That little electronic rectangle. Lying on your bed. Hugging your thigh inside your pocket. Kept safe from harm in your handbag. Or cradled in your hand.

You love spending time with it. You go everywhere together. You stroke it. You play with it. You hold it gently. You tell it everything about yourself. You miss it frantically when it's gone. And you cry when it dies.

You stare into it. And it stares back.

It's there when you're happy. When you're angry. When you're frustrated. When you cry. It spends more time with you than anyone else. More than your friends. More than your family. More than your wife. More than your children. More than yourself.

It's your most loyal friend. The one who wakes you up into the morning. The one who tells you where to go. The one who teaches you about the world. The one who captures your memories.The one you can count on in an emergency. The only friend you can truly trust.

For all the trust you've built over the years you've been together, perhaps there's one thought that you never allowed to cross your mind.

that Maybe your smartphone has an agenda of it's own.

What if all those secrets you've been telling it over the years weren't kept secret?

What if it's been talking about you behind your back?

What if it's manipulating your behaviour against your will?

What if, while pretending to be your most loyal friend, it's actually your greatest enemy?

What your smartphone really wants - The Attention Economy