Papers · Articles
The Isolation Machine: Screens, Attention, and the Destruction of Mateship
A. C. Applebee, L. N. Combe · 2026
Abstract
The attention economy -- the monetisation of human attention through advertising-funded digital platforms - has produced a set of measurable social harms that are better understood as collective than individual. This paper synthesises evidence from behavioural biology, operant conditioning research, developmental psychology, computational social science, and political economy to argue that the primary damage is not to individual mental health (where effect sizes remain small and causation contested) but to the structures of social connection that sustain community life.
Cite
Applebee, A. C., & Combe, L. N. (2026). The Isolation Machine: Screens, Attention, and the Destruction of Mateship [Preprint]. Omxus Press. https://neotheque.com/papers/screens-attention/