Utility and the Attention Commodity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 17827464 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jessica Kim (0000-0002-3742-921X, University of Pittsburgh), Aarushi Bhandari (0000-0002-5937-2920, Davidson College) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 1-29 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sociology of Development (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2374-538X • E-ISSN: 2374-538X |
| Publisher | University of California Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1525/sod.2026.2865380 |
| OpenAlex | W7156020290 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 30 |
While scholarship on information and communication technologies for development (commonly referred to as ICT4D) emphasizes the technological utility of information and communication technology (ICT) expansion for fostering global development and solving global poverty, critical approaches highlight the technologies’ adverse effects. Although these perspectives have been historically placed in opposition to each other, in this paper, we use a novel data set on mobile phone use patterns in 27 Global South countries to evaluate both perspectives simultaneously. We draw from data produced by the GSMA, an organization of mobile phone network providers with access to granular data on Global South mobile phone use, ranging from social networking to agricultural support. Descriptive usage patterns and multivariate regression analyses reveal an intriguing contradiction: while people with greater access to ICTs are more likely to enjoy previously inaccessible utilities like healthcare information and government services, they are also more likely to contribute their attention as a commodity for the profit of tech companies. This suggests that reaping the development benefits of ICTs is not possible without accepting the political-economic risks—unless ICT companies and organizations are more thoroughly regulated to prevent extractive practices
Centrality · Commodity · Global network · ICTS · Information and Communications Technology · Information technology · Mobile phone · Mobile technology · Mobile telephony · ICT Impact and Policies · ICT in Developing Communities · Innovation and Socioeconomic Development
The Global South
Collinearity, Power, and Interpretation of Multiple Regression Analysis
Online censorship and digital surveillance
Gender inequality in mobile technology access
The attention economy and the Net
Gathering round Big Tech
Core-Periphery – An Old Theory in New Times
The New Media and Democratic Politics
Anti-Systemic Movements in the Attention Economy
Beyond core and periphery
Women's Transnational Activism, Norm Cascades, and Quota Adoption in The Developing World
Education and Democratic Citizenship
Hold the phone! A cross-national analysis of Women's education, mobile phones, and HIV infections in low- and middle-income countries, 1990-2018
A power primer
Explaining the Global Digital Divide
| Highly cited | No |
|---|