It’s no secret that every beep, boop, and buzz draws us away from our inner calm into a whirlwind of distraction. In that respect, Johann Hari’s Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again is nothing revolutionary. Anecdotally, you already know what Hari confirms with research: modern life is comprised of interruptions that prevent us from thinking deeply. Hari sites studies about the average number of interruptions we face, the length of time it takes to enter a flow state of thinking, and the ultimate inefficacy of so-called multitasking. In addition to the research, Hari provides relatable personal anecdotes to help characterize the phenomenon.
Whenever I read nonfiction, I think about titles and subtitles. I think about the promises they offer. Stolen Focus offers a promise to think deeply again and, technically, Hari delivers on that promise. The final chapter offers a primer on how to change habits in order to maintain focus—things like digital detoxing and setting times for when you’ll allow yourself to check your e-mail. That said, though, even Hari recognizes that personal changes are not enough. Like recycling in response to climate change, the onus (and the shame) is displaced onto individuals rather than those who are truly responsible for stealing our focus.
To Hari’s credit, he places the phenomenon in the broader technological and political contexts from which it has arisen. What’s at the heart of this problem? The same thing as for all problems: capitalism. Take, for instance, Google, whose business model is based on maintaining the engagement of its audience. They design ways of keeping you focused on their own products and services (one need look only so far as its new “AI Summary” feature—it’s there so that you don’t actually have to click away from Google itself). Hari recounts how one employee at the company suggested scaling back on push notifications—rather than sending an alert to your phone every time you receive an e-mail, you’d instead receive an update once a day—and he was essentially laughed out of the room. Apply that, and other tactics, to an already vulnerable populace that is burnt out from overwork, stress, poor diets…it’s a recipe for manipulation.
To that end, Hari notes that personal commitments to improve our focus are insufficient and to suggest that we can simply restore our own focus offers us a “cruel optimism” in light of more systemic issues. The problem with systemic issues, though, is that they have far-reaching implications for mass-society and politics in particular. When people are not able to focus, they are not able to organize. Yet, all of the major issues in our society require collective, deep thinking. If we are to solve the environmental crisis, we will need to coordinate our efforts and communicate with one another and take action over long periods of time. That cannot be done if the threshold of our focus is a thirty second TikTok.
This all plays into the hands of corporate interests and exploitative politicians. When nobody has the capacity to think through the implications of policy, do the research, fact-check politicians’ claims, it leaves the most vulnerable unprotected from policies that are actively harmful. Again, this is nothing surprising or even controversial.
Stolen Focus delves into the medicalization of inattentiveness (i.e. through our collective response to ADHD). Essentially, the issue is that we don’t look enough at root causes and instead try to medicate the problem away. While medication can be effective, Hari’s approach is more of socio-psychological one that critiques the factors that contribute to a rise in inattention, including factors such as poor diet, constant distractions via media, and so forth. We’re at a cultural moment where ADHD is increasingly “normal” and yet there are a number of mitigating factors we might consider to help to manage it. This part of the book was of less interest to me, but still offered some valuable insight into both science and culture.
All things considered, Stolen Focus likely won’t revolutionize your thinking. It will affirm your experiences, give you the language with which to discuss them, and inspire you to change some habits to restore the attention you deserve—and hopefully inspire you to change the world in turn.
Happy reading!
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