Town Hall Seattle: Civics Series
Town Hall’s Civics series highlights everything from local policies to world politics. These events offer perspectives on a range of topics as diverse as Seattle itself—a bustling forum for activism, discovery, and thought-provoking discussion.
Don't miss our other series podcasts:
Feb 28, 2025
You’ve probably been there: doomscrolling
or otherwise distracted by devices. Many of us have lost focus
before as our addictive phones consume our time or interfere with
social situations. People bump into one another on the street, look
down at their phones at restaurants, or check their mobile devices
while spending time with the kids as continuous pings sound off in
their pockets and purses. New York
Times bestselling author, political commentator, and
MSNBC news anchor Chris Hayes posits that these phenomena are part
of a larger issue of attention capitalism, and show how attention
itself has been taken from us and turned into a commodity.
His latest release, The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource, charts how the deliberate harvesting of human attention by wealthy companies has fundamentally changed news, politics, and leisure time. As society grows increasingly unable to concentrate, the consequences can be serious, and hold implications for what lies ahead.
The Sirens’ Call aims to provide a holistic framework as well as steps people can take to regain control of their own lives and futures, overcoming what Hayes refers to as “the little attention box” that continues to dominate much of our existence.
Chris Hayes is the Emmy Award–winning host of All In With Chris Hayes on MSNBC and the New York Times bestselling author of A Colony in a Nation and Twilight of the Elites. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and children.
Luke Burbank hosts the public radio variety show “Live Wire” as well as the daily podcast “TBTL” and is a Correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning. He grew up near Greenlake in Seattle and jumps at any opportunity to come visit his hometown.
