Many of the most prominent digital devices, platforms, and apps are engineered to distract us, to create habits of ever-increasing use, and to transform these habits into full-scale dependence. Before we can muster effective resistance to agency-eroding forms of distraction and dependence, we need to understand their mechanisms. This chapter addresses the AI-enabled attention economy from a neuroscientific and psychological perspective, illustrating how digital platforms exploit prominent human proclivities to maximize engagement and hijack attention.