Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention--and How to Think Deeply Again
by Johann Hari
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Author does in-depth sit-down interview with Rosalind Dixon
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Spoiler:
Chatting with law professor Rosalind Dixon, the author cautions that we are “missing out on our own lives” due to digital distraction. He took a 3-month Internet hiatus as part of his book-writing process, saying that at first he felt like he was “in a haze” but then experienced relief and freedom. Dixon lends her legal knowledge to topics such as fake news and questions the author about possible solutions to constant digital distraction.
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Multimedia intro and roundtable interview with author
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Spoiler:
Having isolated twelve factors that can make our attention either better or worse, the author expresses his surprise over some of them, such as diet. He learned, while researching the book, about “the switch cost effect,” that when we try to do more than one thing at a time, we do everything less effectively, remembering less and making more errors. He suggests that we abandon the illusion that the human brain is capable of multitasking.
6:37
The main points of the book explored in animated form
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May, 2022
Spoiler:
Research shows that the human brain has not—and will not—change in the way it receives and digests information. Yet we are surrounded by information feeds that are addictive by design; Aza Raskin, the inventor of “the infinite scroll,” regretted his invention when he realized that it causes people to spend 50% more time on social media. The antidote to multitasking, at which humans are terrible, is “flow.” The video gives tips for achieving flow, one of which is monotasking.
Follow the author
Johann Eduard Hari is a Scottish writer and journalist, known for authoring three New York Times best-selling books. He is the Executive Producer of an Oscar-nominated film and an eight-part TV series starring Samuel L. Jackson. Hari has written for leading newspapers and magazines. He has twice been named National Newspaper Journalist of the Year by Amnesty International and has received awards for Cultural Commentator of the Year and Environmental Commentator of the Year at the Comment Awards.
Other books by Johann Hari
Publications
The Washington Post: Our attention spans are suffering. Maybe there’s a way to get them back.
The New York Times: Why Can’t We Pay Attention Anymore?
TLS UK: Scan and shift. Making a claim for a crisis of attention
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