"if attention is a resource, it is not one covered by property rights. Cunning design might be able to take it from us, and do so with no hope of restitution. The spread of smartphones and social media has created a world in which it is very easy to steal. Can anything return attention to its owners? Social norms might help: libraries, for instance, have long insisted on silence in order to preserve focus. In time, regulation might, too. For the moment, however, the best hope is to take matters into your own hands and, when you are trying to read a column, put your phone far, far away."