My Week at the School of ‘Radical Attention’

Nimayi Dixit spent a week attending various activities at the Strother School of Radical Attention in NYC. The school is devoted to exploring the human faculty of attention, and making legible a new kind of 'attention activism', in response to a culture that is degrading our 'attention environments'. Drawing on his experiences and interviews with staff, he maps the school’s activities and reflects on its philosophy and operations.

If you had inquired as to my whereabouts on June 15th around 1 p.m. Eastern Time, you would have found me sitting on the floor in a spacious corner room of an office building in Brooklyn’s DUMBO district, staring intently at my right hand, trying to bring my mind to focus. 

Seated across from me was my partner in this exercise who was also staring intently at her left hand. 

We were participating in an Attention Lab at the Strother School of Radical Attention (‘SoRA’). The exercise we were doing had a name - ‘Many Hands, Light Work’ - inspired by Langston Hughes’ poem ‘Freedom Plow’. 

‘Many Hands, Light Work’ exercise at the Strother School of Radical Attention (SoRA)

For two years this DUMBO corner room has provided space for an intriguing experiment in education, community building, and political organizing around a shared interest in the human faculty of attention and concern for what our modern culture is doing to it.

For the folks at SoRA, attention is an almost reverential object (is that the right word–‘object’?). But it’s something most of us take for granted, and it is precisely into that gap of complacency that the ‘attention economy’ has wedged itself to extract profit and influence. 

The devices in our pockets have become a kind of permanently available escape pod from the discomfort of present reality. Think of how frequently we dive into those screens to fill the gaps of boredom or social unease that permeate the day. The bright screens and the social media feeds are optimized to trigger the right mix of dopamine and other neurotransmitters that keep us scrolling. The financial and cultural power these companies have accumulated by organizing and selling our attention has propelled them to the upper echelons of corporate power in just a few decades.

It’s becoming almost quaint to complain about how addicted we are to our phones. But it is still jarring to confront the truth of it–the sheer quantum of hours we hand over to them. 

I heard the term ‘attention fracking’ for the first time during my visit to SoRA.

I recently spent a week there, immersing myself as a participant in six diverse activities to better understand what exactly is going on. 

I participated in shooting a short film, planned a no-device rave party, sat under the Manhattan Bridge staring quietly at the water, tried to embody the spirit of the pigeon, stalked an Apple store, and, yes, sat on the floor staring intently at my right hand for several minutes. 

I also read a few interesting papers by (mostly left-leaning) intellectuals. And I discussed my observations and interpretations about these things – the subtle nuances of attention – extensively, with anyone who would listen. 

Nimayi Dixit (right) participating in discussion at the SoRA.

I’m still not sure I know exactly what is going on, but I have a much better sense. What I found is an organization still in its infancy, still finding its footing, animated by a small, but growing group of passionate young people hungry for community, unified by a conviction in the importance of their work, and excited by its novelty. 

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AUGUST 2025

To read Nimayi’s full analysis of the operations and philosophy of SoRA, check out our collection: Life in the Scroll Age.