Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention— and How to Think Deeply Again
Johann Hari
Our ability to pay attention is collapsing. From the New York Times bestselling author of Chasing the Scream and Lost Connections comes a groundbreaking examination of why this is happening--and how to get our attention back. In the United States, teenagers can focus on one task for only sixty-five seconds at a time, and office workers average only three minutes. more
357 pages, Hardcover
First published Crown
4.24
Rating
47622
Ratings
5495
Reviews
Johann Hari
15 books 2408 followers
Johann Hari is an award-winning British journalist and playwright. He was a columnist for The Independent and the Huffington Post, and has won awards for his war reporting. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, The Nation, Le Monde, El Mundo, the Melbourne Age, El Pais, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Irish Times, The Guardian, Ha'aretz, the Times Literary Supplement, Attitude (Britain's main gay magazine), the New Statesman and a wide range of other international newspapers and magazines.Hari describes himself as a "European social democrat", who believes that markets are "an essential tool to generate wealth" but must be matched by strong democratic governments and strong trade unions or they become "disastrous". He appears regularly as an arts critic on the BBC Two programme Newsnight Review, and he is a book critic for Slate. He has been named by the Daily Telegraph as one of the most influential people on the left in Britain, and by the Dutch magazine Winq as one of the twenty most influential gay people in the world.
After two scandals in 2011 involving plagiarism and malicious editing of Wikipedia pages, Hari was forced to return the prestigious Orwell prize he had won in 2008, and lost his position at The Independent.
Community reviews
This was so good. One of those books everyone should read. My sometimes lazily taken notes:• In 2013, on twitter, a topic would remain in the most discussed topics for 17. 5 hours. In 2016, this had dropped to 11. more
I loved most of the book, there's been quite some good advice I've been able to use to start healing my focus and I found the sections on how these sites are intentionally made to worsen our attention problems very enlightening. There is however a caveat - the chapter (or was it 2 chapters) on ADHD. Now, I'm not completely against touching on this as the problems with attention and how the environment is made to make it very hard certainly doesn't help people with ADHD, but he comitts all of the cardinal sins; 1) Not neurodivergent, 2) Talks with scientists about ADHD, 3) The scientists are not psychologists, 4) Narrows down ADHD to only being about paying attention, 5) Does not talk to anyone with ADHD or ND organization, 6) Only focuses on children, 7) Talks about cases of children mistakenly getting ADHD diagnosis but all of them are basically cases of gross misconduct by those who did it like a child who got a diagnosis of ADHD because he couldn't pay attention and had been sexually abused. A lot of concern against ADHD medication but really any solution other then that you can improve your attention in other ways, but again attention problems is only one (and maybe not even the biggest) issue people with ADHD have. So by and large the book was very good, but I did want to write this out. more
When I finished this book, I was extremely conflicted, and I figured out why. I hold Johann Hari to an extremely high standard because I truly believe that his previous book Lost Connections is one of the most important books ever written about depression, and I’ve read it multiple times. Johann and his team were kind enough to send me an early copy of this new book, and I binged it. Johann is an amazing writer, and I can breeze through just about any book he puts out there because his style is perfection. But when I saw what this book was about, I knew that Johann was going to be fighting a difficult battle because this book is all about how technology has stolen our attention, and this book topic has been covered extensively in books and articles for a while now. more
I read this book—and Hari’s other popular book, Lost Connections—before I realized that he has a somewhat checkered past as a journalist. I loved Hari’s writing, and he can certainly weave together compelling interviews to craft a strong argument. His books are a breeze to read. But once I Googled him, it really soured the experience of this book for me. I found myself constantly skeptical of Hari’s claims, unsure of how much I could believe and how much was distorted to fit the author’s narrative. more
I did not finish this book. The chapter on ADHD is ableist nonsense and the author cherrypicks information from doctors and scientists to match his confirmation biases. The author insinuates that ADHD is caused by environmental factors, can be eliminated by changing the environment (spoiler: it can't) and implies that medicating people for ADHD is dangerous. He doesn't mention neuro-diversity, dopamine, or executive function. Yes, strategies for managing ADHD symptoms do help people with ADHD and reduce symptoms, but suggesting treating ADHD with strategies alone is unhelpful. more
What stole our focus. The answer might surprise you. We spend too much time on social media such as Facebook, Google, Instagram etc. The tech giants are designing tech and algorithms to exploit our attention for profit. Other factors include environmental pollution, poor sleep, and nutrition, which impact brain function. more
I was really interested to read this book. For the sake of clarity my eldest son has ADHD and having lived with his struggles I perhaps am more sensitive than most to the topics raised. The first3/4 of the book tell us nothing we don't already know (my grandma knows how to suck eggs, thank you) interspersed with the opinions of some scientists. The last 1/4 deals with ADHD and children and this is mostly where I take issue. Hari writes that there should be no judgement on parents for ADHD and then explains that it doesn't really exist its just how a child is raised that leads to it. more
In 2021, I wrote a negative review of this book. I was a young university student who felt cocky about reading any sort of literature or nonfiction. I was already on Instagram, feeling nervous and anxious about my image online and I think I put more effort into filtering a single photo than I ever did reading this book. I posted a very short negative paragraph calling it "tedious/boring" and did not think much of it. Without any effort from my part whatsoever, my negative review gained traction and many people on Goodreads liked it. more
I fundamentally agree with this book's central thesis:Your attention is being fragmented and your political views are radicalised through the Outrage Economy by large tech monopolies beholden to Surveillance Capitalism, particularly Twitter. However, Hari's narrative raised some red flags. In short, he seemed entirely blind to his own ideological blind spots, and thus I found myself highly skeptical of many of his claims. I was about to write a review to this effect, but it turned out someone already had. So instead, I'll link to some books I think explains/remedies the problems diagnosed by Hari (his own solutions strike me, perhaps unsurprisingly, as something a Terminally Online journalist would cook up):1. more
Some parts superb, other parts made me go hm, not sure. Hari's own focus got awfully broad in parts, as if he were trying to fit 3 books (and several editorials) into the space of 1. The writing style is lucid, supple, and persuasive (and "lucid" is my highest praise for nonfiction writing. )One of the some-several things the book attempts is to be a sort of anti-virus program for high-tech efforts to hack our brains, though people who live less under a rock than I do may already be up to speed on all these issues. (I'm pretty sure my techie son is. more
**Many thanks to Rachel Rodriguez at Crown and Johann Hari for an ARC of this book. **How long can you TRULY go without looking at your phone. 5 minutes. Maybe an hour or two. And if you happen to leave the house without it. more
This was SO good and I can't stop thinking about it (or talking about it). It feels like one of those books basically everyone should read. . more
I don't disagree with the general theme about distraction. Unfortunately, this book is itself an example of that restless unproductiveness. The author literally flies all around the world to talk to various people, presumably to gain insights he could have gotten by sitting still and reading some books. This is particularly annoying because one of the main reasons he gives for why we need to pay attention more is to deal with big complex problems like global warming. He does comment on this contradiction himself toward the end of the book, but if the point is that to attain whatever level of self-awareness he eventually achieved you have to quit your day-job and travel all over, then that's kind of nuts. more
This was a really good read and I highly recommend it. It’s a conclusive book on the attention economy and its ramifications, and puts the emphasis on government and corporate responsibility over individual responsibility. I haven’t read any other books on this subject so I don’t know if anyone covers it *better*, but Stolen Focus is very easy to read and understand–a factor I really appreciate as it makes an important topic more accessible to learn about. more
In, I think, the fall or winter of 2020/21, I hit a wall with social media. I was doing my own job plus the jobs of two redeployed colleagues, taking care of my kid solo while their health deteriorated and chronic pain soared due to pandemic health-care shutdowns, then caring for them solo after their surgeries, and like many people at the time my entire working and social life happened on screens. This should have been social media's golden moment to shine; if it connected us all in a genuine and human way, it should have been a balm and a solace. Instead, I found it angering me, constantly. Flame wars abounded. more
Son zamanlarda okuduğum en iyi inceleme ve araştırma kitaplarından biri; iyi bir inceleme kaleme almanın, yazarın kendisini de konuya dahil etmesini, konuyu bir yerde hem içeriden hem de dışarıdan bir bakışla ele almasını gerektirdiğini gösteren iyi bir örnek. Johann Hari günümüzün en büyük sorununa parmak basmış; odaklanma, dikkat verme, yaratıcılık, eleştirel düşünme gibi yetilerimizin ciddi hasara uğradığı tespitinden yola çıkarak özellikle sağ siyasetin yükselmesinde azımsanmayacak bir payı olan sosyal medya meselesini enine boyuna incelemiş. Aynı sorundan kendi de mustarip olduğu için çok yerinde bir hamleyle önce bir adaya, internetten kopuk olacak şekilde uzunca bir süre inzivaya çekilmiş ve kendinde ortaya çıkan gelişmeleri kaydetmiş. Sonrasında da sosyal medyada konumlanan kilit önemdeki figürlerle meseleyi enine boyuna tartışmaya girişmiş. İncelemenin iki asli meselesi var: birincisi, özellikle genç nesillerde meydana gelen düşünsel, bilişsel bozukluklar. more
This book itself is a demonstration in being unfocused. It jumps form one topic to another, never deepening any of the information. It name drops people, while presenting their ideas in the most superficial manner possible. And worst of all it’s exhaustingly alarmist. I have read a few books about the topic including Cal Newport, Jaron Lanier, and Shoshana Zuboff’s books. more
This an easily accessible book about focus and attention. Of course we know a lot of the answers ourselves - we let ourselves get distracted by our devices and struggle to achieve flow. Cut out the notifications, sleep your minimum of 8 hours a night, eat right - and this will help somewhat. However, we are up against big tech, who want us addicted and keeping updated, and in order to this, also radicalize and polarize us. So you're not to blame that you can't concentrate, you are a victim. more
DNF at 73%. The first half of the book is interesting- focusing on the tech industry- however it takes a sharp turn when talking about children & ADHD. As a therapist and adult woman with ADHD, I know a lot about this area. It was painful how clearly the studies and quotes were cherry picked to prove an agenda. My personal favorite example is name dropping Carl Hart’s research on stimulants in a paragraph implying that because “addicts” respond the same to street and prescription drugs, the later must also be bad. more
Bütün eksiklerine rağmen ben bu kitabı sevdim aslında. Uzun zamandır yaşadığım odaklanma eksikliğine biraz anlam kazandırdı, bazı şeyleri değiştirebileceğim kanaati uyandırdı, hatta bu şeyleri değiştirmem için motive etti beni. Gelgelelim Çalınan Dikkat'e baştan sona bir bütün olarak baktığımda iyi tarafları kadar yazarın yanlış yaptığı, kitabı vasata yaklaştıran şeyleri de görmezden gelemiyorum maalesef. Çalınan Dikkat'in ilk yarısı, spesifik olmak gerekirse "Derinlikli Çözüme İlk Bakışlar" başlıklı 9. bölüme kadar olan kısmı, oldukça derli toplu, iyi yazılmış. more
rich white guy goes on boring digital detox and then flies around talking to other rich tech dudes (who design apps) about what we should do to be able to focus better. more
I loved this author’s book Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression - and the Unexpected Solutions and this one also appealed to me so I was looking forward to reading it, even though I didn’t expect it to be nearly as good as the other book. This book wasn’t quite as good. It wasn’t quite as groundbreaking, but it was still great and it also explored innovative ideas and solutions for a wide range of sub-topics. I didn’t listen to them but I appreciate that the author has posted audio clips of all the people he quotes in the book. Being able to listen along and hear directly from the people he interviewed is a good thing to do. more
This book was good in that it motivated me to take another long, hard look at how I interact with the Internet. Like the author, I’ve found my ability to focus for long periods of time has gotten worse and that anytime I’m not doing something, I instinctively reach for my phone. Stolen Focus puts a huge spotlight on that and has some good suggestions for ways to try to regain some of that attention. Stolen Focus also dedicates quite a few pages to talking about the systemic problems with trying to maintain our ability to think deeply, engage with nature, and slow down in an environment where so many big forces are working against us. Tech companies are incentivized to do one thing—build a profile on you so they can show you things that will keep you engaged with their content as much as possible so they can then try to convince you to buy from their advertisers. more
I didn’t even make it past the introduction. What a bunch of self-satisfied assholery. . more
I liked stolen focus. The topic is something that I think everyone in this day and age experiences; the inability to focus. And as one would expect, it seems to get harder as we get older. This modern technological age has information coming at us all the time and sometimes it seems like the younger folks seem to handle this better because they've experienced it from birth. Hari points out that this is false. more
I was overjoyed when I realized Hari had a new book out, and like before, I wasn’t disappointed. He manages to look at problems differently, filling a gap in our understanding of how the world works. Stolen Focus discusses why we can’t focus and how that drains our energy and hollows out our lives. What I’m always fascinated by when it comes to Hari’s book is how he shifts perspective from the individual to society. Often we overlook how culture affect us and thereby where we should put our efforts. more
Having coached college athletes and seen firsthand the damage inflicted upon young people's attention by social media and technology, I agree wholeheartedly with the author Mr. Hari that we are in the middle of a human crisis even more pressing than Climate Change. My scholarship college athletes struggled to make it through a 90 minute practice without incessantly checking their phones. Many adult friends experience the same withdrawal. The first half of Stolen Focus identifies all of the major psychological shifts that manifested with the increased popularity of phones and their apps. more
This is one of the best examinations of attention across personal, societal, and physiological issues that I have found. Goes beyond the superficial and digs into things like diet, stress, sleep, and pollution. I disagree with the place that the author takes some of these points but the foundation of what’s presented is phenomenal. What is within is one of the better examinations of the larger societal changes and problems facing us today. And while it’s viewed through the lens of “attention“ it’s really an indictment and a sort of rough roadmap of a whole suite of broad western societal problems. more