#52: What Convenience and Your Phone Are Costing You | Tim Wu

Michael speaks with Tim Wu, the Columbia law professor and author of The Age of Extraction, about how media and tech platforms learned to harvest our attention, why convenience is among the most powerful forces of our time, and what the easy option can take from us. They discuss: (00:00) Cold open (01:12) Selling attention, from 1833 to now (07:46) Why phones are changing human evolution (16:20) Why ads adapt to every backlash (18:00) Attention merchants vs. extractors (25:48) Easiest wins: the power of convenience (28:01) What convenience takes from us (34:17) Can tech serve more than profit? (39:45) What makes a good life (44:42) Is there an ethical way to fund media? (48:51) Social media, kids and age limits (53:51) Why reality TV casts difficult people (57:17) Tim's own media diet Get Tim's book, The Age of Extraction: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/691177/the-age-of-extraction-by-tim-wu/ Find Tim: https://x.com/superwuster Sponsors: MacroFactor: Download MacroFactor in the app store and use code TWOPCT for 14 days free. Vuori: Get 20% off your first order at vuori.com/TWOPCT. Exclusions apply. Visit Two Percent, the #1 health and wellness Substack newsletter: https://www.twopct.com Follow Michael: https://twitter.com/Michael_Easter https://instagram.com/michael_easter/ https://linkedin.com/in/michael-easter-b208848/ https://www.facebook.com/twopct https://tiktok.com/@michael_easter6 Host: Michael Easter Executive Producer: Robbie Hiser Music: The Heater Manager Graphics: Jackie Philips Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices