Glorifying the “Me, Myself, and I” has become the defining mantra of the modern economy, where self-expression is currency, personal data fuels innovation, and individuality drives demand. In today’s ME Economy, brands don’t merely sell products; they sell identity, belonging, and the assurance of being seen, heard, and celebrated as one-of-a-kind.

At first glance, it appears empowering. We’ve moved from the mass to the micro, from general markets to hyper-personalized experiences. Anyone with a smartphone can establish a personal brand, connect with a global audience, and monetize their unique identity. You can be the product, the business, the content, and the strategy—all at once.

But let’s pause and ask a more fundamental question:

Is this really a healthy mantra to live and work by?

And more importantly:

Who is truly benefiting from this shift, from the Attention Economy to the ME Economy?

The ME Economy promises empowerment through personal branding and hyper-personalization. But is this just performance at scale? Discover how the Intention Economy is reshaping power, data, and identity in the digital world and what it means for creators, consumers, and businesses.

From Production to Persona, A Brief Economic History

To grasp the ME Economy’s significance, we must situate it in a broader historical context:

• Industrial Age: Productivity and labor defined value.
• Information Age: Access and knowledge became capital.
• Attention Economy: Human attention became the most sought-after resource.
• ME Economy: The individual [your data, your voice, your brand] has become the product.

Now emerging is the Intention Economy*, where the individual’s expressed needs, not their captured attention, guide interactions and commerce.

From Attention to Identity

The Attention Economy taught us that time is equivalent to money. Whoever held our gaze won. Social platforms engineered environments to maximize engagement, while advertisers poured billions into grabbing and holding attention.

The ME Economy has taken this further. It doesn’t just want your attention, it wants your identity. Your tastes, habits, preferences, beliefs, fears, and dreams are all extracted, cataloged, and commercialized. Individuality has become the engine of commerce. Everything is “for you”, from playlists to personalized skincare to AI-generated content.

It’s seductive. Empowering. Convenient.

And profoundly monetizable.

Who’s Winning in the ME Economy?

Superficially, the ME Economy seems to elevate the individual:

• Freelancers and creators can operate independently.
• Entrepreneurs can build global micro-businesses.
• Consumers enjoy customized services and experiences.

Yet, beneath the surface lies a stark imbalance of power.

The True Beneficiaries:

• Tech platforms: Every click and scroll feeds data into algorithms, enriching the platforms, not the users.
• Advertisers: With emotional and behavioral profiling, they sell not just to who you are, but to who you might become.
• AI companies: Trained on user-generated content, these systems monetize identity at scale.
• Top-tier creators: A small, privileged group breaks through, often with institutional support or legacy access.

The illusion of empowerment masks a more sobering truth: value flows upward to those who own the infrastructure.

The AI Feedback Loop: When “Me” Trains the Machine

Artificial Intelligence has intensified the dynamics of the ME Economy.

Generative tools learn from the content we create, the prompts we provide, and the preferences we express. We are the training data.

• Write a blog post: AI absorbs your voice.
• Upload an image: AI internalizes your aesthetic.
• Utilize AI tools to optimize your brand: AI can replicate and distribute it.

And none of this stays with you alone. It powers ecosystems designed to predict and influence the next iteration of your identity. Personalization, once a luxury, is now a feedback loop, feeding on and reinforcing our digital selves.

The Psychological Toll: Performance and Fracture

What began as autonomy has often become performance. The pressure to curate a compelling online self creates fatigue, anxiety, and emotional fragmentation. Metrics become metrics of self-worth. Engagement becomes validation. Even rest must be reframed as “content.”

A 2023 Pew Research study found:

• 71% of Gen Z and Millennials report feeling overwhelmed by personal branding.
• 63% believe it’s necessary for professional success.

We’re not just living, we’re broadcasting. Not just expressing but performing. And somewhere in the loop, we lose sight of our offline selves.

Global Tensions: When the ME Economy Goes Global

The ME Economy may have flourished in the West, but its effects are spreading and not always harmoniously.

• In collectivist cultures, personal branding often clashes with values of humility and shared identity.
• As global platforms expand, they bring with them Western ideologies: visibility equals value; individuality equals worth.

Digital identity, once personal, now plays on a global and cultural stage, with consequences for local traditions and societal norms.

A Way Forward: From ME to Intention

The ME Economy isn’t inherently negative. It’s brought new tools and voices to the table. But as we mature in our digital presence, we must ask: how do we use these tools consciously and ethically?

Enter the Intention Economy, a vision of digital interaction where individuals set the terms. You declare what you need, and services adapt. No manipulation. No passive data extraction. Just a deliberate exchange.

Five Grounding Questions for the Digital-ized Human

1. Am I creating or performing?
2. Do I own my content, or lease it to platforms?
3. Is personalization empowering or invasive?
4. Who benefits from my online presence?
5. What parts of myself do I reserve for privacy, not performance?
6. Does this benefit my life and my family?

Toward a Shared Future

The ME Economy is a mirror. It reflects our desires and ambitions, but it can also distort them.

What if the next shift is not just from Attention to Intention, but from ME to WE?

Where technology supports well-being, not just engagement. Where platforms reward contribution, not just performance. Where identity is protected, not exploited.

The next economy could be more human, more intentional, and more just.

We already have the tools.

The question is how, and for whom, we use them.

Footnotes

*The Intention Economy is an emerging model where power shifts from companies capturing attention to individuals expressing intent. Instead of being tracked, profiled, and targeted based on passive behaviors, people in the Intention Economy actively declare what they want—be it a product, service, or experience—and businesses respond accordingly. This flips the traditional advertising model on its head, prioritizing relevance, consent, and mutual value over manipulation. Coined by Doc Searls, the concept envisions a digital landscape where consumers are no longer the product but the drivers of demand, enabling more ethical, efficient, and personalized interactions. In essence, the Intention Economy empowers people to lead with clarity and choice rather than being led by algorithms.