I think we tend to overestimate Earth's potential value to an advanced alien race.

Part of it's a bit of tunnel vision, ego, and general ignorance but a lot of it's because it's not easy to incorporate Earth(lings) into a science fiction story without propping up our planet as being somehow relevant and significant to the plot.

And even if there was any awareness of our existence, I strongly suspect most aliens would just take an approach of monitoring us from a distance.