Why Boomers Must Learn the Attention Economy to Stay Relevant
The rules of work, wealth, and influence have changed. Understanding the attention economy isn’t optional—it’s survival.
If you’re a baby boomer and think you can take your worldview to the grave untouched, think again. You likely have 30–40 productive years left. That’s more than enough time to either drift into irrelevance… or to deliberately invest in understanding how the digital world is changing and how you can still shape it.
What’s Changed?
We’ve entered what economist Kyla Scanlon calls the attention singularity—where attention itself creates wealth, power, and influence without the traditional steps of building, selling, and improving tangible products.
In this new attention economy:
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Digital infrastructure is privately owned, profit-optimised, and addictive by design.
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Algorithms reward engagement over knowledge.
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Short-form video and social media feeds are rewiring how people process information.
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Generational divides in technology adoption are widening at speed.
Young people are adapting in different ways:
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Safety Seekers—pursuing trades, steady work, and stability.
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Digital Gamblers—betting on the creator economy, crypto, or AI moonshots.
The middle path still exists, but it’s harder to walk in today’s digital economy.
Why This Matters to You
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The rules you built your career on—steady jobs, home appreciation, retirement savings—aren’t the rules the next generation is playing by.
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This isn’t “their” problem—it’s the new operating system for everyone’s future.
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You can’t guide, inspire, or collaborate with the next generation if you’re fluent only in yesterday’s economy.
WISE UP Takeaway
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Learn how attention works as currency—its risks, rewards, and distortions.
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Understand the economic and identity crises younger people face so your advice is relevant, not nostalgic.
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Become a translator across generational fault lines.
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Accept that the old playbook still has wisdom, but it needs rewriting for a faster, fragmented, volatile digital marketplace.
The Big Shift
Investing time to learn, unlearn, and relearn isn’t just self-preservation—it’s a gift to the generations following you. Boomers who adapt to change and engage with the attention economy can stay relevant, influential, and useful in shaping the world ahead.
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If we haven’t met yet…
I never considered myself good at change until I went from
Average shot → Army sniper
Home movies → National Geographic cameraman
Fumbling card tricks → Professional magician
Never swinging a hammer → Built a home
High school dropout → Published author
Business rookie → Sold a business
Stutterer → Motivational speaker
Turns out I know how to change and I know how to stand on stage & make audiences want to be adaptable & resilient too.
