The attention economy has already transformed the way we live at home. Technology will continue to weaken the barrier that separates home life from the intrusions of the outside world. On the surface, this will mean that more attention can be devoted to family members. Even so, as work permeates free time, people will continue a present trend toward purchasing care for dependents. Attention to children and others who need care will be bought and sold more and more often, rather than being provided by family members, whose attention is already strained to the breaking point.
Scarce resources come at a premium price.
People and companies simply won't be able to get attention without paying for it. E-commerce companies are already beginning to pay users for their attention. In the future, buying attention will become an accepted part of doing business, particularly with regard to media. In a world with over five hundred TV channels and a trillion Web pages, simple entertainment or information will no longer be enough to get one's attention on the television or the Internet. Already, search engines such as Alta Vista can exchange favorable placement in search results for a fee.