The Duty to Promote Digital Minimalism in Others II: Duties of Right

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter begins with a discussion of the distinction between duties of virtue (which cannot be coercively enforced) and duties of right (which can). It explores attention ecology (the duty to promote digital minimalism in others), understood as a duty of right. This takes us into the territory of Kantian political philosophy. The core tenets of Kant’s political philosophy are introduced and applied to the question of regulating the attention economy through legislation. One core tenant is that state interference can be legitimately called upon to protect freedom. Understanding certain harms of the attention economy (e.g., damaging a child’s capacities for setting and pursuing her ends) as threats to freedom opens the door to revisiting some previously discussed cases (e.g., education, employment, and the development of applications) from the point of view of legislation. It is important to note that while regulating the attention economy via legislation is explored, we do not advocate this as the only means by which the attention economy should be checked. In this chapter and others, we emphasize the important role that culture and education can and should play in restructuring our relationship with our devices.