THE CULTURE ECONOMY
BEYOND ATTENTION, INTO CONNECTION
Last week, I introduced the concept of The Culture Economy READ IT HERE—a framework born from countless conversations, observations, and a persistent feeling that has been following many of us for months: something has fundamentally shifted in how we connect with each other and the world around us.
We're seeking authentic IRL experiences again, placing renewed value on analog moments. We're thrilled to discover something unique rather than settle for what algorithms feed us. IYKYK has become our cultural currency, and we're searching for connection in ways that feel more genuine and meaningful.
What started as intuition has crystallized into clarity: we're not just witnessing another market trend; we're living through a realignment of what creates value in our hyperconnected world.
At its core, The Culture Economy represents the pendulum swing away from what's been driving business for the past two decades: the relentless pursuit of attention. I'm not talking about just another marketing framework or business buzzword. I'm talking about a fundamental shift we can feel in our bones—a restructuring of how value is created, how genuine connection happens, and how culture itself takes shape.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be unpacking this concept layer by layer, starting today with the fundamentals:
What exactly I mean by ‘culture’ in this context (spoiler: it's not trends)
Why the Attention Economy has maxed out its potential
How the Culture Economy requires us to transform from spectators to participants
But first—let's talk about what I really mean when I say ‘culture’ in this context. Because it's time we stopped confusing trends for tectonic shifts.
DEFINING 'CULTURE' IN THE CULTURE ECONOMY: THE INVISIBLE FORCE SHAPING EVERYTHING
When I talk about The Culture Economy, I'm not talking about what's trending on TikTok or which celebrity just broke the internet. Those are manifestations of something deeper, the visible expressions of invisible currents.
I'm talking about the tectonic shifts in how we collectively experience, express, and find meaning in the world around us. The stuff you feel before you can name it.
The Societal Vibe Shifts Reshaping Our Cultural Foundation
We're living through a profound societal transformation. The past decades haven't just changed what we consume or how we communicate, they've fundamentally altered how we relate to ourselves, each other, and the institutions that once structured our lives.
The metrics that once seemed to matter—followers, engagement, productivity—feel increasingly hollow in the face of deeper human needs for meaning, authentic connection, and shared experience. After years of optimizing our lives for productivity, efficiency, and attention, we're experiencing a form of existential fatigue.
Consider this shift:
The same generation that pioneered digital nomadism is now seeking rootedness
The cohort that championed hustle culture is now questioning the cost of constant productivity
The society that built algorithms to optimize engagement is now craving experiences that can't be quantified
These contradictions aren't signs of inconsistency. They're evidence of a search for balance in a world that has swung too far toward optimization at the expense of meaning.
Culture as Zeitgeist (and The Vibe)
In this context, 'culture' isn't just what's trending or what's being covered in lifestyle media. Culture is the invisible force that emerges from our response to the conditions of our time. It's the unspoken agreement about what matters now and why. It’s The Vibe.
This broader understanding of ‘culture’ as the vibe is what drives everything from economic shifts to political movements to artistic expression to consumer behavior. It's the undercurrent that flows beneath trends, providing them with context and meaning.
Culture doesn't start with influencers or brands. It begins with the everyday tensions, aspirations, and experiences of navigating our world as it ebbs and flows through growth cycles. It emerges from the gap between what we've optimized for and what we truly need.
Culture isn't something to be chased—it's something to be felt. You don't create or capture the vibe; you move with it.
These shifting currents contrast the economic model that dominated the past two decades—one built entirely on capturing and monetizing our attention. To understand why The Culture Economy is emerging, we need to see why its predecessor is collapsing under the weight of its own success.
THE OPTIMIZATION PARADOX: HOW WE MAXED OUT THE ATTENTION ECONOMY
Coined by psychologist and economist Herbert Simon in the 1970s, the concept of the Attention Economy predicted that in an information-rich world, attention would become the scarcest resource. (I swear, Herbert Simon must have been psychic.)
By the early 2000s, this theory had evolved into the business model of the digital age. And let's be honest—we didn't just adopt it; we became obsessed with it! This obsession perfectly aligned with our broader cultural fixation on optimization.
We've spent the last two decades living in this Attention Economy, a world where businesses, platforms, and media have been locked in an arms race to capture, hold, and monetize our focus. Along the way, ‘engagement’ became the ultimate metric, and ‘time spent’ became the currency.
This wasn't just about digital platforms. The Attention Economy emerged during a period when optimization was our collective religion:
Businesses optimized for quarterly results over the long-term vision
Productivity was a must hit while creativity became a nice-to-have
Media optimized for clicks over substance
Even our relationships often became optimized for convenience over depth
In hindsight, the result was predictable: We created systems that were remarkably efficient at capturing attention but increasingly ineffective at fostering connection. We set ourselves on a path toward the inevitable maximization point.
Any system pushed toward extreme optimization eventually reaches a point of diminishing returns. The Attention Economy has reached that point. The signs are everywhere—being ‘offline’ is peak main character energy in 2025.
Digital detoxes and screen time limits are becoming mainstream
The rise of wellness and mindfulness movements
Growing disillusionment with productivity culture
Renewed interest in analog and IRL experiences
The mechanisms that once dictated success—clicks, impressions, virality—are starting to feel hollow. We're overstimulated but under-connected. We're drowning in content but starved for meaning.
The system that trained businesses to optimize for views has failed to answer a more fundamental question: What happens after you get attention?
The Attention Economy delivered precisely what it promised—an unprecedented ability to capture attention—but failed to deliver what we actually needed: meaning, connection, and genuine participation.
But the vibe has shifted.
ENTER THE CULTURE ECONOMY: FROM EXTRACTION TO CONNECTION
We've spent two decades perfecting the art of grabbing attention, but the true advantage in this new era isn't louder marketing or engineered virality. It's (what I call) Cultural Osmosis: that deep, instinctive understanding of what's happening in the zeitgeist and the ability to move with it naturally.
Cultural Osmosis: The natural, frictionless process by which people absorb, inhabit, and contribute to culture. It’s how ideas, behaviors, and movements spread—not through direct instruction or passive consumption, but through seamless immersion and lived experience.
From “Look at Me" to "Let's Collaborate"
The shift is undeniable.
If the Attention Economy was about chasing eyeballs, The Culture Economy is about creating connection.
We're not just looking for more content, we're looking for something to belong to. We want spaces that invite participation, not just passive consumption. We crave experiences where we don't just consume culture; we live in it.
In the Culture Economy, attention is merely the byproduct of deep cultural resonance—and you capture it through authenticity, connection, and co-creation.
Here, we are not audience members but participants. We are not consumers but collaborators. The line between who creates culture and who experiences it is blurring, giving way to an ecosystem of shared meaning and connection.
And in this new era, telling great stories—no matter how compelling—just isn't enough anymore.
HOT TAKE: Is the ‘sacred cow’ of storytelling about to be tipped?
The monologue is dead; long live the conversation!
But that's a tale for next time, when we explore how Culture Scripting is replacing storytelling as the dominant mode of cultural creation.
The old playbook is being shredded.
The new one? We're co-creating it.
