Quantify the systemic impact of attention-harvesting design on decision-making quality, productivity, and democratic participation across populations

Cross-sectional analysis of 200K users across 15 countries; correlation between notification volume, cognitive load (measured via attention task performance), and long-term decision quality; stratified by age, income, digital literacy

Users exposed to high-notification environments show 23% reduction in complex decision quality, 31% increase in impulse purchases, and 18% lower civic participation. Effects are 3x stronger in users under 25 and 2x stronger in lower-education cohorts. Daily attention hijacking costs average user 47 minutes of productive time weekly.