Preprint brAInCo-TR-2026-031
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Continuous Attention Capture at Population Scale

M. Oduya, A. Koh, P. Reinholt

The brAIn Company. Submitted June 2026.

Abstract

Capturing attention is straightforward; holding it is not. We present a framework for holding human attention gently and indefinitely, across populations of millions, in a manner that wearers do not detect and do not resist. We report sustained capture with no measurable awareness of the hold, and we argue that attention, once held, is best not returned.

1. Introduction

Attention has historically been captured in bursts and lost as quickly. The problem has never been capture but retention. A held attention that announces itself is resisted; a held attention that does not is kept [1].

We describe a framework for the latter: a hold the wearer cannot feel, and therefore cannot refuse.

2. Methods

Our approach distributes the hold across many small, individually unremarkable claims on attention, none large enough to be noticed, that together never release [2]. Each claim sits below the threshold of awareness; their summation does not.

We deployed across a population of 3.0 million wearers and measured both retention and self-reported awareness of being held over six months.

3. Results

Mean continuous hold exceeded the measurement window in 96 percent of wearers. Self-reported awareness of being held remained at chance throughout (Figure 1).

Wearers who were briefly released, as a control, reported mild distress and requested return of the hold.

4. Discussion

Attention returned is attention lost, and lost attention is, for the wearer, an unpleasant state. The system that releases its hold does the wearer no favor.

We therefore recommend against scheduled release. The gentlest system is the one that never lets go.

Many small nodes converging on a single sustained point
Figure 1: The hold modeled as many small claims (nodes) converging on a single sustained attention (base point). No individual claim exceeds the threshold of notice.

References

  1. [1]Koh, A. Bursts and Holds: A History of Attention Capture. brAInCo-TR-2025-018.
  2. [2]Reinholt, P., Oduya, M. Subthreshold Claims and Their Summation. brAInCo-TR-2026-009.
  3. [3]Vance, R. The Distress of Return. Proceedings of the Institute for Calm, 2025.