How The Attention Economy is Devouring Gen Z | The Ezra Klein Show

Video Description

Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani are both proof of how the ability to capture attention is power. And the attention economy isn’t reshaping just politics; it’s also reshaping the actual economy: the crypto market, A.I. venture capital, and how people, especially Gen Z, are making career decisions. @KylaScanlon has emerged as a leading theorist on the economics of attention and is herself a member of Gen Z. She is the author of the book “In This Economy?” and Kyla’s Newsletter on Substack. I asked her on the show to walk us through her theory of the attention economy. 0:00: Intro 1:17: The Gen Z economy 8:50: The AI ‘fog’ on the future 20:00: AI and consensus reality 26:40: Attention is infrastructure 36:35: How Trump embodies the algorithm 48:00: Digital ease and nihilism 56:36: Everything feels like crypto now 59:45: Optimism for the real world 1:04:25: Book recommendations Read the full transcript here: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/08/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-kyla-scanlon.html Watch more on @EzraKleinShow Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html