Psychoanalysis of the Attention Economy in the Era of Big Data: A Topological Interpretation Based on Lacan’s Three Orders

Abstract

In the era of Big Data, the attention economy has emerged as a core logic of capital accumulation, yet behavioral economic explanations fail to penetrate the unconscious drives and desire structures underlying attention investment. This paper adopts Lacan’s topological framework of the three orders (the Real, the Symbolic, and the Imaginary) to conduct a psychoanalytic dissection of the attention economy. It argues that Big Data-driven attention mechanisms essentially manipulate desire across these three orders: algorithms, functioning as the “digital big Other,” exploit the Real’s traumatic surplus and the deferred structure of desire through infinite scroll and traumatic stimuli; regulate identity production in the Symbolic via visibility laws, social currency, and datafication; and construct narcissistic illusions in the Imaginary through filters, filter bubbles, and illusions of hyperconnection. Ultimately, the paper proposes an ethics of lucid attention, calling for critical algorithmic literacy, confrontation with the Real’s lack, dismantling of Imaginary illusions, and reclaiming sovereignty over attention—essential for preserving subjective dignity and human freedom in the digital age.