Jun 2024
Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari
How many of us are walking around anxious and scattered, like we’ve lost the ability to be present for the life in front of us? Even though the internet and social media have empowered global connection they’ve also exploded our daily information intake to levels we’re now beginning to question the effects of. Like the fact that “we touch our phones 2,617 times every twenty-four hours” or that the average American has their face planted in a phone for over three hours every day. These are merely a few of many startling statistics unearthed by Johann Hari in his search for depth in a world where overwhelm is up, focus is down and many of us are struggling to create anything that requires an increased amount of concentration. Through genuine curiosity and relentless research, Hari addresses an issue at the heart of the way we function as a modern-day society—the inability to hold our attention, to focus, and how it’s affecting absolutely everything. This book is a lifeline for a world overloaded by information, obsessed with content consumption and fragmented by distraction. It’s not only packed with scientifically backed reasons for the social epidemic of shrinking attention spans but offers proven ways we can begin the crucial shift of regaining the focus that’s been systemically stolen.