Ammen Tawfik

Hello!

My name is Ammen Tawfik, and I grew up in Kaimuk. I'm fully Egyptian—both of my parents immigrated here from Cairo, and from a young age, they instilled in me a strong sense of competition and the value of hard work. I went to Mid-Pacific for high school, then started college at Kapiolani Community College before transferring to the University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu to study General Creative Media. Throughout my time at UH West Oʻahu, I’ve grown a lot—not just as a student, but as a creative. I’ve come to genuinely love creative media and everything I’ve been able to explore and build through the skills I’ve developed here. If I were an artist’s tool, I’d be a chisel. It might not seem flashy, but a chisel is all about persistence—slowly shaping, refining, and carving something meaningful out of something rough. It takes patience, pressure, and a lot of small, consistent effort to reveal the final piece. That’s exactly how I approach my work and challenges: I keep pushing forward, no matter how tough it gets, always aiming to create something great in the end.

Research Topic: The Attention Economy

Research Question: How does human attention work, and how is it influenced by technology and media?

Abstract:

This capstone explores the concept of attention and its role in shaping thought, decisions, and productivity in the modern world. It examines the biological and psychological foundations of attention, how it’s influenced by storytelling and emotion, and its impact across fields like education, marketing, and digital media. The paper also addresses the ethical concerns of the “attention economy,” where focus is commodified, and concludes with strategies for managing attention and staying mindful in a distraction-filled world.

Capstone Project: Social Media Campaign

Project Title: Attention Thief

Capstone Proposal:

CREATIVE PROCESS:

The concept of creativity has come a long way. The Old Greeks would call those creative forces muses, other religions referred to them as God. Today people still mostly treat creativity as an aha moment outside the area of influence. However, just by looking at the creative process one can tell, that creativity and creative work is more than just that one "Aha-Moment" (insight). It is clear that generating ideas demands planning and preparation, identifying something of interest like a problem, an opportunity or a challenge, doing research. This then leads to thinking of a solution, allowing time to incubate and iterations before arriving at something “complete.” Students learn that hard work is what makes their ideas come to life and sticktuiveness is what helps them get better.

DELIVERABLE:

Ammen turned research into real-time reflection with a social media campaign designed to test the very system it critiques—the attention economy. Grounded in his exploration of how attention is shaped by biology, emotion, and storytelling, Ammen used his campaign to examine what captures focus, what sustains it, and what distracts. His posts became both content and case study, engaging followers while raising awareness about how digital platforms monetize our minds. Through this interactive experiment, Ammen challenges us to think critically about how—and where—we spend our most valuable resource.

Look closer. Scroll slower as Ammen questions the click! Go and check it out!

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