Our attention is finite, yet we spend it everywhere but where it matters. This is not a moral failure. It is a structural one. Attention economics is the idea that in a world overflowing with information, human attention becomes the scarce resource. Whoever captures it, holds power. Over time, this has reshaped not just markets, but inner lives. What we notice. What we ignore. What we can tolerate. What we can no longer sit with. For a long time, people warned that television would rot our brains. In hindsight, television looks almost generous. A show required you to stay for forty minutes. A film asked for two hours. A detective story invited you to notice details, to remember names, to hold multiple threads in your mind at once. You watched. You followed. You waited. Listening to music meant staying long enough to learn lyrics. Reading meant sitting with confusion until meaning arrived. Writing a poem meant wrestling with language, not skimming it. Even boredom had a purpose—it ...
For many Kenyans, the dream home is clear: a spacious bungalow or maisonette with a large homestead, flowering gardens, and all the trappings of success. This vision of a mansion has been the symbol of achievement, stability, and social status for generations. But how did this dream become so deeply ingrained? And does it still make sense in today’s rapidly changing world? The History of the Coveted Dream House The bungalow and maisonette styles rose to prominence during colonial and post-independence Kenya, inspired by Western architectural trends. These homes symbolized modernity, permanence, and upward mobility. Owning such a home became a milestone—a visible sign that you had “made it.” Through the decades, large plots in leafy neighborhoods with expansive interiors and manicured gardens became the gold standard of Kenyan homeownership. The Realities of Owning, Building, and Living in a Mansion However, beneath this dream lies a less discussed reality: the true cost of ownin...