How Learning Competes in the Attention Economy

You’ve probably heard it said: attention is the new currency. Social media platforms, content studios, and advertisers aren’t just competing for views — they’re designing entire ecosystems to capture, sustain, and monetize attention. These companies aren’t just hoping people engage. They’re engineering for it.

Corporate learning, on the other hand, struggles to compete. Many L&D programs are built with the assumption that because learning is important, people will make time to learn. That might have worked when the biggest workplace distractions were an overflowing inbox or competing deadlines. But in a world where every screen is optimized to pull people in and keep them scrolling, learning experiences that are passive and predictable don’t stand a chance. You’re up against TikTok, Netflix, YouTube, and a never-ending flood of notifications designed to hijack focus.

Here's the twist: learning doesn’t need to be faster or easier to compete. It needs to be more compelling, more immersive, and more meaningful.

The best learning experiences aren’t designed for convenience. They’re designed to make people lean in and feel something. So, what can L&D professionals learn from digital platforms that have perfected the science of commanding attention?

The Attention Crisis: Why Learning Struggles to Compete 

The workplace is an environment of constant distraction. Emails, Teams messages, Zoom meetings, and social feeds pull employees in a hundred directions. But the real challenge for L&D isn’t just getting a slice of this fragmented attention. We need to sustain that attention long enough for real learning to happen. Our goal isn’t a completion rate; it’s real-world business impact and lasting behaviour change.

The average TikTok session lasts over 10 minutes, with users returning to the app 8+ times per day — but a 10-minute corporate training video still feels like an eternity to most employees (Sensor Tower, 2023). Why? Because engagement isn’t about duration — it’s about depth. The platforms that thrive in the attention economy don’t just serve up content; they create experiences that make people feel invested.

The problem isn’t that learners lack focus. It’s that most training isn’t designed to be irresistible. And that’s where L&D needs to shift. Let’s break down three key strategies L&D can borrow from the attention economy to create high-impact, high-touch learning experiences.

1. Narrative and Emotion: The Power of Story-Driven Learning 

The content that captures attention—whether it’s a Netflix series, a viral campaign, or a gripping podcast—has one thing in common: it makes people feel something. Emotion fuels memory, and memory fuels behaviour (Immordino-Yang & Damasio, 2007).

That’s why storytelling works. Not because it’s entertaining, but because it creates tension, choice, and consequences. Shows like Stranger Things or The Last of Us don’t open with explanations; they drop you into high-stakes moments and make you want to understand what’s going on. This is a storytelling tactic known as the "mystery box:" give just enough context to create curiosity, then let the unanswered questions pull people forward.

In the world of social media, the mystery box is as much a marketing ploy as a storytelling technique. Driven by curiosity, an audience will engage actively through social threads and speculation, further heightening the effect and drawing an entire community into the experience.

These same dynamics work in learning. Instead of starting with key takeaways or theoretical frameworks, start with a leadership dilemma, a moment of ambiguity, or a high-pressure decision, then let the learner work through it.

To make this kind of learning work:

• Use story arcs. Frame leadership challenges by introducing conflict, choice, and consequences.
• Create narrative tension. Start with a problem, not the answer.
• Use incomplete or messy context. Mirror how real decisions happen.
• Let learners sit in the ambiguity. Give space for reflection, discussion, and resolution. 

People don’t remember slides or summaries. They remember what it felt like to wrestle with a tough decision — and what they’d do differently next time. 

2. Immersive Experiences: Giving Learners Skin in the Game

In the most engaging digital experiences, you’re not just watching — you’re in it. For example, in games like Elden Ring or Baldur’s Gate, players actively shape a story through exploration, trial and error, and decision-making. These games are dense, ambiguous, and, at times, brutally challenging. And yet, they hold attention for hundreds of hours because the stakes feel real and the player’s role is active. Fun fact: in 2023, Elden Ring players logged more than 1 billion collective hours — not because it was easy, but because it demanded mastery (Bandai Namco, 2023).

The same goes for platforms like Twitch and YouTube Live. Watching a streamer play through a high-stakes scenario, reacting in real-time, and taking suggestions from viewers creates a dynamic, unpredictable learning loop. Viewers stay engaged not just because of the content, but because they have influence—their input can change the direction of what happens next. They even form a collective identity as “the chat.” And the emotional investment translates to consumer behaviour on these platforms: Twitch users view an average of 50 million hours of content per day (TwitchTracker, 2023).

Now imagine corporate learning designed the same way. Not a static course or a narrated slideshow but a live, unfolding challenge where learners must navigate decisions with imperfect information, respond under pressure, and adapt in real-time.

To make immersive learning work:

• Create uncertainty. Don’t give learners the full picture. Let them make decisions without knowing what comes next.
• Introduce risk. High-stakes simulations invite emotional investment because there’s something on the line.
• Design for agency. Let learners shape the experience. Their choices should affect outcomes.
• Make it real-time. Use live sessions, role plays, or simulations in which learners must respond in the moment.

Sectors like journalism and cybersecurity use real-time simulations to test critical thinking under pressure. The goal isn’t perfection — it’s adaptive thinking, reflection, and learning through consequences. The same applies to leadership development. Just like a great game or livestream, it needs to matter. Passive content asks for attention. Immersive experiences demand it.

3. Social Engagement: Learning That Feels Like a Shared Mission

The defining trait of modern digital platforms is that we don’t just consume content, we co-create it. TikTok thrives because of remix culture — duets, stitches, and trends invite users to participate, not just watch. Reddit and Discord build communities around shared problems and ideas. Even LinkedIn, with its humble polls and posts, is a place where ideas spread because people want to weigh in.

This is the kind of energy most learning experiences lack. Too often, training is designed as a solo task: complete the module, pass the quiz, move on. But research and experience tell us that learning sticks better when it’s social, collaborative, and shared. Learners in collaborative or cohort-based programs are 50% more likely to complete the material and apply it on the job (LinkedIn Learning, 2023).

When learners see others wrestling with the same challenge, or feel accountable to a group, their engagement goes up. So does their willingness to reflect honestly, take risks, and support others.

To make learning social in the right ways:

• Use live, cohort-based experiences. Create momentum and a sense of “we’re in this together.”
• Facilitate shared reflection, debate, and coaching. Allow learners to build off one another’s experiences.
• Create urgency through FOMO. Limited-time challenges, live sessions, or showcase opportunities boost participation.
• Design spaces for contribution. Give learners a role—not just as consumers of content, but as creators of insight.

On platforms like Twitch or Reddit, people stick around because they feel part of something. That same dynamic—social belonging, shared learning, mutual accountability—is a powerful lever for deeper engagement in leadership development.

Making Learning Stick: From Attention to Lasting Impact

Capturing attention is the first win. But the real goal of learning is deeper: transformation. That’s where so many corporate learning programs fall short. They deliver a moment of insight, maybe even a spark of energy, and then… nothing. Studies show that 90% of new information is forgotten within a week if not reinforced (Murre & Dros, 2015).

The problem is that most learning experiences aren’t designed for retention. There’s no follow-up. No reinforcement. No re-engagement. But if there’s one thing digital platforms understand better than anyone, it’s how to keep people coming back.

Look at Duolingo. It doesn’t rely on a single lesson to create language proficiency. It uses habit loops—daily streaks, gamified feedback, personalized nudges—to encourage consistent practice over time. Or consider fitness apps like Strava or Peloton, where the initial workout is just the start. The real magic is in the daily challenges, progress tracking, and social accountability that keep people engaged long after the first session.

Learning works the same way. If we want people to apply what they’ve learned, we need to design for momentum, not just moments.

Here’s how that translates into L&D:

• Spaced reinforcement. Revisit key concepts through short challenges, reminders, or reflective prompts over time — not just once at the end of a session.
• Real-world application. Encourage learners to test what they’ve learned in their work context, then return to share outcomes or obstacles with peers.
• Behavioural nudges. Use light-touch reminders and check-ins to resurface ideas when learners are likely to need them — think push notifications, just-in-time content, or leadership “playbooks.”

Sustained attention and long-term behaviour change don’t come from a single workshop (HBR, 2019). They come from learning that’s built to live beyond the moment — learning that follows you back into your day, reappears when you need it, and grows with you as you lead.

The Future of L&D: Competing (and Winning) in the Attention Economy

If there’s one thing the attention economy has made clear, it’s that attention is earned. Platforms like TikTok, Netflix, Twitch, and Duolingo don’t assume people want to engage — they design for active, immersive, social, sustained engagement.

The same needs to be true of learning.

1. Use story and emotion to pull learners into experiences that feel real and demand reflection.
2. Design immersive challenges that require action, risk, and decision-making — not just comprehension.
3. Make learning social, participatory, and collaborative so that people feel they’re part of something that matters.
4. Build for re-engagement because real change happens between sessions.

The attention economy isn’t something L&D has to fight against. It’s a playbook we can learn from. The organizations that figure this out will very quickly go beyond checking a box and start to see real-world returns. In a world of constant change, learning that drives real behaviour shifts is what builds leadership readiness, accelerates culture change, and creates a deeper bench of future-fit talent.

Design learning the way the best platforms design content: not just to be consumed, but to be experienced. To be shared. And to last.

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