The Sirens' Call

Hayes begins by recounting the famous episode from Homer’s Odyssey, in which Odysseus saves himself and his crew from the Sirens by plugging their ears with wax and binding himself to the ship’s mast. Hayes contrasts this ancient tale of irresistible allure with the modern “siren” of our urban landscape: the emergency vehicle wail that commands our attention. From there, he explores how this same dynamic—of attention captured against our will—has become the core reality of the twenty-first century.

Hayes argues that “attention” is both the fundamental currency of our inner lives and a scarce resource now relentlessly pursued by corporations, social media platforms, and political campaigns. He discusses historical moral panics about new technologies—such as Socrates railing against writing or 1950s Senate hearings on comic books—mirror our current anxieties about smartphone overuse and social media. While acknowledging that some warnings might be overblown, Hayes asserts that others (like the early condemnation of tobacco) have proven legitimate. Whether today’s smartphones are “the new comic books” or “the new cigarettes” remains an urgent, open question.

Hayes also acknowledges that real harms and justified fears can be embedded within these so-called panics. He points out that the debate over whether screens and social media threaten our well-being isn’t purely generational hand-wringing.