025 – With more school districts now implementing no cell-phone policies in their classrooms to refocus students’ attention on their schoolwork, a new study by leading scholars Professor D. Graham Burnett of Princeton University and Eve Mitchell of the Strother School of Radical Attention calls for the creation of “attention sanctuaries”.
Their article, “Attention Sanctuaries: Social Practice Guidelines and Emergent Strategies in Attention Activism,” published today in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, explores the profound impact of networked screen media on mental health, particularly among youth. It proposes innovative, community-driven solutions to reclaim our collective focus from the growing crisis of digital distraction and the commodification of human attention.
The authors broadly define an attention sanctuary as a wide range of already existing spaces and places such as libraries, churches, museums and school classrooms. Nationally, 77% of U.S. schools say they prohibit cellphones at school for non-academic use, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Drawing on the latest research and grassroots “Attention Activism”, the authors argue that the pervasive use of digital devices has led to unprecedented erosion of social and civil life, contributing to rising levels of anxiety, depression, and social isolation.
Key Findings and Recommendations:
- The Attention Crisis: The article highlights the urgent need to address the harmful effects of the “attention economy,” where human attention is increasingly commodified by tech platforms through addictive design and data extraction, or “Human Fracking.”
- Attention Activism: The authors introduce the concept of “attention activism,” a growing movement that seeks to resist the exploitative practices of the digital economy through education, organizing, and the creation of sanctuary spaces.
- Attention Sanctuaries: The paper provides a detailed framework for establishing “attention sanctuaries”—spaces where communities can collectively cultivate and protect their attention. These sanctuaries, which can be implemented in schools, workplaces, and homes, are designed to foster meaningful human connection and reflection, free from the distractions of digital devices.
The authors emphasize that addressing the attention crisis requires a multi-pronged approach, combining grassroots activism, policy interventions, and community-driven initiatives. They argue that attention sanctuaries offer a practical and scalable solution to mitigate the negative effects of digital overload, promoting mental well-being and social cohesion.
“This is not just about limiting screen time,” says Burnett. “It’s about a participatory movement to create spaces where we can reconnect with ourselves and each other, free from the constant pull of digital distractions. Attention sanctuaries are a way to reclaim our humanity in an increasingly fragmented world.”
Eve Mitchell adds, “Attention activism is about more than individual self-control—it’s about collective action. By working together to create these sanctuaries, we can build a culture that values and protects our attention as an essential aspect of our individual and shared lives.”
The authors call for increased collaboration between researchers, policymakers, and community leaders to develop strategies that address the root causes of the attention crisis.
Abstract
While scientific consensus on the nature and extent of the harms attributable to increased use of networked screen media remains elusive, widespread expressions of acute concern among first-responders to the commodified-attention crisis (teachers, therapists, caregivers) should not be overlooked. This paper reviews a series of emergent strategies of collective attention activism, rooted in social practices of community action, deliberation, and consensus-building, and aimed at the creation of novel sanctuaries for the cultivation of new shared norms and habits regarding digital devices. Evidence suggests that such attention sanctuaries (and the formalization of the conventions for convening such spaces) will play an increasingly important role in addressing/mitigating the public health-and-welfare dimensions of societal-scale digital platforms. A copy of the full paper may be downloaded here.
About Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences is a 200+ year-old multidisciplinary journal publishing research in all areas of science. Each issue advances our understanding of the natural, social, and physical world by presenting novel and thought-provoking original research, reviews, and expert opinions. We encourage cross disciplinary submissions, with particular interest in neuroscience, organismal biology, material sciences, cell and molecular biology, psychology, medicine, quantum science, renewable energy, and climate science. Please visit us online at www.nyas.org.
About the Authors
D. Graham Burnett is a professor at Princeton University and a leading voice in the study of attention and its role in contemporary society. Eve Mitchell is a psychotherapist and a facilitator at the Strother School of Radical Attention, an innovative institution dedicated to exploring the science, history, and practice of attention.
Contacts
Peter Schmidt – peter@sustainedattention.net
Donica Bettanin – donica@sustainedattention.net
Chromatin Dynamics During Development
This special issue features papers describing various aspects of chromatin dynamics during early development, including how 3D genome structure is established and repressive chromatin is rebuilt during early zygotic development. Other topics include the role of retrotransposons in zygotic genome activation and how chromatin-associated condensates could serve as inspiration for the construction of DNA-based computers. The guest editor for this special issue is Daria Onichtchouk (University of Freiburg).
OESO: Esophageal Biology, Function, and Pathology
This collection of papers stems from the 16th OESO World Conference on esophageal biology, function, and pathology. Invited articles by teams of investigators and clinicians provide overviews of topics that individual authors presented and discussed at the conference. A unique organization, the World Organization for Specialized Studies on Diseases of the Esophagus (OESO) has brought together specialists from all disciplines involved in the science of esophagology since 1978. This collection of papers follows on previous one published in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences since 2010. Guest editor is OESO founder and deputy executive director Robert Giuli (Paris, France).