Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention — and How to Think Deeply Again
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| The Middle (listentothemiddle.com) |
[It is heard in Los Angeles on laist.com (kpcc.com, 89.3 FM, Thursdays at 10:00 pm), and tonight's show closed with an amazing segment by Johann Hari (johannhari.com) on cellphone and Internet addiction.]
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| Stolen Focus: Pay Attention (stolenfocusbook.com) |
In the US, teenagers can focus on one task for only 65 seconds at a time, and office workers average only 3 minutes. Like many of us, author Johann Hari was finding that constantly switching from device to device and tab to tab was a diminishing and depressing way to live.
He tried all sorts of self-help solutions — even abandoning his cellphone for three months — but nothing seemed to work.
So he went on an epic journey across the world to interview the leading experts on human attention. He discovered that everything we think we know about this crisis is wrong.
We think our inability to focus is a personal failure to exert enough willpower over our devices. The truth is even more disturbing: Our focus has been stolen by powerful external forces that have left us uniquely vulnerable to corporations determined to raid our attention for their profit.
He found that there are 12 deep causes of this crisis, from the decline of mind-wandering to rising pollution, all of which have robbed some of our attention.
In Stolen Focus, he introduces readers to Silicon Valley dissidents who learned to hack human attention, and veterinarians who diagnose dogs with ADHD.
He explores a favela in Rio de Janeiro where they lost their attention in a particularly surreal way, and an office in New Zealand that discovered a remarkable technique to restore workers’ productivity.
Crucially, he learned how we can reclaim our focus — as individuals and as a society — if we are determined to fight for it.
Stolen Focus will transform the debate about attention and finally show us how to get it back. More
ABOUT: The Middle is a non-partisan, non-judgmental, non-condescending space where all can feel comfortable sharing their views and being part of the conversation. Veteran public radio host Jeremy Hobson is joined by two panel guests each week along with DJ Tolliver spinning tunes. Hosted by Jeremy Hobson Thursdays 10:00-11:00 pm.
THIS WEEK (July 11, 2024): ADDICTION TO PHONE, INTERNET, CONNECTION, SOCIAL MEDIA, COMPUTER SCREEN? IF SO, WHAT ABOUT IT? CALL (844) 4MI-DDLE (themiddleshow.radio@gmail.com) to talk to Host Jeremy Hobson, public radio journalist and former host of NPR’s Here & Now and Marketplace Morning Report. He grew up in the Midwest, where people don’t spend every waking minute thinking about politics -- but do have a lot of sway in American politics.
- Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; guest Johann Hari wit host Jeremy Hobson, The Middle, July 11, 2024 via laist.com
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