Reading on a screen is not the same as reading on paper, and pretending otherwise is one of the quiet failures of digital design. The difference lies in how the visual system responds to movement and light.

Walk into any Starbucks and someone will probably be paying $4.95 for a cup of hot water with a tea bag floating in it. They won't question it. They won’t even flinch.

Offer that same person a box of 20 premium tea bags for $99 in the grocery store, and they’ll act like you just tried to mug them in broad daylight.

Most people think of irrationality as a flaw to be fixed. Economists, psychologists, even self-help authors all conspire to beat it out of us with spreadsheets, mindfulness apps, and talks of efficiency. But here’s a thought: what if irrationality isn’t the noise, but the signal?

The greatest error in modern marketing is to assume that attention is democratic, fairly allocated, or guided by reason. It isn’t.