Development of attention and «sharing of attention» between self and foreign control

The present paper picks up Vygotskij's metaphor of the two lines of development in depicting the development of attention in early childhood. It is striking to observe that a great many of authors from otherwise different background and orientation agree in stating that in the first year of one's life the quality of feedback form a parent, normally the mother, is of utmost importance. This is to say that the quality of interaction between mother and child is heavily dependent on the mother's feedback to the child's emotional expressions during the development of the capacity to interpret and control shared attentional processes. The development of attention on the ontogenetic level is put in juxtaposition to societal control of attention as it shows in the attempt of digital media to gain control over the attention of children and youth in order to adduct them as potential users and clients of commercial goods. It can be shown how these attempts are meant to work at the expense of family and non-commercial dimensions of development and caring.

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