Sources

The Scrolling EconomySources

Every source the book relies on, and how far each one was verified. Where a claim could not be sourced, the book says so rather than citing something close.

22 claims in this book failed that test and were cut. 3 figures were cut whole.

  1. Alzahabi, R., & Becker, M. W. (2013). The association between media multitasking, task-switching, and dual-task performance. JEP:HPP. 10.1037/a0031208 Abstract and official record verified.
  2. APQC. Open Standards Benchmarking, measure 105823: 'Average time in weeks to develop and launch a new marketing campaign (from ideation to the delivery of an offer/message to a customer/prospect)'. apqc.org. Full text read. Public catalog: Sales and Marketing Measure List (document 269). The benchmark value itself is members-only.
  3. Bar, M., Kassam, K. S., Ghuman, A. S., Boshyan, J., Schmid, A. M., et al. (2006). Top-down facilitation of visual recognition. PNAS, 103(2), 449-454. 10.1073/pnas.0507062103 Full text read.
  4. Baxendale, S., Macdonald, E. K., & Wilson, H. N. (2015). The Impact of Different Touchpoints on Brand Consideration. Journal of Retailing, 91(2), 235-253. 10.1016/j.jretai.2014.12.008 Full text read.
  5. Brasel, S. A., & Gips, J. (2011). Media Multitasking Behavior: Concurrent Television and Computer Usage. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(9), 527-534. 10.1089/cyber.2010.0350 Abstract and official record verified.
  6. Brinberg, M., Ram, N., Yang, X., Cho, M.-J., Sundar, S. S., Robinson, T. N., & Reeves, B. (2021). The idiosyncrasies of everyday digital lives: Using the Human Screenome Project to study user behavior on smartphones. Computers in Human Behavior, 114, 106570. 10.1016/j.chb.2020.106570 Full text read.
  7. Bruns, D., Kopka, J., Borgmann, L., Prior, S., & Langner, T. (2025). Measuring Gaining and Holding Attention to Social Media Ads with Viewport Logging: A Validation Study Using Mobile Eye-Tracking. Journal of Advertising, 54(5), 655-672. 10.1080/00913367.2025.2524186 Full text read.
  8. Brysbaert, M. (2019). How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate. Journal of Memory and Language, 109, 104047. 10.1016/j.jml.2019.104047 Full text read.
  9. Bubani, G. (2025, March 20). Walk the Talk: 5 Ways Marketers Can Succeed in 2025. Kantar, kantar.com/inspiration/advertising-media/walk-the-talk-5-ways-marketers-can-succeed-in-2025. Full text read. Industry article, not peer reviewed. Source of the 87%, 71% and 61% figures. The 71% and 61% come from a single sentence about creative and media effectiveness.
  10. Buffer. The State of Social Media Engagement in 2026. buffer.com/resources/state-of-social-media-engagement-2026/ Full text read. Vendor analysis of its own customers' posts, not peer reviewed.
  11. Burke, M., Hornof, A., Nilsen, E., & Gorman, N. (2005). High-cost banner blindness: Ads increase perceived workload, hinder visual search, and are forgotten. ACM TOCHI, 12(4), 423-445. 10.1145/1121112.1121116 Record verified only — not used to support a figure.
  12. Chouaki, S., Chakraborty, A., Goga, O., & Zannettou, S. (2024). What News Do People Get on Social Media? Analyzing Exposure and Consumption of News through Data Donations. WWW '24, 2371-2382. 10.1145/3589334.3645399 Full text read.
  13. DataReportal / GWI, Global Statshot. Report series by Kepios (Simon Kemp), datareportal.com. Abstract and official record verified. Counts social media 'identities', not unique people.
  14. Dreze, X., & Hussherr, F.-X. (2003). Internet advertising: Is anybody watching? Journal of Interactive Marketing, 17(4), 8-23. 10.1002/dir.10063 Abstract and official record verified. Paywalled. The copy this book checked is the authors' own July 2003 manuscript, self-archived by Dreze and marked 'do not circulate or quote'; the published article could not be obtained by any open route.
  15. Ebiquity & Lumen Research (2024, November). Maximising Profit Through Attention: New Insights for Media Leaders. ebiquity.com/research/maximising-profit-through-attention-new-insights-for-media-leaders/. Abstract and official record verified. Vendor research, not peer reviewed. The correlation is measured at media-channel level, not per impression. The full report requires registration; the finding is published on the official page.
  16. Evans, J. St. B. T., & Stanovich, K. E. (2013). Dual-Process Theories of Higher Cognition: Advancing the Debate. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(3), 223-241. 10.1177/1745691612460685 Abstract and official record verified.
  17. Fabre-Thorpe, M., Delorme, A., Marlot, C., & Thorpe, S. (2001). A limit to the speed of processing in ultra-rapid visual categorization of novel natural scenes. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 13(2), 171-180. 10.1162/089892901564234 Abstract and official record verified.
  18. Fletcher, R., & Nielsen, R. K. (2017). Are News Audiences Increasingly Fragmented? A Cross-National Comparative Analysis of Cross-Platform News Audience Fragmentation and Duplication. Journal of Communication, 67(4), 476-498. 10.1111/jcom.12315 Full text read.
  19. Foerde, K., Knowlton, B. J., & Poldrack, R. A. (2006). Modulation of competing memory systems by distraction. PNAS, 103(31), 11778-11783. 10.1073/pnas.0602659103 Abstract and official record verified.
  20. Follett, M. (Lumen Research) & JCDecaux (2018). Attention: The Common Currency for Media. jcdecaux.com/blog/attention-common-currency-media-lumen-research. Abstract and official record verified. Vendor research, not peer reviewed. The 1-2 second range is cross-media and includes out-of-home; the study dates from 2018.
  21. Frost, B. (2013, June 10). Atomic Design. bradfrost.com/blog/post/atomic-web-design/. Full text read. The post is titled 'Atomic Design'; 'atomic-web-design' is only its URL slug. It is also where the Stephen Hay quotation comes from: Frost signs it '— Stephen Hay' and links his own write-up of Hay's talk 'Responsive Design Workflow' at BDConf.
  22. Frost, B. (2016). Atomic Design. Self-published, atomicdesign.bradfrost.com. Record verified only — not used to support a figure.
  23. Goldstein, D. G., McAfee, R. P., & Suri, S. (2011). The effects of exposure time on memory of display advertisements. EC '11, 49-58. 10.1145/1993574.1993584 Abstract and official record verified.
  24. Gonzalez, V. M., & Mark, G. (2004). 'Constant, constant, multi-tasking craziness': managing multiple working spheres. CHI '04. 10.1145/985692.985707 Full text read.
  25. Hari, J. (2022). Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention. Crown. Record verified only — not used to support a figure. Trade book reporting an interview with Earl Miller, not peer-reviewed research. No published work by Miller was located for the finding the text attributes to him.
  26. Hartnett, N., Bellman, S., Beal, V., Kennedy, R., Charron, C., & Varan, D. (2024). How to accurately measure attention to video advertising. International Journal of Advertising, 44(1), 184-207. 10.1080/02650487.2024.2435164 Abstract and official record verified.
  27. Havas Media Network, Lumen Research & Brand Metrics (2024, September). What Do 9,000 Brand Lift Studies Teach Us About Attention & Memory? 24 pp., havasmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/lumen-brand-metrics-havas-attentionwhitepaper.pdf. Full text read. Vendor research on the vendors' own data, not peer reviewed. Sample: 9,089 campaigns, 1,879,764 respondents, 5,618,088 viewable impressions, mostly UK. The multiple-versus-single finding is conditional on the objective: multiple 'good enough' impressions for awareness and consideration, single high-attention impressions for preference and action intent. Also the published source for Lumen Research's own profile: founded 2013, panels in 37 countries by one count and 30+ by another on the same page.
  28. Hegde, J. (2008). Time course of visual perception: Coarse-to-fine processing and beyond. Progress in Neurobiology, 84(4), 405-439. 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2007.09.001 Full text read.
  29. Heitmayer, M., & Lahlou, S. (2021). Why are smartphones disruptive? An empirical study of smartphone use in real-life contexts. Computers in Human Behavior, 116, 106637. 10.1016/j.chb.2020.106637 Full text read.
  30. Hilbert, M., & Lopez, P. (2011). The World's Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information. Science, 332(6025), 60-65. 10.1126/science.1200970 Abstract and official record verified.
  31. Howe, P. D. L. (2017). Natural scenes can be identified as rapidly as individual features. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 79(6), 1674-1681. 10.3758/s13414-017-1349-y Full text read.
  32. International Telecommunication Union (2025). Facts and Figures 2025. Full text read. The 2025 figure is a modelled nowcast, not a household survey.
  33. Jin, J., & Dabbish, L. A. (2009). Self-interruption on the computer: a typology of discretionary task interleaving. CHI '09: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1799-1808. 10.1145/1518701.1518979 Abstract and official record verified.
  34. Johannes, N., Veling, H., Verwijmeren, T., & Buijzen, M. (2019). Hard to Resist?: The Effect of Smartphone Visibility and Notifications on Response Inhibition. Journal of Media Psychology, 31(4), 214-225. 10.1027/1864-1105/a000248 Abstract and official record verified.
  35. Kantar (2023, November 14). Kantar's New Attention Measurement Framework Helps Brands Cut Through the Noise [press release]. London, kantar.com/press-center/kantars-new-attention-measurement-framework-helps-brands-cut-through-the-noise. Full text read. Vendor framework, not peer reviewed. Source of the active/passive definitions; its norms are built on some 50,000 Kantar attention tests.
  36. Kantar (2024). Marketing Trends 2025, trend 2: 'Social media needs to up its game'. kantar.com/campaigns/marketing-trends-2025. Abstract and official record verified. Industry report, not peer reviewed. The 31% is consumer self-report, not a measurement of attention.
  37. Kantar (2024). Media Reactions 2024. kantar.com/campaigns/media-reactions. Abstract and official record verified. Industry study, not peer reviewed: around 1,000 senior marketers and 18,000 consumers covering 384 brands across 27 markets. The full report requires registration; the figures the book cites were verified in Kantar's own published articles, listed separately here.
  38. Larson, A. M., & Loschky, L. C. (2009). The contributions of central versus peripheral vision to scene gist recognition. Journal of Vision, 9(10):6. 10.1167/9.10.6 Abstract and official record verified.
  39. Lemon, K. N., & Verhoef, P. C. (2016). Understanding Customer Experience Throughout the Customer Journey. Journal of Marketing, 80(6), 69-96. 10.1509/jm.15.0420 Abstract and official record verified.
  40. Lindstrom, M. Smashing Your Brand. martinlindstrom.com. Full text read. Traces the concept to the 1915 Coca-Cola contour bottle designed by Earl R. Dean for the Root Glass Company.
  41. Lindstrom, M. (2005). Brand Sense. Free Press. Record verified only — not used to support a figure.
  42. Mark, G., Gonzalez, V. M., & Harris, J. (2005). No task left behind?: examining the nature of fragmented work. CHI '05. 10.1145/1054972.1055017 Abstract and official record verified.
  43. Mark, G., Gudith, D., & Klocke, U. (2008). The cost of interrupted work: more speed and stress. CHI '08. 10.1145/1357054.1357072 Full text read.
  44. Mark, G., Voida, S., & Cardello, A. (2012). 'A pace not dictated by electrons': an empirical study of work without email. CHI '12. 10.1145/2207676.2207754 Full text read.
  45. Mark, G., Iqbal, S., Czerwinski, M., & Johns, P. (2015). Focused, Aroused, but so Distractible: Temporal Perspectives on Multitasking and Communications. CSCW '15. 10.1145/2675133.2675221 Full text read.
  46. Mark, G., Iqbal, S. T., Czerwinski, M., Johns, P., & Sano, A. (2016). Neurotics Can't Focus: An in situ Study of Online Multitasking in the Workplace. CHI '16. 10.1145/2858036.2858202 Full text read.
  47. McClean, P. (2024, July 29). Decoding Attention: Five Lessons to Transform Your Creative. Kantar, kantar.com/inspiration/advertising-media/decoding-attention-five-lessons-to-transform-your-creative. Full text read. Vendor article, not peer reviewed. Kantar reports a minimal correlation within its own database, which is a weaker claim than the text makes.
  48. McDuff, D., el Kaliouby, R., Cohn, J. F., & Picard, R. W. (2015). Predicting Ad Liking and Purchase Intent: Large-Scale Analysis of Facial Responses to Ads. IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing, 6(3), 223-235. 10.1109/TAFFC.2014.2384198 Abstract and official record verified.
  49. McGrady, R., Zheng, K., Curran, R., Baumgartner, J., & Zuckerman, E. (2023). Dialing for Videos: A Random Sample of YouTube. Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media, 3. 10.51685/jqd.2023.022 Full text read.
  50. McGranaghan, M., Liaukonyte, J., & Wilbur, K. C. (2022). How Viewer Tuning, Presence, and Attention Respond to Ad Content and Predict Brand Search Lift. Marketing Science, 41(5), 873-895. 10.1287/mksc.2021.1344 Abstract and official record verified.
  51. McManus, A. (2024, March 21). Decoding Attention: A Deep Dive into Creative Effectiveness with Affectiva and Kantar. Affectiva / Smart Eye, go.smarteye.se/decoding-attention-a-deep-dive-into-creative-effectiveness-with-affectiva-and-kantar. Record verified only — not used to support a figure.
  52. Media Rating Council (2015). Viewable Ad Impression Measurement Guidelines, v2.0, August 18, 2015. Full text read.
  53. Media Rating Council (2016). Mobile Viewable Ad Impression Measurement Guidelines, June 28, 2016. Full text read.
  54. Mendez-Bertolo, C., Moratti, S., Toledano, R., Lopez-Sosa, F., Martinez-Alvarez, R., et al. (2016). A fast pathway for fear in human amygdala. Nature Neuroscience, 19(8), 1041-1049. 10.1038/nn.4324 Abstract and official record verified.
  55. Mukerjee, S., Majo-Vazquez, S., & Gonzalez-Bailon, S. (2018). Networks of Audience Overlap in the Consumption of Digital News. Journal of Communication, 68(1), 26-50. 10.1093/joc/jqx007 Abstract and official record verified.
  56. Neuman, W. R., Park, Y. J., & Panek, E. (2012). Tracking the Flow of Information into the Home. International Journal of Communication, 6, 1022-1041. Full text read.
  57. Neumeier, M. (2003). The Brand Gap. New Riders. Record verified only — not used to support a figure.
  58. Neumeier, M. (2006). Zag. New Riders. Record verified only — not used to support a figure.
  59. Newsworks, Lumen Research and Peter Field (2025). Attention. Report published 25 September 2025, newsworks.org. Abstract and official record verified. Draws on the IPA Effectiveness Databank, which is built from awards entries (self-selection); no peer-reviewed replication.
  60. Nielsen (2026, July 28). Streaming Embarks on Annual Summer Ascent in Nielsen's May 2026 Gauge Reports [press release]. nielsen.com/news-center/2026/streaming-embarks-on-annual-summer-ascent-in-nielsens-may-2026-gauge-reports/. Full text read. Panel measurement by a commercial vendor, not peer reviewed. US, persons 2+, five-week May 2026 interval (27 April to 31 May). The Gauge revises its definitions between editions, so the month is part of the citation.
  61. Nishida, S., & Johnston, A. (2002). Marker correspondence, not processing latency, determines temporal binding of visual attributes. Current Biology, 12(5), 359-368. 10.1016/S0960-9822(02)00698-X Abstract and official record verified.
  62. NTU Singapore (Nanyang Technological University), Research Network and Listen Labs (2025). Scroll. Like. Repeat. The Hidden Cost of Social Media on Young Minds. White paper, 17 July 2025, ntu.edu.sg. Full text read. Institutional white paper, not peer reviewed.
  63. Ofcom (2025). Online Nation 2025. Full text read.
  64. Parry, D. A. (2023). Does the Mere Presence of a Smartphone Impact Cognitive Performance? A Meta-Analysis of the 'Brain Drain Effect'. Media Psychology, 27(5), 737-762. 10.1080/15213269.2023.2286647 Abstract and official record verified.
  65. Parry, D. A., & Masur, P. K. (2026). Fleeting Attention While Scrolling: Dwell Time and Exposure in Social Media Feeds. PsyArXiv. 10.31234/osf.io/68nyh_v1 Preprint, not peer reviewed.
  66. Pessoa, L., McKenna, M., Gutierrez, E., & Ungerleider, L. G. (2002). Neural processing of emotional faces requires attention. PNAS, 99(17), 11458-11463. 10.1073/pnas.172403899 Abstract and official record verified.
  67. Pessoa, L., & Adolphs, R. (2010). Emotion processing and the amygdala: from a 'low road' to 'many roads' of evaluating biological significance. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(11), 773-782. 10.1038/nrn2920 Abstract and official record verified.
  68. Pew Research Center (2025). Americans' Social Media Use. Abstract and official record verified.
  69. Rayner, K. (1998). Eye Movements in Reading and Information Processing: 20 Years of Research. Psychological Bulletin, 124(3), 372-422. 10.1037/0033-2909.124.3.372 Abstract and official record verified. Paywalled. The figures the book takes from Rayner are cited here from his open-access 2009 review.
  70. Rayner, K. (2009). Eye Movements in Reading: Models and Data. Journal of Eye Movement Research, 2(5):2, 1-10. 10.16910/jemr.2.5.2 Full text read. Open-access review by the same author. It is where the 200-250 ms fixation duration and the 7-9 letter-space saccade length can actually be read; Rayner 1998 is paywalled.
  71. Reuters Institute (2026). Digital News Report 2026. Full text read.
  72. Rosengren, S., Eisend, M., Koslow, S., & Dahlen, M. (2020). A Meta-Analysis of When and How Advertising Creativity Works. Journal of Marketing, 84(6), 39-56. 10.1177/0022242920929288 Full text read.
  73. Rubinstein, J. S., Meyer, D. E., & Evans, J. E. (2001). Executive Control of Cognitive Processes in Task Switching. JEP:HPP, 27(4), 763-797. 10.1037/0096-1523.27.4.763 Full text read.
  74. Ruiz Pardo, A. C., & Minda, J. P. (2022). Reexamining the 'brain drain' effect: A replication of Ward et al. (2017). Acta Psychologica, 230, 103717. 10.1016/j.actpsy.2022.103717 Abstract and official record verified.
  75. Sethuraman, R., Tellis, G. J., & Briesch, R. A. (2011). How Well Does Advertising Work? Generalizations from Meta-Analysis of Brand Advertising Elasticities. Journal of Marketing Research, 48(3), 457-471. 10.1509/jmkr.48.3.457 Abstract and official record verified.
  76. Simon, H. A. (1971). Designing Organizations for an Information-Rich World. In M. Greenberger (Ed.), Computers, Communications, and the Public Interest (pp. 37-72). The Johns Hopkins Press. Full text read. Transcript of a colloquium lecture. The sentence the book quotes runs across pages 40-41.
  77. Simonov, A., Valletti, T., & Veiga, A. (2025). Attention Spillovers from News to Ads: Evidence from an Eye-Tracking Experiment. Journal of Marketing Research, 62(2), 294-315. 10.1177/00222437241256900 Full text read.
  78. Smartly (2026). 2026 Digital Advertising Trends Report. smartly.io. Abstract and official record verified. Survey run with Reach3 Insights among more than 450 marketing decision-makers in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. Vendor research, not peer reviewed.
  79. Talypova, D., Visuri, A., Shahu, A., Wang, A., & Wintersberger, P. (2025). Are Six Minutes of Focus Enough? An Exploratory Study of Multitasking Patterns in Workplace Environments. CHIWORK '25: Proceedings of the 4th Annual Symposium on Human-Computer Interaction for Work, 1-15. 10.1145/3729176.3729198 Abstract and official record verified.
  80. Thorpe, S., Fize, D., & Marlot, C. (1996). Speed of processing in the human visual system. Nature, 381(6582), 520-522. 10.1038/381520a0 Abstract and official record verified.
  81. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025). American Time Use Survey, Table 11A. Full text read.
  82. Vraga, E., Bode, L., & Troller-Renfree, S. (2016). Beyond Self-Reports: Using Eye Tracking to Measure Topic and Style Differences in Attention to Social Media Content. Communication Methods and Measures, 10(2-3), 149-164. 10.1080/19312458.2016.1150443 Full text read.
  83. Webster, J. G., & Ksiazek, T. B. (2012). The Dynamics of Audience Fragmentation: Public Attention in an Age of Digital Media. Journal of Communication, 62(1), 39-56. 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01616.x Abstract and official record verified.
  84. Widener, C., Arbanas, J., Van Dyke, D., Arkenberg, C., Matheson, B., & Auxier, B. (2025, March 25). 2025 Digital Media Trends: Social Platforms Are Becoming a Dominant Force in Media and Entertainment. Deloitte Insights, Deloitte Center for Technology, Media & Telecommunications, deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/technology/digital-media-trends-consumption-habits-survey/2025.html. Abstract and official record verified. Industry survey, not peer reviewed. Online survey of 3,595 US consumers fielded in October 2024. A 2026 edition exists and does not carry this finding, so the year is part of the citation.
  85. Wiradhany, W., & Nieuwenstein, M. R. (2017). Cognitive control in media multitaskers: Two replication studies and a meta-analysis. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. 10.3758/s13414-017-1408-4 Abstract and official record verified.
  86. Wiradhany, W., et al. (2020). Media multitasking, mind-wandering, and distractibility: A large-scale study. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics. 10.3758/s13414-019-01842-0 Abstract and official record verified.
  87. Yeykelis, L., Cummings, J. J., & Reeves, B. (2014). Multitasking on a Single Device: Arousal and the Frequency, Anticipation, and Prediction of Switching Between Media Content on a Computer. Journal of Communication, 64(1), 167-192. 10.1111/jcom.12070 Abstract and official record verified.
  88. You, Y., Vadakkepatt, G. G., & Joshi, A. M. (2015). A Meta-Analysis of Electronic Word-of-Mouth Elasticity. Journal of Marketing, 79(2), 19-39. 10.1509/jm.14.0169 Abstract and official record verified.