Content Restructures Thought

This paper argues that the conventions surrounding content encourage certain ways of paying attention in media ecologies. The author uses the concept of attention as a new materialist rhetorical lens to understand writing-as-content and proposes two additional attributes that complement Dush’s (2015) definition of content as a metaphor for writing. The attention-related qualities of scannability and selectabilty primarily determine whether a text is more content-like or less content-like. Writing-as-content represents a paradigm shift in the way that we approach writing and communication on a large scale, with not always desirable effects. This article discusses how in particular the areas of interpersonal communication and education are being affected by this shift and considers ways to respond going forward