From the Bookshelf of Science and Inquiry…

Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention— and How to Think Deeply Again

Johann Hari

Start date: January 1, 2023

Finish date: January 31, 2023

Discussion: Book Club 2023

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Book Club 2023

December 2023 - Ultra Processed People
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Dec 25, 2022 David Rubenstein rated it it was amazing

Shelves: psychology, technology

I often take notes on the books I read; If the volume of notes is any indication, the fact that I took twice as many notes as any other book I've read is a measure of how much I liked this book. It is simply fascinating!

Unlike popular perception, the decline in collective attention predates the Internet. It has been occurring at least since the 1880's! It has to do with the volume of information available to us. The faster the flood of information, the shorter the period of time elapses before a I often take notes on the books I read; If the volume of notes is any indication, the fact that I took twice as many notes as any other book I've read is a measure of how much I liked this book. It is simply fascinating!

Unlike popular perception, the decline in collective attention predates the Internet. It has been occurring at least since the 1880's! It has to do with the volume of information available to us. The faster the flood of information, the shorter the period of time elapses before a new topic fades away. The speed of this information flood feels great -- it feels like you are connected to the whole world. But as a result we give up depth. It takes time to develop depth, reflection, energy, commitment and attention.

In the future there will be an upper class of people who are aware of the risks to their attention and find ways to live within their attention limits, and the rest of society who have "fewer resources to resist the manipulation ... living more and more inside their computers, being manipulated more and more."

Companies like Amazon and Google have developed a system called "surveillance capitalism", which estimates what you are most likely to spend your money on! They learn about you and what engages and what enrages you. They make you angry and reduce your ability to pay attention. They make you feel like you are surrounded by other people's anger. This book contains some concrete recommendations about how social media could fix these problems.

The book describes the dangers of reading text messages at work, and how social media have created systems that reward you with "hearts" and "likes", and "infinite scrolling". Facebook and Google are the "biggest perpetrators of non-mindfulness in the world."

The book talks about "flow", a concept developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and how to achieve it. To achieve flow, one must (1) monotask, (2) do something meaningful, and (3) do something near the edge of your abilities--not too easy or too hard.

Sleep deprivation is contributing to declining attention. Less book-reading also contributes. Studies show that the more novels (not non-fiction!) you read, the better you are at reading other peoplej's emotions. The experience of stories boosts empathy. While you are reading, it is OK to allow your mind to wander; this is part of reading. This is why videos and films are not as effective at building empathy and reading emotions.

The book describes other aspects of our environment that steal our attention. Child abuse can lead to ADHD, food additives and processed food, air pollution, exposure to lead, less outdoor activity, all contribute to stolen attention.

The book contains some suggestions for reversing this trend: Increase play for children, and encourage flow for adults, read books, discover meaningful activities that you want to focus on, allow your mind to wander, exercise, sleep properly, eat nutritious food, and to have a sense of safety. Protect your attention from "too much switching, too many stimuli, intrusive technology design to hack and hook you, avoid stress, exhaustion, processed food and polluted air." Moreover, the author discusses three big goals: (1) Ban surveillance capitalism, (2) four-day work week, (3) Rebuild childhood around letting kids play freely in their neighborhoods and at school.

I highly recommend this book. It is fascinating on so many levels. If you have any attention issues, read it! ...more

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Feb 28, 2023 John McPhee rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Hari summary at end is gold ….
I had been applying what I’d learned on this journey steadily, step by step, to improve my own attention. I’d made six big changes in my life.
One: I used pre-commitment to stop switching tasks so much. Pre-commitment is when you realize that if you want to change your behavior, you have to take steps now that will lock in that desire and make it harder for you to crack later. One key step for me was buying a kSafe, which—as I mentioned briefly before—is a large plas Hari summary at end is gold ….
I had been applying what I’d learned on this journey steadily, step by step, to improve my own attention. I’d made six big changes in my life.
One: I used pre-commitment to stop switching tasks so much. Pre-commitment is when you realize that if you want to change your behavior, you have to take steps now that will lock in that desire and make it harder for you to crack later. One key step for me was buying a kSafe, which—as I mentioned briefly before—is a large plastic safe with a removable lid. You put your phone in it, put the lid back on, and turn the dial at the top for however long you want—from fifteen minutes to two weeks—and then it locks your phone away for as long as you selected. Before I went on this journey, my use of it was patchy. Now I use it every day without exception, and that buys me long stretches of focus. I also use on my laptop a program called Freedom, which cuts it off from the internet for as long as I select. (As I write this sentence, it’s counting down from three hours.)
Two: I have changed the way I respond to my own sense of distraction. I used to reproach myself, and say: You’re lazy. You’re not good enough. What’s wrong with you? I tried to shame myself into focusing harder. Now, based on what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi taught me, instead I have a very different conversation with myself. I ask: What could you do now to get into a flow state, and access your mind’s own ability to focus deeply? I remember what Mihaly taught me are the main components of flow, and I say to myself: What would be something meaningful to me that I could do now? What is at the edge of my abilities? How can I do something that matches these criteria now? Seeking out flow, I learned, is far more effective than self-punishing shame.
Three: based on what I learned about the way social media is designed to hack our attention spans, I now take six months of the year totally off it. (This time is divided into chunks, usually of a few months.) To make sure I stick to it, I always announce publicly when I am going off—I’ll tweet that I am leaving the site for a certain amount of time, so that I will feel like a fool if I suddenly crack and go back a week later. I also get my friend Lizzie to change my passwords.
Four: I acted on what I learned about the importance of mind-wandering. I realized that letting your mind wander is not a crumbling of attention, but in fact a crucial form of attention in its own right. It is when you let your mind drift away from your immediate surroundings that it starts to think over the past, and starts to game out the future, and makes connections between different things you have learned. Now I make it a point to go for a walk for an hour every day without my phone or anything else that could distract me. I let my thoughts float and find unexpected connections. I found that, precisely because I give my attention space to roam, my thinking is sharper, and I have better ideas.
Five: I used to see sleep as a luxury, or—worse—as an enemy. Now I am strict with myself about getting eight hours every night. I have a little ritual where I make myself unwind: I don’t look at screens for two hours before I go to bed, and I light a scented candle and try to set aside the stresses of the day. I bought a FitBit device to measure my sleep, and if I get less than eight hours, I make myself go back to bed. This has made a really big difference.
Six: I’m not a parent, but I am very involved in the lives of my godchildren and my young relatives. I used to spend a lot of my time with them deliberately doing things—busy, educational activities I would plan out in advance. Now I spend most of my time with them just playing freely, or letting them play on their own without being managed or oversupervised or imprisoned. I learned that the more free play they get, the more sound a foundation they will have for their focus and attention. I try to give them as much of that as I can.
I would like to be able to tell you that I also do other things I learned I should do to improve my focus—cut out processed foods, meditate every day, build in other slow practices like yoga, and take an extra day off work each week. ...more

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Apr 20, 2023 Holli rated it really liked it

Learned some things. Reinforced some ideas I already knew. Questioned some of my practices and routines. Inspired to change some things. Like that ended on a hopeful note and call to action rather than fear, doom and passivity.

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